Clear As Crystal

For meetings, bleisure time or retreats, Crystal Springs is the perfect place to escape in style and luxury

- Lark Gould And Dan Booth

Gliding up the long, winding drive to the sprawling Grand Cascades Lodge at Crystal Springs Resort, we realized that the brief hour’s drive from the George Washington Bridge was a subtle, quiet passage from the clamor of the city to the calming hush of the Kittatinny Mountains.

There seems to be a general consensus that if you, your family or your company are located in or anywhere around the five boroughs of New York, you must fly to somewhere far, far away to truly escape to serenity and sanity. Nothing could be further from the truth – or closer than this 4,000-acre getaway, sheltered in the picturesque rolling hills of Sussex County, NJ.

Just 47 miles from Manhattan, and even closer to most of northern and central New Jersey’s towns and cities, Crystal Springs Resort bills itself as the New York Metro area's closest-in four-season resort. The Crystal Springs complex includes two hotels, the 250-room, AAA 4-Diamond Grand Cascades Lodge and the luxurious 175 room Minerals Hotel and Spa, both surrounded by three world-class golf courses.

We found our rooms in the Lodge to be luxurious, with capacious bathrooms and views from both the sitting rooms and bedrooms that literally go for miles. However, Chris Mulvihill, the resort’s chief marketing officer, says in first quarter this year, all the guest rooms of Grand Cascades Lodge, as well as the lobby and other common areas, will be undergoing renovations. “For this project, we have retained New York-based INC Architecture & Design, who recently did a fantastic job for us on the renovation of our flagship restaurant, Restaurant Latour,” Mulvihill says.

MEET & BLEAT