Hotel Review: Lansdowne Resort; Leesburg, Virginia

Long weekends always pose a problem for me. My urge is to jump on a plane right after work on Friday & not come back until midnight on Monday. I know, at the beginning of the year, that I’m going to have a three-day-weekends in January (MLK Day), February (President’s Day), May (Memorial Day), July (Independence Day), September (Labor Day), October (Columbus Day); a pseudo-long weekend in April (Easter); & an extra long weekend in November (Thanksgiving). This gives me eight opportunities to travel, not including my three weeks of paid time off which I use generously – always a week in Barbados in the spring & a week somewhere else in August.Last year, my husband & I traveled 11 of 12 months – all for pleasure. A few of those trips weren’t really vacations – traveling for Thanksgiving & Easter, as well as back to his hometown in Ohio for his high school reunion. But the rest were spent exploring new places & taking advantage of long weekends.

This year, we vowed to try & travel a little less, to save up for a big 2012 trip. When we do travel,  we’ve vowed to make it meaningful. This meant that when we were faced with our first long weekend of the year, there was no jetting off to Savannah or Denver. Instead, we hopped in the car and drove 45 minutes out to Leesburg, Virginia to the Landsdowne Resort. Semi-frequent shoppers at the outlet mall in Leesburg, we had heard of the resort, but had never checked it out ourselves.

The AAA Four-Diamond rated Landsdowne Resort is situated on acres of Virginia countryside along the Potomac River. Mainly geared toward golfers in the warmer months, the resort features two 18-hole championship courses, included one designed by Greg Norman; a nine-hole course also designed by Greg Norman; a large club house; pro shop; & several on-site dining establishments. Since it was too cold for golf (not to mention that the only type we really play is putt-putt), we occupied ourselves with the resort’s other amenities. We spent several hours two mornings in a row playing countless intense games of racquetball (which I lost all of), enjoyed the indoor pool & Jacuzzi (although the outdoor pool complex might be enough to lure us back in the summer months), took advantage of the on-site spa for a couples massage (the first one ever, I should mention, that didn’t charge extra to have two of us in the same room), & enjoyed warm (adult) drinks by the roaring fireplace in the tavern one evening.

The hotel, while looking a bit dated from the outside, is nicely decorated in muted neutrals & autumn tones on the inside. Our corner room was comfortable, with a large bathroom & closet. We had breakfast each morning at the breakfast buffet, which offered plenty of healthy options – something sometimes hard to find – including made to order eggs, mounds of fresh fruit, oatmeal, pastries, & other usual breakfast items. The buffet restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch & dinner, has floor to ceiling windows which overlook part of the golf course, the Potomac & the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.

The resort offers several reasonably priced packages, including romance getaways, spa credits, golf credits, & dining options. They also have a special package for active duty military which features a heavily discounted room rate & breakfast for two each morning – BIG kudos to them for recognizing the service & sacrifice of our men & women in uniform & their families. Included in the price of your room are all the amenities, including several complimentary fitness classes, a very comfortable lobby area, bath robes in all the rooms, complimentary high-speed Internet & even access to their Wii!

(P.S. I’m not paid or perk’d to write this kind of stuff. The Landsdowne Resort has no idea who I am. I just thought this was a great place to get away.)