Restaurants and Shops in Vail

At the end of January, our group of 8 - 10 enjoyed the following restaurants. A nice feature for us was that we made reservations the day of.

• Larkspur (seating closer to the open kitchen is better)
• The Left Bank (staff seems to have less attitude these days & they now accept credit cards; excellent food - we think the best in Vail & don't miss, or share, the chocolate souffle)
• Campo de Fiori (noisy, fun, good for groups, a happening place)
• Sweet Basil (our all-time favourite; we always have at least one lunch here - must get there by 2:30 pm. The lamb sliders were a hit as well as the beet salad with goat cheese dressing. I loved the lump crab & bow-tie pasta appetizer for dinner. Others raved over the striped bass.)
• Would like to try Bistro Fourteen (on mountain @Eagle's Nest) next time for lunch.....has anyone tried it?
  

Favourite shopping destinations:

• Annie's : home accessories, every candle fragrance you've ever heard of, amazing collection of dishes.....you can spend an hour just reading the greeting cards. One year my friend, Pam, followed me around the store noting my ooh's and ahh's and then went back the next day to buy me those objects for my birthday.
• Pepi's: Blew my "clothing diet" here. Make sure you go up to the second floor and search out the sales rack at the back of the store.

Long Weekend in Vail: Where to Stay?

Our annual ski trip to Colorado with friends - five couples from Windsor.....this year's destination was Vail - staying again, for the third time at The Christiania at Vail. Selling points: ski-in, ski-out location, heated ski and boot overnight storage with helpful attendant, daily breakfast ($7.50/person) and steps to the heart of Vail village. This is Tina relaxing in the lobby of The Christiania before walking to dinner.

Room 206 at The Christiania: our friends enjoyed this room....two bathrooms, separate sitting room with fireplace, large balcony with mountain view.



Room 202......my husband and I were booked into room 202 initially and it was too small for all our skiing paraphenalia (would be fine if you're a single) plus it's right beside the bar which can be noisy on weekends. We were fortunate to be able to move across the street to Unit 7 the Valhalla Villa condos, also managed by The Christiania.


On previous trips to Vail our group has stayed at the Sonnenalp (luxurious large bathrooms) and The Lodge at Vail but the coziness and elegance without pretension of The Christiania and possibly the fact that you can register for the American Educational Institute's Medical-Dental-Legal course on site has won us over.