The Best Places in the United States

A boutique hotel where the art collection is the point, not the lobby filler. The 21c chain built its name in cities you wouldn't expect, and the Durham outpost fits right into a downtown mid-reinvention. Rooms sit alongside rotating contemporary art, and the whole thing feels more like a stay inside a functioning museum than a polished-down corporate property. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

Arched windows and original brick from an old Midtown building are still doing the heavy lifting here, even as the interiors have gone full Autograph Collection, with taupe walls, tall headboards, and copper accent pillows. Chesapeake Energy Arena and Bricktown are walkable, and the Rooftop O Bar draws enough locals that you'll forget you're staying at a hotel.

A water taxi from Pier 25 drops you on Governors Island, a city park that happens to sit between Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty, where Collective operates a glamping resort that makes the Catskills seem like a lot of driving. Tents come with air conditioning, Frette robes, and en suite bathrooms, and the top cabin adds a soaking tub aimed at the Statue of Liberty. Cocktails on the Sunset Terrace, morning buffet, yoga, oyster shucking classes: summer camp, if camp had gone upmarket.

The origin story involves black flowers bought from a French roadside cart, and the whole hotel has leaned into it ever since. Moody botanical wallpaper by Ellie Cashman lines the interiors, while giant murals spill into a poolside courtyard with fire pits and Adirondack chairs. Casitas and suites have terracotta floors and midcentury furnishings. The speakeasy-style rosé bar keeps things from taking themselves too seriously.

Art Deco bones from the thirties, a wash of UW purple, and a plaid nod to the city's nineties moment: Graduate Seattle is a boutique hotel that wears its neighborhood on its sleeve. Rooms are comfortable without pushing into splurge territory, which fits the University District just fine. There's no bar or restaurant, just a lobby lounge, but the Neptune Theatre is right across the street and the neighborhood fills in the rest.

Twenty-inch brick walls and ornate plasterwork that predate the Civil War set the scene at this nine-room boutique hotel in Boylan Heights. The Italianate mansion has been fitted out in what the team calls "Modern Victorian," meaning four-poster beds and working fireplaces alongside contemporary furniture, so it reads as historic without feeling like a museum. Guests book the Honeymoon Suite; the house books weddings in the library and drawing room.

Every night at 7:33, the hotel rings a bell and invites guests to pour a whiskey, marking the end of Prohibition with the kind of ritual that sounds gimmicky until you're actually doing it. Hotel Distil occupies a restored bourbon warehouse on Whiskey Row, where the old facade gives way to glassy, modern rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and city or river views. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected Louisville hotels.

A three-story chandelier anchors the lobby of this downtown Indianapolis hotel, which occupies a restored 11-story landmark that's been around long enough to have earned the bones worth restoring. Inside, Italian marble and Indiana-inspired artwork do their civilizing work, while rooms come with proper skyline views, wet bars, and Byredo products for guests who notice such things.

Three blocks south of the Sunset Strip, on a genuinely quiet residential street, sits this all-suite hotel that has quietly figured out it doesn't need to compete with the nightclubs nearby. Suites come with fireplaces and fully stocked minibars, some add kitchenettes and balconies, and the rooftop pool looks out over West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The lounge drifts from co-working space to something more convivial by evening, on its own unhurried schedule.

Zombie Taco and Bar Moxy handle the ground floor of this Moxy hotel on historic Whiskey Row, which puts Churchill Downs, the distillery trail, and the KFC Yum! Center all within reach. Rooms are compact and wired for guests who treat the bed as a pitstop between bourbon stops and late nights out. The communal living room, game tables, and Whiskey Alley patio make it clear that lingering in the lobby is half the point.

Named for one of the building's original tenants, this hotel in a century-old downtown tower pays tribute to Des Moines past and present without making it a history lesson. Mid-century modern interiors run throughout, and rooms come with Sferra linens and original work from local artists on the walls. The on-site Mulberry Street Tavern is worth knowing about on its own. The Michelin Guide includes it among its selected hotels.

A boutique hotel in Buckhead that takes its design cues from Hong Kong rather than the usual Atlanta playbook of marble lobbies and monogrammed robes. Rooms are stylish without being fussy, the restaurant runs wood-fired Mediterranean, and the cocktail bar, Mr. B, plays a convincing modern riff on old-school glamour. If you were expecting another legacy luxury chain on Piedmont Road, this one will catch you off guard.

Mahogany double doors shipped from Puerto Rico anchor the entrance to this Puerto Rican cocktail bar in the Old Port, where salsa and merengue fill the room and the tiled bar is the obvious place to sit. The drinks lean inventive, the food is serious enough to linger over, and the whole thing has a regional Spirited Award to its name. Portland has seafood shacks covered; this is doing something else entirely.

A German-Lithuanian couple looked at upstate New York and saw Scandinavia, which is either a leap of faith or just good eyes. The result is a Michelin Key hotel in Windham with A-frame cabins and a lodge redesigned in clean Nordic lines, sitting in Catskills hills that have been quietly staging a comeback. It's two hours from the city, which is exactly far enough to feel like you actually left.

Named for George Bailey's house in "It's a Wonderful Life," this five-room bed and breakfast in Great Barrington is run by a couple who came up through the New York restaurant world. The rooms mix historical bones with modernist furniture and an eclectic haul of art and antiques. A billiards parlor and a music room keep things interesting between meals, and the Berkshires towns nearby handle lunch and dinner. Michelin has awarded it one Key.

A modernist former motor lodge in North Hollywood that leaned into its past instead of apologizing for it, the Garland kept the grasscloth wallpaper, wood paneling, and stone fireplace, then painted the gym retro orange for good measure. Rooms have private balconies, and the hotel is dog-friendly in a way that goes beyond a shrug, with toys and bowls waiting on arrival. The Michelin Guide includes it in its selected hotels.

A boutique hotel on the edge of World's Fair Park, the Tennessean holds a Michelin Key and makes a strong case that Knoxville has fully arrived on the overnight scene. Rooms lean into the luxury side of boutique, comfortable without being anonymous, and the downtown location puts you within easy reach of the city's better restaurants and breweries. The kind of place that makes you wonder why you ever booked a chain.

A working farm in Gardiner that takes the "secluded" part more seriously than most Hudson Valley properties, Wildflower Farms is an Auberge resort with 65 cabins spread across actual farmland. The produce grown on the property feeds Clay, the on-site restaurant. The Thistle Spa handles the rest. It holds a Michelin Key, which is the guide's way of saying the stay itself is the point.

The mugs lining the walls are collector pieces rescued from legendary tropical bars that have since closed, which sets the tone for what Porco is: a tiki cocktail bar that takes the genre seriously without taking itself too seriously. Bartenders in Hawaiian shirts build mai tais and zombies from proper spirits and house syrups, and the dry-ice garnishes are genuinely theatrical. A patio out back handles the overflow when the enchanting interior fills up.

Rebuilt after a 2005 fire, this Adirondacks lodge sits right on the edge of Lake Placid, the water kind, not the film. Arts and crafts bones, plaid upholstery, and animal prints give the interior a luxurious take on rustic Americana. There's a casual pub for hot toddies and chess, and a proper dining room for something more considered. The kind of place that takes the "tranquil getaway" promise more seriously than most.

The Victorian mansion anchoring this Cape Cod resort has been around forever, and its bones still set the tone: high ceilings, grand proportions, and 90 rooms a short pedal from some of the best bike paths on the Eastern Seaboard. The rest of the property fans out into villa clusters for families who need a kitchen and a door to close. Brewster is a quieter corner of the Cape, which is either a selling point or a warning, depending on who you ask.

Angel Share is a Downtown whiskey and cocktail bar that hands its profits to a rotating list of charities, chosen by patrons voting each month, so your third Old Fashioned counts as civic engagement. The whiskey and scotch list runs long, and the espresso martini has a following. The Filthy Angel, a very cold martini with a blue cheese olive, comes with a two-per-person limit, which tells you everything.

A revamped Art Deco skyscraper anchors this 287-room South Beach resort, sitting just north of the SoBe frenzy, which you'll either count as a drawback or the whole point. The aesthetic leans mid-century rather than the usual all-white minimalism, and the suites read more like furnished apartments with a good eye than hotel rooms. Outside, a tropical pool grove does exactly what you'd hope, and a historic bungalow was dismantled and rebuilt on-site as a candlelit garden bar.

The old "Riot Hyatt," where generations of rock bands treated balconies as launching pads for room-service televisions, is now a sleek Andaz property on the Sunset Strip. Those infamous balconies got sealed into floor-to-ceiling windows, which at least improves the view. The hotel fits the Strip as it is now, polished and self-aware, rather than what it was when Mötley Crüe had a tab here.

A speakeasy behind an unmarked door and karaoke at closing time is not what most boutique hotels lead with, but Citizen House isn't leading with most things. Michaelis Boyd fitted out three floors of a downtown tower in electric blues and mismatched patterns, and the sixteen apartment-style rooms feel more like borrowed residences than hotel suites. Corner rooms catch the skyline and the National Memorial through wraparound windows.

Spanish Colonial Revival bones on the outside, near-monastic calm on the inside. This boutique hotel on State Street sits within walking distance of the beach, and its interiors lean hard into warm organic textures and clean lines while the building around them quietly dates itself. Two in-house bars, Dawn and Dusk, handle coffee and oysters respectively, which covers most of the hours you'd actually need covering.

Sitting on the University of Minnesota campus rather than just near it, this boutique hotel leans into a lake-house aesthetic, which feels right for a state with ten thousand of them. The Graduate chain tailors each property to its city, and Minneapolis gets outdoorsy Americana with Gophers maroon woven in. The Beacon downstairs runs a gastropub menu with a quietly English accent, which is its own kind of personality.

The design pays homage to Omaha's Prohibition era, when the saloons went underground and word of mouth was the only Yelp around. Hotel Indigo is a boutique hotel on Dodge Street that gives the heartland a proper stylish stay, with rooms that lean into local history rather than the usual corporate beige. The Michelin Guide has selected it, which feels about right for a place that takes its sense of place this seriously.

Record players in every room is a strong opening argument for a hotel on the Sunset Strip, and Hotel Ziggy leans into it from there. Named for Bowie's glam-rock alter ego, this West Hollywood boutique hotel layers classic concert posters and music murals across its rooms without tipping into theme-park territory. The Sixties-inflected interiors feel lived-in rather than costumed, and the address on the Strip does the rest of the storytelling.

The rooftop pool sits above a city that takes its Spanish Colonial architecture very seriously, which is partly why it's funny that this boutique hotel is named for the Canary Islands rather than any particular shade of yellow. It's a genuine escape in a town that, for all its mountains, coastline, and proximity to Central Coast wine country, took a while to get a place like this. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

An 11-story glass tower rising out of Downtown Commons, the mixed-use development that's quietly been reimagining Sacramento's city center, the Kimpton Sawyer is the kind of hotel that makes you reconsider your assumptions about the state capital. Expect the warm, slightly irreverent Kimpton touch: rooms that don't feel like an airport Marriott, a pool scene that draws the after-work crowd, and a lobby worth lingering in.

A hotel tucked inside another hotel, which sounds like a Russian nesting doll situation but works. Nobu Hotel Miami Beach occupies its own corner of the Eden Roc Resort, with 200-plus rooms designed by David Rockwell in a beach house meets Japanese aesthetic, a welcome detour from the mid-century modernism everywhere else on Collins Avenue. Three pools, a full Nobu spa, and cabanas complete the picture for guests who already know the restaurant and want the full immersion.

A Hard Rock offshoot that actually leans into the music rather than just hanging a guitar on the wall, this boutique-leaning hotel sits in the Downtown entertainment district, a short walk from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The lobby shifts from café to bar as the day moves, the rooftop lounge handles sunsets, and a dedicated performance space runs live acts several nights a week. CeeLo Green and Big Boi contributed to the city guides, which is a flex most hotels can't pull off.

Extended-stay apartments occupying three floors of a century-old former department store, ROOST brings a boutique-hotel sensibility to a category not exactly known for it. The loft-style rooms are clean-lined and well-considered, which sounds like faint praise but stands out here. It's a good base if you'd rather feel like a temporary Clevelander than a conference attendee.

A private members' club first, hotel second, Soho Beach House Miami sits on Collins Avenue with a pool deck full of people who seem to have nowhere else to be, which is exactly the point. The rooms exist because the members' facilities are too good to leave at the end of the day. It's a Michelin Guide Selected Hotel, and the crowd skews creative-industry in the way that makes South Beach feel almost tolerable in August.

Hyde Park has long been the city's most bookish neighborhood, and the Sophy leans into that without apology. The hotel's decor pulls from the University of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry, filling rooms with art and curiosities that feel more cabinet of wonders than standard-issue lobby art. Rooms run plush and sunny, and Mesler Chicago downstairs covers the bases with a cocktail bar and an outdoor space they call The Sanctuary.

A boutique hotel in a building that spent its first life as a medicinal bourbon apothecary and later a Derby hat shop, which in Louisville feels less like a gimmick and more like a job requirement. The 51 rooms come with Frette linens and silk robes that nod to Muhammad Ali, while Louisville artists cover the walls. The Wild Swann bar mixes Old Fashioneds with the quiet confidence of a place that has been making them, in one form or another, forever.

The name comes from the wooden forms shoemakers use to shape shoes, which tells you something about this old Garment District building and the people who thought carefully about what to do with it. It's a boutique hotel with an industrial-chic aesthetic, rooms that lean Bauhaus and Art Deco, and a rooftop pool bar that feels like a bigger deal in St. Louis than it would in warmer latitudes, which is probably why everyone ends up there.

The first eight floors of a 1931 Art Deco bank tower, with the original vault doors, painted ceilings, and stone columns still doing their thing across 146 rooms. The National is a hotel where the building is the amenity, no pool or spa needed. The Great Hall bar operates in the former banking hall, which is a very good setting for a cocktail whether or not you're closing a deal.

A Michelin Selected hotel that keeps Vail Village as its front yard, The Sebastian sits close enough to the lifts that a ski concierge handles the logistics without the stiff formality that tends to creep into the older names on the mountain. The vibe skews younger than its neighbors, which in Vail is a genuine act of rebellion. Après-ski dining and nightlife are a short walk from the door.

Floor-to-ceiling windows face out over Sunset Boulevard from every room in this twelve-story hotel, part of Hilton's Curio Collection. The rooms run large by LA standards, with proper living spaces even in the base category and balconies as you move up. The rooftop pool and its lounge add the sweeping skyline views you'd expect, along with a laidback on-site restaurant. It's a solid perch for anyone who wants the Strip without living in it.

Postwar Hollywood types used to slip away to this adults-only boutique hotel in a quieter pocket of Palm Springs, and the updated version still runs on the same premise: discretion, a certain elegance, and very little fuss. The rooms have been brought up to current luxury-boutique standards without the place losing its original character, and the bar alone gives people a reason to linger longer than they planned.

The restaurant's unofficial motto translates roughly to "I don't give a damn," which is a curious thing to post when your birria arrives in hand-pressed squid ink tortillas with miso consommé. Chilte is a modern Mexican restaurant and bar in a revamped motor hotel on Grand Avenue, and Food & Wine named the chef one of its Best New Chefs. The seasonal menu shifts often, and the team pulls in guest chefs regularly, so the room rewards repeat visits.

Cindy's is a rooftop cocktail bar on top of the Chicago Athletic Association, with a terrace looking over Millennium Park and Lake Michigan. It's a hotel bar, so expect dressed-up visitors, bachelorette sashes, and relatives in town, plus plates meant for three or four people to share. Regional Top 10 for hotel bars at the Spirited Awards, which is one more reason the terrace fills up first.

The hand-washing station at the entrance stocks Loewe soap, which tells you most of what you need to know about this Korean fried chicken restaurant. Club music bounces off vaulted ceilings while you work through a bucket of gluten-free fried chicken with consommé, banchan, and frozen yogurt soft serve to finish. Champagne is the obvious pairing, and caviar-topped nuggets are available for anyone who finds the baseline insufficiently absurd. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Two brothers who grew up dreaming of vines in Provence eventually landed on a mountaintop in Paso Robles and planted Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate sits high enough that the elevation feels like part of the wine itself, and the tasting experience leans into that drama. Reserve ahead, because showing up unannounced is not the move here.

The freezer martinis section of the menu says a lot about Eastern Standard's priorities. This Fenway cocktail bar has been around forever and carries itself accordingly, all dark wood and low hum, the kind of room that makes a dirty martini feel like the only logical choice. The classics-heavy list also wanders into margarita territory, with a Tajin-dusted mezcal version alongside fruitier options, and the white negroni is never far from someone's hand.

The Coppola family's Napa estate is the kind of place that makes wine tasting feel like a film set, which is more or less what it is. Guests sip through a Bordeaux-influenced collection inside the redesigned Athenaeum or at courtyard pergolas overlooking vineyards and a fountain pool. The clever bit: model boats for kids in the water while the adults handle the serious business. A 50 Discovery from The 50.

Inside Passage will tell you, with some urgency, that it is not a tiki bar. It's a cocktail bar that takes the mid-century beachcomber concept as a starting point rather than a costume, pairing tropical classics like the Jet Pilot and the Saturn with original drinks and alcohol-free options. The immersive decor still commits fully, so the distinction is philosophical, but the cocktail menu makes the argument.