During this pandemic, not a few people have asked themselves where to get away from it all. With a virus running rampant, many are looking to go on safe holidays away from crowds and cities. Well, the AAA Four Diamond Vista Verde Ranch in Colorado is probably the best place to get away from it all.  

NOTHING ELSE AROUND BUT A LUXURY RANCH

This family run ranch with a million acres is about 25 miles from the nearest traffic light. It has a herd of 100 horses so you might say that it’s a traditional ranch. However, it’s also a luxury resort. There is a staff guest ratio of over 1 to 1, and distinct adult or family times during the year. Vista Verde Ranch is also a great favorite forsolo travelers searching for a wide-open space and an escape to nature.

WHAT TO DO IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

The ranch has many outstanding riding experiences. Beginners can take a trek through the incredible Rocky Mountains. Meanwhile, the more experienced can participate in the full cattle round up every September. Vista Verde Ranch invites guests to head out and help round up the cattle before the snow arrives. There’s a lot of ground to cover, too. 16,000 acres of forested land in total. This high adrenalin activity is definitely a bucket list activity with a difference. However, it’s not for the faint hearted.

WHAT IS SNOGA

The ranch is also introducing SNOGA this winter. This is really a trek and a yoga session combined. Guests snowshoe out to a rustic cabin for a yoga class by a cozy fire. All levels are welcome and the teacher adjusts the session to the level of the guests. After yoga, the guests snowshoe back to their own private cabins.

Vista Verde is quite unlike the usual trekking ranches. They take great pride in helping guests with all levels of riding abilities to improve their skills and enjoy the experience. In fact, Vista Verde’s “horse program” kicks off with an orientation that works from the ground up.

HOW TO DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH A HORSE

The staff first teach guests how to communicate with their assigned horse and understand the language of equines. The ranch wranglers take time and care to pair each guest with the horse most appropriate for them, and this will be their “own horse” for the week. This allows riders to develop a unique and special relationship with their horse during their stay. And it makes all the difference in the ranch experience.

HORSEBACK RIDING A LA CARTE

After that, each guest can create what they want. They can go on leisurely and scenic trail rides through the Aspens or attend specific clinics in the arena. The ranch also offers small group lessons or instructional trail rides for guests who want to learn specific riding techniques for real time situations. Each rider can choose how much they want to put into or get out of the time they are on horseback. 

For the chillier months there is an indoor heated arena for winter riding. Furthermore, lessons and clinics are available for all riding levels. For those who simply wish to enjoy the mountains, there is something magical about trekking with a blanket of fresh snow under hoof. Then there’s also the opportunity to head out on one of the ranches very own horse sleighs. The latter is a great favorite among guests.

OTHER ACTIVITIES AT VISTA VERDE RANCH

Although the Vista Verde Ranch is famous for all things equine, they also provide diverse activities. Guests can enjoy everything from cross country skiing and sleigh rides to photography and wine tasting courses. The ranch is well known for its wine collection, having received the coveted Award of Excellence by the Wine Spectator.

The ranch has 15 private log cabins with hot tubs on each deck and three lodge rooms. Each of the cabins is named after the local mountains. They are rustic on the outside but cozy and luxurious inside. Most are spacious, with a sitting area for relaxing with a favorite book while keeping warm around the wood-burning stove under the star lit sky.

Read more about the best travel experiences in the world in Travelife Magazine.

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Orange juice and croissants for breakfast in the garden of The Selman Marrakech — with champion horses for company

So there we were on my birthday, celebrating with a little R&R in a beautiful private riad on the grounds of the Selman Hotel in Marrakech, after almost every one of my 35 friends had returned home from close to two weeks of living a #Travelife all over Morocco. 

We’d taken this beautiful private riad at The Selman Marrakech that supposedly was also occupied by the actor Tom Cruise for something like three weeks, during the filming of Mission Impossible 5.

Our private riad at The Selman in Marrakech

We even had the same butler team that was assigned to Tom Cruise for his stay — and weren’t they just excellent. Most private riads come with a full-time personal butler, and I’ve been lucky with my butlers in Morocco so far, as they’ve all been wonderful and ever so professional.

But the Tom Cruise team of butlers at the Selman wins hands down.

When we checked in, I invited some friends over to our riad for some champagne before dinner, so I called the butler and said: “Can you please prepare the house as I’m having some friends over?“

That’s my butler, waiting for the guests to arrive at the entrance to our private riad…

Just like that.

And then I went over to the gazebo at the other end of my private garden with a pot of mint tea to read a book on interior design in Lebanon and try and get better WiFi on my iPad.

Meanwhile, out came the candles all over the house, the lanterns by the swimming pool, the champagne and even a lovely multi-tiered platter of sweets. Like clockwork, and ever so silently that I was oblivious to preparations.

So that when my friends came over to pop the bottle with me, everything looked positively magical.

The gazebo at the end of my private garden at the Hotel Selman

Everyone oohed and aahed over this riad.

The butlers did dozens of things like this for me during our stay, to make the whole experience seamless and quite unforgettable. And when it was time to go home, they packed every breakable object I’d bought in Morocco in bubble wrap so that every single thing made it back home without a scratch.

This private riad of the Selman is certainly the most beautiful place I’d stayed in for 2015, as well as among the most beautiful private riads I’d stayed in in Morocco — and that’s saying a lot.

I’ve stayed in most of Morocco’s loveliest and most interesting places by now so I can write a guidebook on the best places to stay in five minutes. There are a handful, and each with its own strong points.

The Selman gets overall top points from me just because they have the best private riads I’ve seen so far. There’s enough space, enough decor, enough style and yet also enough calm so that everything is not one explosion of color and lines.

Anyway it was the day after my birthday, and Mr. Y said to me: “I’ve arranged a special breakfast today.“

Every day actually has a pretty special breakfast in my never-ending Travelife, if I have to tell the truth. And yes, I realise that I’m one of the luckiest people I know.

The day before, we’d had the full Moroccan breakfast via room service served in the grand pergola at the end of our private garden.

I had my favourite Moroccan eggs with meat and sauce, those delicious light pancakes with raw honey, and lots of argan oil sprinkled everywhere for anti-oxidants.

Then, for effect, our butler served my favourite Moroccan mint tea sans sugar with lots of flourish. It sure makes drinking mint tea a whole lot better. I’m sure he impressed Tom Cruise too with these special effects, in this very same lovely riad.

But that day, our butler picked us up with the golf cart and then he took us to a clearing right in front the main building. Here, he’d set up carpets all over the grass and a table heaping with breakfast goodies.

It was definitely the breakfast to impress.

Then, the main attraction arrived — and it wasn’t the food. We had prize-winning Arabian horses, who incidentally are ensconced in five-star horse lodgings nearby, perform a private show for us.

Talk about beautiful animals in a beautiful hotel.

What a wonderful post-birthday treat, and rather surreal but nice. Even for a never-ending Travelife.

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