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A lodge is a sort of country hotel that promises to get you out and immersed in the wilderness. Lodges can be found anywhere from the American Rockies to the African savannah. Rooms are often rustic but charming, and there are typically local touches worked into the design and architecture. All that's topped off with excellent links to hiking trails, safari parks, and ski slopes.

Want to hear the howling of wild wolf packs from your bedroom? Eager to spy out striped zebras crossing the plains? Want elephant herds to greet you in the morning? A lodge might just be the perfect choice. It's among the most remote and nature-based stays there are, putting all sorts of adventures right outside your door.

Any destination that's got the great outdoors (like Warrensburg, NY) is usually home to a lodge or 2. You'll need to leave behind the big city to discover most of these places, but that could mean anything from booking lodges in the snow-doused peaks of British Columbia to seeking a lodge perched on the dusty bluffs of the South African savannah.

Lodges range from the shoestring to the luxurious. There are certainly cheap lodges that can get you sleeping surrounded by the wilds of the world for less – expect bunk beds and shared bathroom facilities. But there are also lodges that offer plush pads and 4-poster bedspreads, Victorian baths and bubbling hot tubs to honeymooners. They inevitably cost a little more.

A stay at a lodge is a stay close to nature. These sorts of accommodations often have hiking trails or ski slopes right on the doorstep, or vistas of alpine mountains or rolling grasslands unfolding outside your bathroom window. Inside, they can vary greatly. There are winter lodges that come with hearty timber rooms and saunas. There are safari lodges that have infinity pools overlooking elephant-peppered plains.

They're often regarded as rather similar, so what's the difference between a lodge and a cabin? Lodges are often touted as a more luxurious option, with services you might expect from a hotel, along with more staff at the ready, and on-site amenities like pools and bars. Cabins, by contrast, tend to be more remote and private, making them a good option for outdoorsy adventurers looking to really get off the grid for a while.

Use Expedia's accommodation wizard and you can easily search for a top-rated lodge nearby to you. Alternatively, just enter where you're planning that next outdoorsy vacation, the dates you're looking to travel, and then click the map feature. It will reveal all of the lodges in a particular place and its surroundings.

Use the above search function. Booking a lodge can be just like booking a hotel. Simply enter the dates you're planning on traveling and sort your results by lodges to see the top-rated stays of this sort in any destination. You can even use the map feature to help you pinpoint more remote lodges, while bundling bookings for flights and car hire together with that lodge can be a great way to save a little cash.