Eight Distinctive, Over-The-Top Accommodations from Alaska to Peru Launch the New Austin Collection

In selecting the first eight properties of what will be known as The Austin Collection, Dan Austin, founder and president of Austin Adventures, and his wife, Carol Austin, draw on nearly 40 years of international hosting experiences. They are putting their highest mark of approval on a handful of extraordinary, all-inclusive accommodations in world-class settings ranging from Alaska to Peru.

Dan Austin says that creating the new Austin Collection was a no-brainer:

“Carol and I have a symbiotic relationship with the style of properties our clients enjoy. Time and again trip alumni ask us for referrals to our favorite accommodations,” says Dan Austin. “Our clients trust our judgment to recommend properties we have personally vetted and grown to trust.” The company enjoys a loyal clientele with 98 percent of alumni travelers saying they would travel with Austin Adventures again.

The Austin Collection launch includes properties in the United States (Alaska, Arizona and Montana), Canada (British Columbia), Chile and Peru. Vacation packages will be available for booking through the vacation specialists at Austin Adventures. See: http://austinadventures.com/collection.

“We look forward in the months ahead to welcoming to the Collection other outstanding properties that meet our criteria,” Austin adds. The Austin Collection is expected to grow with the addition of one or two new offerings a year.

The accommodations profiled in the Austin Collection’s launch all share…

• Locations that are often isolated and remote
• Chef-prepared, fresh and locally sourced foods and wines of the region
• Opportunities to indulge in destination-specific outdoor recreation
• Highest standards of housekeeping, service and maintenance
• Immersion in local cultures and traditions
• A rare feeling of exclusivity with VIP pampering, services and experiences

The Austin Collection’s inaugural, pioneering stars are:

Alaska - Sheldon Chalet

After arriving by helicopter, Denali National Park is the playground for up to 10 guests in a five-bedroom chalet engineered on a nunatak (a glacier outcropping) at nearly 6,000 feet. Guests can sled, ski tour and trek, star gaze, engage in a guided mountaineering ropes course, explore crevasses or relax in a sauna.

“The Sheldon Chalet is honored to have been selected to join the Austin Collection. As the only accommodation on Denali, The Sheldon Chalet provides a new luxury experience in a majestic location on North America's tallest peak only 10 miles from the summit. Guests can experience Denali like never before. Our exclusive location and itinerary - helicopter flight to the Chalet, private chef, mountain guides, concierge - makes the Sheldon Chalet a beautiful fit for the Austin Collection, joining other amazing properties around the world,” shared Marne Sheldon, Sheldon Chalet.

Arizona - Tanque Verde Ranch

Surrounding this Tucson ranch are 60,000 acres of Sonoran Desert beauty. The ranch received its first guests in 1928; 150 years later they still flock to be embraced by Santa Fe-style adobe walls. Outside the Rincon Mountains, Saguaro National Park and Coronado National Forest beckon adventurers to horseback ride, mountain bike, explore and hike. Leatherwork and silversmith workshops echo the Old West; programs just for kids are fun and creative. Mom and Dad relish the La Sonora Spa. 

Montana - The Resort at Paws Up

On this 37,000-acre playground, guests lodge in impeccably appointed private homes or in a luxurious tented camp. Activities include exploring by ATV, horseback riding on 100 miles of trails, fly fishing on 10 river miles, learning to shoot sporting clays, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, rappelling, hot air ballooning and paintball; and in winter, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding and snowmobiling. 

British Columbia - The Chilko Experience

Guests arrive by chartered plane to this private estate with seven stunning log homes accommodating just 12 guests weekly. Surrounded by five million acres of wilderness, Chilko River and Chilko Lake, couples and families canoe and kayak, fly fish, whitewater raft, pilot ATVs, horseback ride and hike. Come fall, brown bear watching is popular on land and water. Guests can also pursue ax throwing and blacksmithing.

British Columbia - Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort

Located in the Great Bear Rainforest, accessible only by floatplane or helicopter, are 18 cabins, some built on stilts over the water, at the base of 5,000-foot Mt. Stephens. A waterfall runs through the resort, supplying clean drinking water and green energy. Guests kayak on the lookout for black bear, heli-hike mountain ridges, whale watch on the Broughton Archipelago and fish for wild Pacific salmon. 

Chile - explora Atacama

The sand dunes of the Atacama Desert and volcanoes of the Andes highlands are at the doorstep of this stylish adobe dwelling where guests lodge and dine between mountain hikes to summits over 16,000 feet high, horseback ride through red soil esplanades, hike through otherworldly landscapes and cycle into technicolor hills. They can also dip in the Puritama hot springs or sneak a peek at the stars through the telescope in a private observatory - after a traditional barbeque, music and dancing.

Peru - explora Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley)

A visit here promises an immersion in cultures of the past and present, with more than 20 possibilities for exploring Inca ruins plus indulging at a spa located in a 17th-century colonial dwelling. The traditional Peruvian cuisine is always a high point. Guests meet with local Quechua weavers, walk on glaciers outside of Cusco, pedal along the Urubamba River and visit the iconic mountain citadel of Machu Picchu. 

Peru - Hotel Sol y Luna (Urubamba)

In the Valley of the Incas guests nestle in casitas built of indigenous stone and appointed with local textiles and artifacts and Spanish colonial furniture, all of which are surrounded by lush terraces and gardens, pre-Colombian ruins and Spanish colonial churches. Before anticipating a private 10-course dinner, guests trek or paraglide, kayak or horseback ride on a Peruvian Paso horse. A tour of an organic garden precedes a cooking class.

To book an Austin Collection experience, call 1.800.575.1540 or email [email protected]. For a full roster of Austin Adventures’ 2018-2019 trips, cruises and distinctive accommodations on seven continents, please visit http://www.austinadventures.com. Austin Adventures is a Travel + Leisure Magazine World’s Best Award Winner and a Virtuoso Preferred Tour Operator.

About Austin Adventures

Based in Billings, Montana, Austin Adventures has spent 40 years building an international reputation as a top provider of luxury, small group, multisport tours for adults and families to the world’s most captivating destinations. They have been acknowledged twice by Travel + Leisure Magazine with the prestigious World’s Best Awards along with other national media accolades and distinctions. Austin Adventures has perfected the art of creating itineraries featuring exceptional regional dining, distinctive accommodations, incredible guides and exhilarating activities, all while keeping all-inclusive rates and services the norm. In addition to scheduled group departures on all seven continents, Austin Adventures has developed a reputation as the leader in customized trip planning and execution, all backed by the industry’s best money-back satisfaction guarantee.