There's something ABOUT TELLURIDE

For a taste of the (very) high life and skiing that's a cut above, this is a ski town that caters for your every whim, writes Caroline Smith.

- Caroline Smith

Ralph Lauren has a ranch here. Oprah has a house. Make that two. Tom Cruise sold his mansion a while back. In summer, audiences gather for the Telluride Film Festival and Blues & Brews Festival (this year to be headlined by Robert Plant) like moths to the Telluride flame. Unlike Aspen, Telluride is the place the rich and famous come to not be seen, preferring to blend in. Telluride is not your usual ski town. Tucked into a box canyon in the San Juan Mountain Range in southwestern Colorado, it is a historic ex-gold, silver and lead Victorian mining town. To preserve its historic value and nature, Mountain Village was developed as a secondary base area with connecting lift access, skier services and more to cater to the growing tourism demand. The town and village are linked by North America’s only free gondola that also happens to provide some of the most spectacular mountain views imaginable, particularly at sunset and with a rising full moon. It’s simply breathtaking.

Despite the refreshingly low-key approach, the best kind of high-end winter experiences are available to all here. My brief but fabulous stay is a blueprint for this, starting with my delightfully upscale boutique hotel, Lumière with Inspirato. My One Bedroom Deluxe Residence is seriously luxe with glamorous living and ski-in, ski-out pampering.