Lucy W.
Yelp
Stayed at the Center Village condos in Sugarbush Village, which are the 1st set of condos to the right of the Lincoln Peak base lodge (if you're looking up at the mountain). We reserved a small studio style room, which is actually a one bedroom w/ 1 bed and a pullout couch in the living room area.
Check in (and check out) is at Sugarbush Inn, which is located further down the access road- (you pass this before getting to the Sugarbush base lodge, hang a right and the Center Village condos are right there). Check-in went smoothly...they provide a welcome packet, maps, free shuttle schedule, and actual keys (rather than the more modern credit card style swipe cards that are now so common). For our checkout, we wanted to ski the day we were leaving so we called the desk and asked if we can leave the keys in the room as we vacate to allow for housekeeping and sign our paperwork when we leave for the day on our way down the mountain...very flexible, and allowed us to enjoy a great partial day of skiing before heading home! Would have been avoided though (and saved me a phone call), if we were automatically checked out and if the keys were electronic, we wouldn't have to leave them.
Great location- we could walk to the base lodge in the morning (and not worry about parking and such) and back to the condo for lunch during the day. Parking was very easy- you can park right in front of the entrance to the condo building.
Having a kitchen is a huge bonus- you can bring food and have it in the comfort of "home", rather than going out to restaurants or eating in the base lodge amongst the herds of people. There are not too many large markets nearby through- Shaws is in Waterbury 20-30 min away. You're pretty much confined to smaller grocery stores/vt country stores and convenience stores in the area so bring what you can with you. The condo has all dishes, silverware, cooking utensils, etc. so that was really convenient.
Each unit has a ski locker in a little room that is the connector from the condos to the path that leads to the base lodge- very convenient place to put all the ski gear.
For convenience, Sugarbush Village has a couple of on-site dining options- a pizza place, a deli, a pub, a little French restaurant (Chez Henri)...we didn't go to any of these places on this visit, but nice to know they were there. I've been to Chez Henri in the past and it's has great food w/ a cozy atmosphere.
VERY dated- think wood paneling, 80's style appliances and electronics and your typical worn ski lodge decor. Definitely more functional, rather than fancy. Sugarbush Village itself is also very dated- it is such a great location that I would think that this may also be due for an overhaul, like the Clay Brook condos & new base lodge were.
Skimped on the toiletries- very cheap stuff in the bathroom and not enough to cover our stay. Easily fixed by dropping by either Clay Brook or Sugarbush Inn to ask for additional shampoo/conditioners... the fancier kinds too :)
And one weird complaint- Static everywhere...carpet, blankets, mattress pads on the bed, pillows, everywhere! The dry air probably contributed to all the static as well.
All in all, exactly what I expected...Sugarbush itself is one of my favorite mountains to ski (so it ranks way higher than the lodging). I wanted the convenience factor during a holiday week so I paid a premium for it and I knew I was renting one of the older and less expensive options at Sugarbush, so my expectations were a little lower (and met by Center Village)!
