There’s something about eating outside that just makes food taste better. And when the food is stellar to begin with and the setting is a natural wonder, well, you’ve got yourself a little slice of utopia. Here’s a cheat sheet on five of the country’s most outstanding picnic spots — inns and resorts that have both a chef with picnic-packing chops and a setting splendid enough to back it up.

Place: Auberge du Soleil, Napa Valley
Setting: Overlooking a patchwork of glowing vineyards.
Meal: Grilled salmon with lentils and pinot noir sauce, lemon meringue terrine.
Upshot: Can you bottle scenery?

Place: The Chanler, Newport, Rhode Island
Setting: “Beach butler” service on a breezy beach and the Cliff Walk, home to a dream team of Gatsby-esque mansions.
Meal: Seafood BLT’s on ciabatta, donut peaches, and lavender lemonade cunningly spiked with limoncello.
Upshot: Sandcastle-cool.

Place: Canoe Bay, Rusk County, Wisconsin
Setting: A perch peering out to a private lake ruffled with fiery orange daisies.
Meal: House-cured Six Point Berkshire ham sandwich with five-year aged Wisconsin cheddar and apple slices, Caymus Conundrum.
Upshot: Utter bliss. Thoreau-ly.

Place: Enchantment Resort, Sedona, Arizona
Setting: Smack center of red-rock formations.
Meal: Golden tomato gazpacho with grilled shrimp, seared sesame scallop salad, fresh limeade.
Upshot: Seventy acres of blue sky and brilliant canyon? Now that rocks.

Place: The Inn at Sawmill Farm, West Dover, Vermont
Setting: Rolling hills, fishing ponds, gazebos, and some of the best fall foliage anywhere.
Meal: Grilled quail, deviled eggs, chocolate and fruit, a bottle of Château Margaux.
Upshot: Oh, naturale.

Now take it outside, will you?