The St. Regis Aspen

Aspen’s days as a sleepy ski town are decades behind it — today it’s well-known as a playground for the rich and famous from all across America. As such, it demands world-class luxury accommodation, an area in which the St. Regis does not disappoint.

The location is phenomenal, at the foot of Aspen mountain, between the gondola and lift 1A. This is more than a ski lodge, however, and Aspen is a year-round destination — in fact the proximity to the downtown area’s restaurants, shopping and nightlife is just as much a selling point as convenient ski access.

Interiors are eminently tasteful, erring neither toward fussy opulence nor faux-rustic western cliché. Robust furnishings and warm colors set the tone, and textures are rich, with plenty of wood and leather — this is a hotel with no time for antiseptic design-magazine chic.

The amenities, however, are top-shelf, with thirty-inch LCD televisions, Bose CD players and Frette bedding in each guest room. High-speed internet is standard, both wired and wireless, and the bathrooms are a vision in marble, with double vanities and Bijan bath products.

For a hotel restaurant, one could do a sight worse than Olives, helmed by the celebrity chef Todd English. What could be just a hotel dining room is instead an experience on a par with Mr. English’s other outposts on the coasts and overseas. Rande Gerber’s Whiskey Rocks is no more, but the Shadow Mountain Lounge remains, as a slightly more sedate nightspot, serving cocktails, aperitifs and wines with a view of Aspen Mountain and a suitably grand fireplace around which to gather.