Summer in Vail, Colorado: Where to Stay, Eat, and Drink

This guide is a paid partnership with Discover Vail. All picks are our own.

Ask a local how they feel about Vail, Colorado in the summertime and you'll hear some version of the same line: people visit Vail for the winters and stay for the summers.

One stroll through Vail Village — vibrant flower boxes under every window, soaring green mountains looming overhead — and you'll understand why.

There's just something about the mountains in summer. Skiing gives way to gondola rides and hikes, après becomes aperitivo hour on sunny patios, and while we'll always be partial to a beautiful hotel and a well-designed dining room, there's no denying the healing power of the natural beauty Vail offers as a backdrop to everything you do.

Below, our aesthetic guide to summering in Vail: where to stay, eat, and drink, plus the activities worth building your days around.

Stay

Photo: Opulist

The Hythe

The Hythe is a centrally located, sprawling property that is equally grand, cozy, rustic, and modern.

Filled with amenities like an on-site restaurant (with breakfast buffet), lobby bar, coffee shop, fireplaces in rooms, beautiful pool, spa, fitness center, in-house car service and more, The Hythe makes a great home base for a wide variety of travelers, including furry friends (spotted: lots of cute dogs bopping around).

Photo: Opulist

Four Seasons Resort and Residences Vail

An iconic mountain escape perched underneath the mountains and at the entrance to Vail Village, Four Seasons Vail offers a luxurious retreat from your outdoor activities with a plethora of on-site amenities and additional Opulist locations such as The Remedy Bar and Tavernetta Vail. Grab an afternoon spritz from the spritz window outside of Tavernetta, indulge in a jacuzzi dip at the gorgeous pool, and head to The Remedy Bar for a nightcap to top off your perfect day.

Photo: Opulist

The Sebastian

A Timbers Resort in the heart of Vail Village, The Sebastian is the art-lover's pick — the owners' private collection hangs throughout the property, from the lobby's stacked-wood fireplace to the guest rooms. There's a year-round mountain-view pool with four hot tubs, Bloom Spa, complimentary bikes, and now Zuma Vail which recently made its debut. The Library, with its towering black bookshelves and leather chairs, would make for a perfect reading or working nook midday.

Coffee & Breakfast

Photo: Opulist

Two Arrows

Tucked into a Wall Street storefront, Two Arrows is a coffee shop with a double life: espresso and locally sourced breakfast in the morning, artisanal cocktails and a disco ball by night. It's the kind of place where you’ll feel like a local, and appreciate it as a vacation treat stop as well.

Photo: Sonnenalp Hotel

Treff Café | Sonnenalp Hotel

"Treff" means meet in German, which tells you everything about the intent here. Tucked into the Sonnenalp, this European-style café serves proper espresso drinks, flaky pastries, and light bites just off the main village bustle. Post up on the patio with a cappuccino and a blueberry danish for some of the best people-watching in town.

Photo: Opulist

Margie's Haas

The Hythe's signature restaurant is named for Margie Haas, the local home cook who fed 10th Mountain Division troopers during WWII — a story that shows up on the plate as contemporary alpine-American cooking. Come for the breakfast buffet (cured salmon, yogurt parfaits, eggs any style, pastries for days) and stay for the mountain views from the booths.

Eat

Photo: Opulist

Zuma Vail

The globally beloved Japanese izakaya landed inside The Sebastian in summer 2026, marking Zuma's first alpine outpost in the U.S. Expect the signature black cod in hoba leaf, a robata grill working overtime, 250 wines, an extensive sake list, and a DJ booth built right into the dining room. Carved timber, glowing amber resin, bouclé-lined booths — it's a full mood.

Photo: Opulist

Tavernetta Vail | Four Seasons

From the Michelin-recognized Frasca Hospitality Group, Tavernetta Vail is a love letter to Italy's regions, with handmade pasta nightly and a wine list heavy on Italian bottles and French champagne. Don't skip the Spritz Window — a nod to the wine windows of Tuscany, where you buzz and your drink appears. Sunday brunch on the terrace comes with a rolling mimosa cart, in case you need convincing.

Photo: Opulist

Alpenrose

A Vail institution since 1974, Alpenrose has been feeding generations of visitors German-Austrian classics — schnitzel, spätzle, goulash, rösti, apple strudel — in a cozy alpine cabin on Meadow Drive. The street-side patio is the play in summer, especially on Sunday when the Farmers' Market rolls right past your table.

Photo: Opulist

The Restaurant at Chasing Rabbits

Designed by Rockwell Group and sprawling across 13,000 square feet at Solaris, The Restaurant at Chasing Rabbits is less a restaurant than a choose-your-own-adventure: a modern Mediterranean dining room with walnut woodwork and antique mirrored ceilings, a library lounge, a theater, an arcade, and a speakeasy hidden behind a panel door. Order the cocoa coffee crusted skirt steak, then keep going.

Photo: Opulist

La Brasserie

Vail Village's newest French arrival sits on the corner of Bridge Street and Gore Creek Drive, and it understands the assignment: La Brasserie is oysters, steak frites, French onion soup, and a very cold martini, served without fuss from 11am until late. Ideal for a long lunch that accidentally becomes dinner.

Drink

Photo: Chasing Rabbits

Moon Rabbit at Chasing Rabbits

Follow the red-carpet corridor, know the password, and slip through the panel door into Moon Rabbit — Chasing Rabbits' speakeasy, where East meets West in the most theatrical way possible. Cocktails arrive on gold platters and occasionally in the hands of a small astronaut. Old films flicker on the wall. Note that hours vary by season — check before you go. 

Photo: Opulist

The Remedy Bar | Four Seasons

The patio at The Remedy Bar has the best views in the village, and the bar team backs it up with craft cocktails, local brews, and whiskey flights (they'll do a mixology class, too, if you're feeling ambitious). Live music, a fire pit, and alpine light doing its thing at golden hour — the ideal nightcap, or the ideal excuse to skip dinner reservations entirely.

Do

Photo: Opulist

Horseback riding at Vail Stables

Vail Stables has been guiding riders into the White River National Forest backcountry for over 20 years, on trails that deliver Gore Range views and, in summer, full blankets of wildflowers. Rides run one to two hours, and you’ll probably be tempted to stick around afterward for the beer garden — where a herd of extremely persistent goats will absolutely climb into your lap while enjoying an afternoon beverage.

Photo: Opulist

Vail 4x4 tour with mountaintop picnic

If you're after true immersion in Vail's untouched, soaring mountain ranges, an off-roading Jeep tour is your ticket. Vail 4x4 pairs its Top of the Rockies Jeep route — creek crossings, rock crawling, 12,000-foot summits — with a private gourmet picnic at 11,500 feet, curated by Picnic Vail and The Grazing Fox. Local Colorado spreads, multiple mountain ranges in view, and not another soul in sight. Hotel pickup included, so all you have to do is show up.

Photo: Opulist

Shopping in Vail Village

Vail Village is pedestrian-friendly and made for leisurely strolling, which means shopping here is less errand and more meander. Modeled after traditional Bavarian and Austrian alpine villages, the whole place transports you to a European wonderland — you'll forget you're nestled in the middle of the United States.

Start at Gorsuch — the flagship is a master class in alpine elegance — then work your way through the galleries, jewelers, and boutiques lining the cobblestones. If you're here on a Sunday between mid-June and early October, the Vail Farmers' Market & Art Show takes over East Meadow Drive with 150+ stalls of Colorado produce, makers, and food. (There's a smaller Meadow Market on Thursday evenings, too.)

Whether you're chasing wildflowers, a long French lunch, or the best patio in the village, Vail delivers. Thank you to Discover Vail for partnering with us on this guide. Find these picks and more on Opulist, and save this collection in the app for your future Vail travels.