18 March 2026
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For North America’s finest hotels, extraordinary activities have become a signature selling point. The standard tour group cooking class doesn’t cut it at a Two-Key property in San Francisco, where a former Le Cordon Bleu exec runs a high-tech cooking school. Outside Washington, D.C., and on Mexico’s jungle-thick Pacific Coast, sprawling stables take up space near the swimming pools.
Read on for eight of the most well-curated excursions across MICHELIN hotel properties.
Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge
Canyoning in a UNESCO biosphere on Vancouver Island
The Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge is set within a jaw-dropping UNESCO-recognized biosphere at the edge of Vancouver Island, with an old growth conifer forest, rocky peaks and valleys and a deep water fjord crowding the views. On the hotel’s canyoning experience — canyoning is the sport of exploring the landforms — guests get a guided excursion through it all, beginning with a hilly e-bike ride and ending with a plunge in the glacier-fed Bedwell River (wetsuits included).
The Mark Hotel
Sail the New York Harbor in a 70-foot yachtAs far as amenities go, there are few as lavish as an in-house sailboat. At Manhattan’s Mark Hotel , it’s a 70-foot Herreshoff, a wooden icon from the legendary New England builder. Each summer, the yacht welcomes guests for two-hour charters through New York Harbor, with sweeping skyline views and drive-bys of the Statue of Liberty. Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who runs the Mark’s restaurant (as well as Jean-Georges, his fine dining restaurant on Central Park West) provides a menu, served alongside ample Champagne.
Dunton Hot Springs
World-class fly fishing in the Colorado countrysideAfter a soak in the restorative calcium bicarbonate pools at Colorado’s Dunton Hot Springs, head out into the cool, clear waters of the nearby Dolores River for some world-class fly fishing. The hotel’s guides know just the spots in the golden river valley where rainbow, brown, cutthroat and brook trout are most plentiful. All ability levels are welcome, with special instruction provided on hand-tying the perfect fly.
Fogo Island Inn
Forage for berries and herbs on a remote Newfoundland islandThe Fogo Island Inn overlooks the water on the opposite rugged extreme of Canada, on a craggy speck of island off the coast of Newfoundland. The extraordinary geography gives way to seven distinct seasons, with opportunities to explore the land’s bounty nearly year-round. Beginning in the spring, foraging tours take guests to secret patches of juniper and sweet gale, a fragrant bog shrub. Come summertime, brilliant-colored berries – like the solar-hued bakeapple and royal red partridgeberries – pop up between boulders and in wetlands and can be preserved as jams and jellies in a hotel-arranged lesson.
One&Only Mandarina
Traditional Mexican healing rituals on the Riviera NayaritThe onsite curandera, or healer, at the One&Only Mandarina hotel on Mexico’s Pacific coast leads guests through traditional practices that she learned from her ancestors. In the temazcal sweat lodge, steam, herbs and songs are used to detoxify the body. A seat at a grandfather fire ceremony, a ritual tied to an indigenous fire god, provides energetic cleansing. And a cacao ceremony and word circle aim to open the heart in a soft and harmonious way, the hotel says.
Bungalows & Casitas de las Flores in Careyes
Learn the sport of kings on Mexico’s Pacific CoastThe best polo players in the world flock to the Mexican Pacific enclave of Careyes for tournaments on their seaside Bermuda grass fields. But guests of the community’s Bungalows & Casitas de las Flores in Careyes can enjoy the sport of kings too. Lessons on one of the stable’s 60 trained ponies offer an introduction to the swings and strategies of the ancient game. If you get good enough, regular matches are held throughout the week.
Salamander Middleburg
Horse rides and pony parties outside of Washington, D.C.The Salamander Middleburg hotel outside of Washington, D.C., is the destination for horseback memories stateside. Their 25-acre, 22-stall equestrian center is aimed at entry-level guests, with activities like horseshoe painting, grooming and riding lessons and pony parties with Cupcake, the hotel’s celebrity-status miniature horse, on offer. Guided rides across the property go down wooded trails and across pristine fields.
Cavallo Point Lodge
A Le Cordon Bleu-caliber cooking school in San FranciscoLearn to cook the dishes of Sardinia on Saturday and som tam Thai papaya salad on Sunday: that’s the promise of the state-of-the-art cooking school at San Francisco's Cavallo Point Lodge. This is no quaint tour group cooking class. The school is set in an expansive space with restaurant-quality equipment, and led by Chef Tim Grable, a veteran of some of the city’s most important restaurants and a former director of the Le Cordon Bleu California affiliate.
Quercus
Gentle horse training on a rural Georgia farmOn Quercus’s idyllic stretch of farmland, located just over an hour south of Atlanta, guests forge intimate bonds with horses through what’s known as liberty training. The technique involves the use of body language, voice cues and other signals to motivate a horse — instead of physical restraints or force. Alongside the intuitive animals, the activity is a lesson in mindfulness and patience for horse-lovers of all experience-levels.
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Hero image: Aquatic adventures on Vancouver Island. © Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge
Thumb image: Canyoning in a UNESCO biosphere on Vancouver Island. © Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge
