Relais & Châteaux Route du Bonheur (road to happiness) in the Rocky Mountains is a luxurious blend of rustic and refined. The Home Ranch in Colorado pairs Western ranch traditions like their Home Ranch barn dance and family-style gourmet dining with the luxury and charm of a Relais & Châteaux hotel. The Home Ranch is located in one of the last Alpine ranching valleys in the American West and here you can enjoy the spectacular views of the Rockies, horseback ride, fly fish, hike and ski or snowshoe in winter. Steamboat Springs, with its restaurants and amenities is just a short drive away in this Rocky Mountain luxury destination.

Montana’s Rockies represent the Wild West with its white water torrents, evergreen forests and prairies of wild flowers. The destination hotel, Triple Creek Ranch, in the Bitterroot Mountain Range is rustic elegance with private luxury log cabins and a comfortable lodge. Contemporary eclectic cuisine paired with the world’s finest wines sets a gourmet table not generally anticipated in a western mountain resort. French, Southwestern, West Indian and Central American dishes pair with wines from the Triple Creek Ranch’s showcase cellar. Tasting menus and a Chef’s table, where you can watch the nightly creations in the resort’s high-tech kitchen make your Rocky Mountain Route du Bonheur complete.

The Rocky Mountains is a region vast and varied. In the U.S. alone it encompasses Yellowstone, Glacier and Rocky Mountain National Parks and large parts of Idaho and Wyoming. The Rocky Mountains may be the final frontier for the United States, a place where wildlife often outnumbers people.

Recreational opportunities are too numerous to list. The finest ski areas in the world are here: Aspen, Vail, Sun Valley, and Park City. Fly-fishing in the mountain rivers is unsurpassed. There’s also a western sensibility to the region, an anything goes attitude stemming from its history, not so long ago, as a cowboy mecca and Wild West playground. Growing ever more sophisticated, it still retains an untamed aura where today’s adventurers can find some real action while staying at a Relais & Châteaux luxury hotel.

For more information go to: www.goski.com or www.areaparks.com.