The Balsam Inn

The place is wonderfully cozy, and the quiet is hard to describe. Jenny is a real gem as a host. Best wishes, Mat from Switzerland

The wings at the bar are worth stopping for, too. Jenny and crew kept in touch before and during our stay, and they clearly cared about making things great for guests. Our room was super cozy and clean. There’s a shared bathroom, and the floors in the hall and stairs squeak a lot, which might bother a light sleeper. It didn’t bother us.

The food was awesome, and the atmosphere had a real step-back-in-time feel. It was a wonderful stay, and Jenny has done a great job looking after the property.

The bed made for a really rough night. My partner and I kept sliding toward the middle because something seemed wrong with the mattress, and we couldn’t get comfortable. We even thought about giving up and sleeping in the car. That was especially rough in the middle of our multi-day drive, when we really needed a good night’s rest. I’ve seen other people say their beds were very comfortable, so maybe we just got unlucky. The room was tiny, and the floor slanted so much that the area rug actually slid to one side. The innkeeper was sweet, friendly, and welcoming. The inn and cafe were charming and cozy, with nice decor and a warm vibe, and everything was clean. It’s a quaint, rustic, pretty property, more like a house, hostel, or B&B than a regular hotel. The building was hot and stuffy, though there was a window AC unit in our room. We were told there’d been a bear sighting right before we arrived, so we had to bring all our food and other edible things, including the cooler and dog food, up two steep flights of stairs and into our room. With so little space, that got cramped fast, especially with a dog, though luckily ours is small. It was nice of the innkeeper to put out breakfast items, but the prepackaged bars were old and stale, and the selection was pretty dismal. There was also a very drunk man camping outside the inn at this Hipcamp property. Whenever we walked between the car and the inn, he’d stumble around and try to interact with us. Once, he was bleeding from the face. As a gay couple traveling through the Adirondack Mountains, we felt on edge because of the atmosphere in the area. For us, the price was the main issue. At $80, we wouldn’t have complained. We don’t need anything fancy and have slept in all kinds of conditions, but nearly $200 for one night left us disappointed. My partner recently stayed in a much nicer motel in the Rockies for a lot less, so this was a surprise and a letdown. There’s one good-sized shared bathroom with a shower, and the rooms don’t have private bathrooms. On a summer Friday, there seemed to be only one other guest, so the bathroom wasn’t much of a problem. The kitchen closes at 8, and the only nearby place to get food later is Lakeview Store, about 10 minutes away, which stays open until 9. The property is very buggy and mosquito-y, as you might expect, and mosquitoes got into our room, too.