Sure, there’s something appealing about escaping into the tropical sun as the temperatures drop back home, but it can be equally magical to embrace the cold and plan a winter wonderland vacation. If you’ve spent any time in the past few weeks searching Airbnb for a stylish ski chalet or rugged mountain cabin, you may have noticed that the website got a recent refresh: Earlier this month, the vacation-rental pioneer unveiled a new collection of about 2 million properties called Guest Favorites, which are highly rated by users and vetted by the company.
Just in time for the holidays, we’ve selected eight of the coziest—and highest rated—homes to visit this winter, where you can get into the festive spirit with such amenities as wood-burning stoves, private saunas, ski-in/ski-out access, and remote locations in the mountains of Montana, Norway, Austria, and beyond. Bundle up in your thickest flannel, pack up some hot toddy ingredients, and prepare to huddle fireside with your closest friends or family members.
New House With Mountain Views Near Montana’s Biggest Ski Resort
- Location: Big Sky, Montana
- Sleeps: 8
- Highlights: Hot tub, game room, indoor and outdoor fireplaces
- Book now: airbnb.com
Families coming to Montana to tackle the slopes at Big Sky Resort will love this newly built home (pictured above), designed to put views of Lone Peak front and center. The resort is one mile away by car, or more adventurous types can cross the road and ski about a third of a mile to the White Otter 2 lift. You can enjoy the snowy surroundings from the outdoor deck, with its hot tub and fireplace, and you might say that Montana’s reputation for “big skies” continues inside as well: The vaulted ceilings stretch up to 25 feet high. The ingenious three-tiered bunk room (a queen bed with two bunks above it) means you can fit in plenty of family members. The owners have made things easy for parents traveling with little ones, thanks to an included crib, high chair, Pack ’N Play, children’s dinnerware, board games, and a slide out back.
This cozy ski chalet in Finnish Lapland is minutes away from the slopes.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Bright and Modern Chalet in Finnish Lapland
- Location: Kittilä, Finland
- Sleeps: 7
- Highlights: Private sauna, northern lights viewing
- Book now: airbnb.com
For many travelers, Finnish Lapland is forever linked with the legend of Santa Claus, but there’s nothing kitschy about this ski chalet, hidden in the snowy forest about 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle. With seven beds across four bedrooms, it’s perfect for a big family or a group of friends who are coming to hit the slopes at the country’s largest ski resort, Levi, only about 700 feet from the house. Way up here, the aurora borealis is a common sighting on cloudless winter nights, and reindeer have been known to wander freely through the property. For an extra charge, you can also have access to a private sauna and an outdoor wood-heated hot tub.
This 1970s-era A-frame cottage offers access to Ontario’s Hamptons of the North.
Photo by David Chant
Muskoka A-Frame Cottage in Ontario
- Location: Huntsville, Ontario, Canada
- Sleeps: 2
- Highlights: Gas fireplace, ski-in/ski-out access, clawfoot bath tub
- Book now: airbnb.com
This stylishly updated 1970s A-frame cabin sits on a quiet cul-de-sac in Muskoka, a forest-filled, lakeside region that’s about two hours north of Toronto by car and often called the “Hamptons of the North.” The interior is filled with cozy touches like moose-print pillows, a gas fireplace, and a clawfoot tub with birch-bark-inspired shower curtains, while the backyard includes a firepit, a barbecue grill, and a rack for skis and snowboards. The Hidden Valley ski resort is only a few minutes away by car or 10 by foot, and there’s an unofficial ski-in/ski-out spot at the end of the block. And if the weather outside gets particularly frightful, you can always spend time reliving your childhood on the cabin’s retro Atari Flashback X gaming console.
This French stone cottage with a thatched roof looks like something out of a fairy tale.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Thatched Cottage in French Mountains
- Location: Borée, France
- Sleeps: 3
- Highlights: Remote location, mountain views
- Book now: airbnb.com
There’s something downright fairy tale–like about this tiny cottage, with its thick stone walls and thatched roof. Just eight minutes from the ski resort of Les Estables, the house sits at 4,500 feet on the south slope of Mont Mézenc, offering views out over the Alps and the Rhône Valley. When the snow gets thick outside, a wood burner heats up the rustic interiors. And because there are no neighbors in sight, you’ll have this mountain paradise all to yourself, ideal for enjoying the peaceful snowy silence in the winter or foraging for wild strawberries, morels, and chanterelles at other times of the year.
This minimalist tiny house is located in the boreal forest just outside of Québec City.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Mica Tiny Home With Panoramic Views in Québec
- Location: Lac-Beauport, Québec, Canada
- Sleeps: 4
- Highlights: Access to city, gas fireplace, outdoor wood stove
- Book now: airbnb.com
Surrounded by boreal forest, this tiny house may look as if it’s out in the middle of nowhere, but Québec City’s Old Québec neighborhood is only 25 minutes away by car. If you’re coming in the winter, your vehicle better have all-wheel drive—you’ll need it to access the property, or you can book a shuttle service. Wall-size windows look out on a snow globe–like terrain of mountains and conifers, and a cast-iron Jøtul fireplace draws focus in a living space that’s otherwise decorated in a bright palette of whites, creams, silvers, and blond woods. The bunk room is ideal if you’re traveling with kids, and the house also comes with included children’s dinnerware and a crib that’s available on request.
This minimalist cabin in the Black Forest is particularly well-designed for wheelchair users.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Luxury Apartment in Germany’s Black Forest
- Location: Schonach im Schwarzwald, Germany
- Sleeps: 3
- Highlights: Wheelchair accessibility, wine refrigerator
- Book now: airbnb.com
Set in the heart of the Black Forest, the Apartment Monolith is a sleek-lined, sustainable house clad in unpainted Siberian larchwood that’s designed to turn gray and weather beautifully over the years. It’s a great jumping-off point for winter sports in the area, including downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, sledding, and tobogganing. Inside, walls are made from 120-year-old floorboards that have been upcycled from a historic farmhouse and carved with woodland creatures; elsewhere, the apartment feels urban and well-equipped, thanks to its compact washing machine, wine refrigerator, and simple furnishings. The property gets bonus points for its extra-accessible design, ideal for wheelchair users, with wide sliding doors, a large rain shower, and grab bars in the bathroom.
The wraparound windows at this chic chalet look out over the Austrian Alps.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Modern Wooden Chalet in the Austrian Alps
- Location: Schwarzenberg, Austria
- Sleeps: 8
- Highlights: Record player, wood-burning stove, access to ski resorts
- Book now: airbnb.com
A quick glance around this wooden chalet’s loft-like, upper-floor living space might make you think you’re inside some rocker’s place in Malibu: The decor skews sunny and retro, with a free-form orange couch, a butterfly sling chair, a cowhide rug, potted succulents, and a record player with a Bluetooth sound system. But just look out those wraparound windows to remember where you are: The house overlooks the storybook town of Schwarzenberg in the valley below, and it’s only a five-minute drive to the Bödele ski resort. Provided slippers and a wood-burning stove up the coziness factor, and you’ll love the toiletry products from local luxury brand Susanne Kaufmann, which uses Alpine flora sourced from the surrounding Bregenzerwald region.
Guests can ski on the trails surrounding this uniquely shaped house in the Norwegian mountains.
Courtesy of Airbnb
The Birdbox House in Norway
- Location: Gaular, Norway
- Sleeps: 2
- Highlights: Mountain views, nearby skiing trails
- Book now: airbnb.com
To get to this modern cabin, which is shaped a bit like a rectangular birdhouse, you have to drive about three hours north of Bergen, park at the Langeland ski resort, and then hike 15 minutes uphill. But the effort is worth it: The compact space is marked by an oversize porthole of sorts that takes up nearly the entire front facade of the house, through which you can take in views across the snowy landscape of Storehesten (Great Horse) and Litlehesten (Little Horse) mountains. There’s a detached half-bathroom that looks a bit like a thicker version of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey ; it houses what the owners call the “toilet with the world’s best view.” Note that the cabin is not particularly close to civilization, so you may want to pay extra for the breakfast basket add-on.
