Rooms cantilevered over the basalt canyon walls of Lake Chelan — the third deepest lake in North America — with floor-to-ceiling glass framing 50 miles of glacially carved trough between snowfield peaks. Days extend naturally to the Lake Chelan AVA wineries or the ferry to roadless Stehekin at the lake's far end.
Why guests love it
Lake Chelan is 1,486 feet deep, 50 miles long, and in places barely a mile wide — the third deepest lake in North America, carved by glaciers into a trough so narrow and steep that approaching from the south feels less like arriving at a lake and more like entering a fjord that wandered east of the Cascades. The basalt canyon walls rise sheer from the water. The peaks above them carry snowfields well into June.
The Aerie Resort is built directly into that clifftop. Some rooms cantilever over the rock face; others are cut into excavated terraces. All of them sit behind floor-to-ceiling glass that frames the lake and the opposing canyon walls in a view that earns the hotel its name. The light shifts radically through the day — mercury pale at dawn, electric blue by mid-afternoon, amber on the canyon walls at dusk while the water below turns almost black.
The architecture borrows from the Pacific Northwest’s own vocabulary: rough-hewn local stone, weathered steel, Douglas fir. There is no attempt to impose something foreign on a landscape that requires nothing added. A heated outdoor pool and hot tub sit on the cliff edge. The restaurant focuses on regional produce. Concierge boat tours cover the lake’s length.
Lake Chelan AVA is serious wine country, with a dozen or more wineries on the south-facing slopes within easy reach of the resort. The more distinctive outing, though, is the ferry to Stehekin at the lake’s far end — a village with no road connection to the outside world, just a landing dock, a bakery, and the particular quiet that a few corners of the Cascades still produce. It is worth the full day it takes.
From
$400 / night
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