Winter storms may still be pounding parts of the Midwest, but spring getaway season is just around the corner.
To help jumpstart trip planning, consider some of these hotel packages inspired by everything from Barbie and the opening of Major League Baseball season to Frida Kahlo and a chance to see the Rolling Stones.
Celebrate baseball season in Denver
The Maven Hotel at Dairy Block is not only the official partner hotel of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, it's the closest hotel to Denver's Coors Field. For the 2019 baseball season, The Maven is offering a Colorado Rockies Bucket List experience, priced at $20,000. The package includes a two-night's stay in the hotel's baseball-themed Diamond Suite, four premier game tickets in the Rockies Press Club (with hosted food and beverage) and a chance to throw out the first pitch or play catch with a Major League player. Other game-day treats include a personalized message on the Rockies scoreboard and a photo with Dinger, the Colorado Rockies' mascot.
Commune with Frida Kahlo in Brooklyn
The NU Hotel Brooklyn has crafted a package to celebrate the Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving exhibit running through May 12 at the Brooklyn Museum. Rates start at $339 and include a pair of VIP skip-the-line exhibit tickets and a stay in the Frida Mural Room, which features a large, colorful wall mural by Miguel Ayuso. The package also includes two Frida-inspired margaritas, a copy of the Kahlo exhibit book and a $75 certificate to Brooklyn's Colonia Verde Mexican restaurant.
VIP Jazz Festival package in New Orleans
2019 is the 50th anniversary of the famed New Orleans's Jazz & Heritage Festival, taking place Friday, April 26 through Sunday, May 5. Headliners range from Jerry Lee Lewis and Diana Ross to Van Morrison, Al Green, Santana and the Rolling Stones.
The Jung Hotel is offering several three-, four- and five-night Mista Big Stuff VIP Jazz Fest Experience packages that include hotel accommodations, daily breakfast, round-trip black car airport transfers, welcome cocktails, daily transportation to and from the festival site and a pair of festival passes with VIP entrance and hospitality tent access. Prices start at $1,900 per person for the festival's first weekend and jump to $2,550 per person for the festival's second weekend, when tickets to the Rolling Stones' performance day are included.
Dedicated to da Vinci
May 2 marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death. On that day, and throughout that week and weekend, the art and science-inspired Hotel EMC2 in Chicago will honor the Renaissance master.
There will be a da Vinci trivia contest (conducted via text messages) and special da Vinci-themed foods and cocktails in the hotel's restaurant. Leo, the hotel's robot concierge, will be dressed to look like Leonardo da Vinci and deliver a custom drawing by the hotel's resident artist (alas, not by da Vinci) to each guest who orders room service. Rates start at $249.
Vacation like Barbie
To honor Barbie, the career-hopping fashion doll that turned 60 last week, the Hilton Mexico City Santa Fe and Mattel transformed a guest suite into a Barbie dream house, with Barbie-themed touches throughout the property.
An Instagram-ready, oversized pink Barbie shoe welcomes guests at the hotel entrance. The hotel's restaurant has a Barbie-inspired menu with pink foods. Barbie-themed artwork adorns the hallways and, out by the pool, there's a Barbie-pink cabana.
The themed suite features a life-sized Barbie Dream Camper, Barbie photos and accessories, Barbie dolls from six decades and Barbie-themed bathroom amenities from Colgate and Avon. Rates start at $189 on weekdays and at $229 on weekends and may be booked through December.
Kimpton's Stay Human Project
Kimpton's Stay Human Project is temporarily transforming one room at 20 different Kimpton properties into a "highly localized" active space reflecting the surrounding neighborhood.
It's not as woo-woo as it sounds. The Cherry (Blossom) On Top room at the Kimpton Glover Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. has live cherry blossoms, cherry-blossom inspired décor and amenities, and a haiku writing station. The Surf's Up/Bottom's Up room at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar in San Diego pays homage to the surfing scene with a surfboard wall and a flight of craft beer. Rates vary by property.
Wine tasting — by helicopter
The Vintages Trailer Resort, in Oregon's Willamette Valley wine country, offers guests the complimentary use of cruiser bikes with each retro trailer rental. But on weekends from May through October the offbeat resort is offering guests the opportunity to go wine tasting by helicopter. The Tour DeVine by Heli package ($1,200 for two, in addition to trailer rental) includes a sparkling wine send-off on The Vintages' patio, lunch and visits to three wineries, via helicopter.
Arrive by helicopter, leave by Land Rover
The Equinox Golf & Spa Resort in Manchester Village, Vermont, is celebrating its 250th anniversary with a swank $250,000 package.
Helicopter rides to and from New York or Boston are included, along with a weekend buyout at one of the property's two historic inns. Package activities range from four rounds of golf and spa treatments for all guests to a guided fly-fishing excursion with Orvis, a guided falconry hike and a group hike up Mount Equinox, the resort's namesake. After an off-roading adventure with the Land Rover Experience Driving Center, guests may then drive a Land Rover home.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Kimpton program. It is the Stay Human Project.