Last-minute Mother’s Day gifts: Why not a cool hotel stay?

What are you getting that powerful maternal figure in your life for Mother’s Day? Here’s a hint: What most moms crave is a break from routine.

They want romantic time with a partner; quality time with children, girlfriend time, or needed most of all, time alone to relax and restore.

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For the Record
May 11, 11:18 a.m.: This article states that the Art Hotel in Denver is around the corner from the Museum of Contemporary Art. It is around the corner from the Denver Art Museum.
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If you’re still struggling, Dads and grateful offspring, here are some suggestions that you can give as an IOU slip of paper if you’re doing this at the last minute.

Best of all, most of these are within a half-day drive.

Furnace Creek, Death Valley

Ranch at Furnace Creek and the Inn at Furnace Creek and are in the heart of Death Valley National Park, in an otherworldly setting replete with ravines, sand dunes, mountains and baked earth.

The ranch, which is less expensive than the inn, caters more to families, but the inn is quieter, more upmarket and has been a getaway for Angelenos since 1927. The inn has a spring-fed pool, a spa, and a star-gazing deck. On moonless nights its an astronomer’s dream.

If you choose the inn, you’ll need to give Mom an IOU. It closes for the season on Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 8) and reopens Oct. 7. The ranch is open year round. garden.

The western-themed ranch has recently remodeled cabin and lodge room accommodation, another spring-fed pool and tennis courts.

Info: Prices are higher at the holidays and in the spring. Doubles at the inn begin about $385 a night. Doubles at the ranch begin about $150 a night.

Fairmont Hotel Grand Del Mar, San Diego

Like a giant Mediterranean villa on a hillside in Los Peñasquitos Canyon, a wildlife preserve, the Fairmont Hotel Grand Del Mar is one of Southern California’s swankiest.

It has three restaurants and a five-star-rated, 22,000-square-foot spa with a dozens of treatments and a state-of-the-art fitness center.

The golf course is a velvety challenge designed by Tom Fazio.To make the most of it, book a private lesson with a PGA-certified golf instructor, then lunch at the Clubhouse Grill before heading to spend the afternoon at the spa, which even has its own organic skincare range. Another option is to take a cooking class with the culinary staff or a wine tasting with the sommelier.

Info: Doubles from $445, but check the website for special offers.

Post Ranch Inn

Post Ranch Inn recently refurbished the original ranch house as one-bedroom retreat. It comes at a hefty price, but its luxury takes some (or all) of the sting out of it’s starting price of $3.950 a night.

Sitting on the cliff above the pounding ocean of Big Sur, privacy is practically guaranteed. With views of the Pacific in front and the Santa Lucia mountains behind, there is no reason to leave the dwelling.

The retreat has an open floor plan, original art by Gregory Colbert, a hot tub and a king bed with organic sheets. Consider going whole hog bringing in a private chef to cook in the gourmet kitchen.

If the Post House is not in the budget, book one of the Inn’s tree house rooms, built so high into the redwoods you feel as though you are floating above the Pacific. The Butterfly Rooms are the least expensive on the property, and although they don’t have that gobsmacking ocean view, they are still sumptuous, surrounded on all sides by redwood forest and the purple-hued mountains in the distance.

Info: At the Post Ranch Inn, Tree Houses from $1,225 a night; Butterfly rooms from $895.

The Art Hotel, Denver

For the culture vulture mom, Denver,a little more than an two-hour flight, has become a the premier public art cities. Thanks to an ordinance that mandates spending on public art, more than 300 pieces dot the city. The downtown’s Art District, home of the Art Hotel, is newly revitalized , and the hotel sits opposite the History Colorado Center and around the corner from the famously angular Museum of Contemporary Art.

The hotel has a laudatory modern art and photography collection, and you can spend an entire morning discovering pieces in every corner, even hanging from the ceiling. There’s an open-air terrace where, in the warmer months, you can dine outside overlooking the sparkling city lights.

Info: Doubles at the Art Hotel from $259

Golden Eye, Oracabessa, Jamaica

This hotel was named after the James Bond novel and that’s because it’s on the former property of Ian Fleming, who wrote the Bond books while in residence.

Chris Blackwell, formerly owner of Islands Record (Bob Marley, U2, Grace Jones), bought the property, and it’s now one of Blackwell’s Island Outpost hotels, a handful of gorgeously located, hip boutique properties in Jamaica.

Golden Eye, which is expensive, recently opened 26 one- and two-bedroom beach huts that are more affordable but still being quirky and luxurious. The beach huts are clustered in their own community at one end of the property with separate swimming pool, bar and beach, so the only reason to go to the main resort is to dine.

They are built on stilts for cross-breeze ventilation and are spacious, painted in primary colors to resemble traditional Jamaican houses and have a large covered porch with chandelier and daybed. Ask to book one of the huts on the water above Oracabessa Bay and you’ll have a sunset view.

Info: Doubles at the Golden Eye from $400 a night.