A Romantic Desert Holiday: Christmas and New Year's at Wanderlust

Not every couple wants a Christmas with a full itinerary attached, and not every New Year's needs a countdown in a crowded room. Some years, the better version of both holidays is quiet — which is the one thing Wonder Valley has in abundance.

Wanderlust's primary suite was designed around that kind of quiet: restrained, design-forward interiors, Cariloha bamboo linens, and an outdoor soaking tub set under the open sky. There is something specific about sliding into hot water outside, in December, with your breath visible and the stars just starting to show, that a hotel room can't really replicate.

Christmas at Wanderlust doesn't have to mean giving anything up — it means trading the usual version of the holiday for a smaller, more private one. Slow mornings with coffee. A fire pit in the evening instead of a crowded family room. No obligation to be anywhere else on the property's five private acres.

New Year's here works the same way. Instead of counting down in a room full of strangers, the desert offers its own version of the moment — clear, dark, and enormous. Longer winter nights mean more hours of sky before midnight even arrives, and there's no better place to actually watch the year change than somewhere with nothing between you and the horizon.

This is a holiday for couples who'd rather remember the trip than the itinerary. Check available dates before the season books up — winter holiday weekends move fast.