Smoky Mountain Country Club, Whittier

Smoky Mountain Country Club seems to grow out of its mountainous surroundings, with peaking green rooftops and wooden balconies above the trees. The resort's décor takes a cue from its rustic setting. Every condo comprises at least 1,330 square feet of hardwood floors, granite kitchen counters, and fireplaces with stone-seated hearths. Adjoining outdoor patios, each furnished to hold six guests, overlook the resort's 335 gated acres of parkland.

The resort's centerpiece, an 18-hole golf course, winds its way across low-lying dales and along precipitous crags, ranging in elevation by 400 feet from lowest to highest point. Mountaintop tee offs loft golf balls so far into the air that they seem to float or enter geosynchronous orbit.

Smoky Mountain Country Club also counts a fitness room, men and women's locker rooms with heated saunas, and two lit tennis courts among its amenities. Beyond the resort grounds, more than 1,000,000 acres of national parks afford opportunities for whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River and fishing in mountain streams.