3 Best Hotels in Cloudcroft, Southeastern New Mexico

You can rent these utilitarian, one- to four-bedroom cabins and be in the heart of the forest. Interiors are dated, and the kitchens are basic but functional, with a refrigerator, range, and microwave (except in the cheapest studio cabin, which just has a tiny kitchenette).

You can savor the forested surroundings and shade in this sanctuary far removed from any major community. The grassy site has full hookups and pull-through parking.

The imposing Bavarian-style architecture of The Lodge, with its tower and dramatic details, has drawn all sorts of notable characters over the years, including Judy Garland, Clark Gable, and even the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The bar was owned by Al Capone at one point. The outside looks like an Alpine lodge, but the interior, with its dark-wood furnishings and plush carpeted stairways, seems to have come right from a Gothic novel. Rooms are furnished with antiques, fluffy comforters, and ceiling fans. Rebecca's Restaurant ($$$) serves Continental cuisine in a beautiful room that is full of sunlight during the day and romantically lighted with candles at night. Rebecca is the resident ghost of a chambermaid apparently murdered by her lumberjack lover in the 1930s in the hotel—and she's reputedly quite playful.