The Best Places to Drink and Stay in the United States

The name is a nod to a Prohibition-era collective that disguised speakeasy maps as temperance posters, which tells you exactly the kind of commitment to the bit you're walking into. Death & Co is a proper cocktail bar on a quiet East Village block, dark and close and serious about what's in your glass. The crowd leans dressed-up without being showy, and the bartenders talk about spirits the way sommeliers talk about Burgundy.

A delivery robot named Astro ferries forgotten phone chargers down the hallways, which tells you most of what you need to know about this tech-forward boutique hotel. The building is old-school San Francisco, right across from the Powell Street cable-car turnaround, with wrought-iron railings and marble that survived the 1906 earthquake. Rooms go calm and minimal in fog greys and powder blues. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

The Fairmont keeps its own rooftop bees, which tells you something about how seriously it takes the whole enterprise. This grand Nob Hill hotel has been around forever, stately enough to slow your pace the moment you walk into the lobby. Rooms lean elegant over flashy, with Frette linens and Le Labo amenities. The concierge is one of those genuinely useful ones who knows where locals actually eat, not just where tourists end up.

A lobby stocked with Warhol-esque art and enough arcade games to make you forget you're in SoMa is a commitment to a bit. This hotel plants itself in the middle of San Francisco's tech corridor and leans into it cheerfully, with rooms kitted out for either wellness obsessives or families who need a Nintendo Switch to survive a business trip. Condé Nast Traveler named it one of the city's top hotels, and the Michelin Guide has it on their hotel selection.

A motel-shaped boutique hotel in the Tenderloin with a courtyard big enough to park a tour bus, which is not an accident. The Phoenix was a rock-and-roll crash pad for decades before boutique hotels were a category, hosting everyone from Bowie to Nirvana. Texas-based Bunkhouse now runs it, and the rooms are compact, bold, and comfortable without pretending to be luxury. The pool, ringed with palms, remains the social center.

The check-in desk glows pink and purple, and the bar has LED lights embedded in it, so you know exactly what kind of hotel this is before you've touched your keycard. The W SoMa sits a short walk from SFMOMA in a neighborhood that suits its energy, with decor that leans into the spectacle rather than apologizing for it. A good fit if you want a design-forward hotel and a central SoMa address over a muted boutique experience.

The lobby never quite decides if it's a hotel or a party, which is exactly the point. Ace Hotel New York anchors NoMad with a ground floor that shifts from laptop-open co-working in the afternoon to a full DJ set by midnight, all without anyone changing rooms. The rooms upstairs are what you'd expect from the chain that made "hip hotel" a genre: raw edges, good sound systems, and guests who pack light.

Full-length windows do a lot of heavy lifting at this NoMad hotel, where the rooms are compact by any honest measure but bright enough that you stop noticing. Arlo has figured out that good light and a smart layout can substitute for square footage, which matters when the alternative is paying Manhattan prices for a room that feels like a sensory deprivation tank. A solid, unpretentious option in a neighborhood that keeps improving.

A hotel in NoMad that resisted the obvious mid-century modern temptation and landed somewhere more current: hardwood floors, live plants, barn-style room dividers, and contemporary art that earns its wall space. The rooftop Pool Club is the kind of amenity that actually changes your afternoon plans. The Michelin Guide selects it, and the location puts most of Manhattan within easy reach without much effort.

A French-Japanese bistro in an Arts District warehouse, where the croque-madame arrives on house-made shokupan with ham katsu standing in for the ham. The team behind sake-focused Japanese spots has gone full Paris here, or almost full Paris, because the ponzu jelly scattered over the burrata keeps reminding you exactly where you are. Come for an aperitif and stay until the kitchen stops feeding you.

Coral Club is a cocktail bar on the East Side, a short walk from Five Points, that goes for beachfront in a spot where Gallatin Pike is the only shoreline. It manages with mellow lighting, low-key decor, and a rooftop patio. The list runs from a gin-lemon Seasonal Fix to a straightforward Old Fashioned, plus a zero-proof option. It took Best New Cocktail Bar from the Nashville Scene.

White sand and Gulf water right outside the door set the tone at this sprawling beachside resort. The Ritz-Carlton, Naples has been around forever, and a recent top-to-bottom renovation brought new cabanas, poolside bungalows, and a massive Club Lounge that the brand calls its largest. The spa got a refresh too. A Forbes Four Star property, it draws the kind of guests who prefer their beach days with a butler nearby.

A coral-hued Mediterranean landmark on Royal Palm Way that sat empty for nearly two decades before reopening as Palm House, a boutique luxury hotel with a Michelin Key. The sixties-inspired rooms lean cheerful rather than stuffy, with Juliet balconies and marble soaking tubs, while the suites go full Art Deco curves. The Palm Bar's pink Murano glass chandeliers do a lot of work, and the pool deck with its palm-framed courtyard suggests Palm Beach at exactly its most Palm Beach.

Floor-to-ceiling smart windows that use AI to regulate room temperature set the tone at this 17-story, two-tower hotel in Lake Nona, a tech-forward community about ten minutes from Orlando International. The architecture actually waves, which is either charming or on the nose depending on your mood. A sculpture garden, art collection, and a vivid pool area fill the grounds. It holds a Michelin Key.

The grounds are landscaped to echo Monet's Water Lilies, which sets the tone: this Forbes Four Star inn near Plymouth leans hard into French countryside fantasy, turrets and all, less than an hour from Boston. Fifty rooms, attentive staff, and a 14,000-square-foot spa with a heated foot pool, an Aqua Terrace with waterfall and fireplace, and a full fitness calendar. The spa is the real draw, and most guests seem to know it before they even unpack.

All-suite lodging on a sprawling Upstate New York resort campus, The Lodge at Turning Stone keeps its 95 rooms on the quieter end of a property that also contains a casino, three championship golf courses, and two spas. The smallest suite runs 550 square feet, so the space feels deliberate rather than accidental. Forbes Four Star. Guests who want the full resort circus can find it; guests who don't can mostly avoid it.

A botanical art installation behind the front desk and water features throughout the lobby signal that this casino resort in the San Bernardino foothills is trying to be something calmer than the 6,500 slot machines on the floor below might suggest. The 432-room tower earns a Forbes Four Star rating, with a wellness spa, poolside cabanas, and a full spread of dining options. Highland is 70 minutes from L.A., which is part of the pitch.

The cocktail menu lists a drink called the Big Booty Trudy, which tells you exactly what kind of bar this is: East Dallas neighborhood spot, dressed up but never stiff. The drinks lean classic and a little cheeky, the bar food skews surprisingly serious, with a rotating kitchen pop-up from a James Beard-nominated chef. Furikake fries alongside a Mai Tai is a more natural pairing than it sounds.

The doorman in a ten-gallon hat sets the tone at this ski-in, ski-out resort at the base of Beaver Creek. Timber and stone outside nod to the national park lodge tradition, while inside the rooms run to leather chairs, dark wood, and beamed ceilings. The mountain-family itinerary is generous: fly fishing, an outdoor pool, golf, and slopes right out the door for anyone who came for the obvious reason.

A 32-story tower on the white-sand stretch of Sunny Isles, this full-service beach resort sits just north of Bal Harbour and leans into the full Florida fantasy. Rooms come with wet bars and mini-fridges, the Aquanox Spa runs 8,000 square feet, and the water toys on offer run from kayaks to jet skis. The crowd arrives with sunscreen and ambition, in roughly equal measure.

The menu at this Bucktown coffee and cocktail bar is split in two: morning drinks for one crowd, evening drinks for another, with cold brew threading through both halves. The food runs from pizza bagels to caviar, which tells you something about the room's sense of humor. A James Beard semifinalist for Best New Bar in 2025, Truce has figured out that the best argument for staying all day is not having to change venues.

The bar and tables at this Capitol Hill cocktail bar were stained with Angostura bitters, which tells you where the priorities lie. Behind the bar, shelves climb to the pressed tin ceiling holding one of the deepest spirit collections in the country, including pre-Prohibition bottles most bars only dream about. Edison bulbs, speakeasy nostalgia, and a room that takes itself seriously without quite winking about it.

The mahogany bar dates to 1906, which means it survived the earthquake and a few other things San Francisco would rather not discuss. Comstock is an old-school cocktail bar in North Beach, all wicker ceiling fans shaped like steamboat paddles, vintage drink signs, and a piano someone actually winched up to the balcony so the music drifts down. Pickled eggs and rye toast handle the eating. The martinis have a following.

A boutique hotel in SoHo where the design story matters as much as the thread count. The team behind it worked with Danish studio Space Copenhagen to land somewhere between spare and warm, a look closer to Copenhagen than to the gilded-lobby tradition of New York luxury. They call their approach "conscious hospitality," which translates to charitable revenue-sharing rather than just a recycling card on your pillow. Quiet, considered, and not trying to impress anyone who needs impressing.

The self-check-in kiosk where a reception desk would normally be sets the tone: citizenM runs lean so the rooms can punch above their price point in Times Square, which is a minor miracle of real estate math. Compact king rooms come with wall-to-wall windows, Italian linens, and a touchpad that controls lighting, movies, and the mood. The lobby lounge and rooftop bar are genuinely meant to be used, not just photographed.

A post-renovation boutique hotel sitting almost exactly halfway between Times Square and Columbus Circle, which is either perfectly convenient or a studied act of evasion, depending on your night. Rooms are compact but finished in Carrara marble with a sunny palette, allergen-free beds, and accents in chartreuse and aubergine. PHD Terrace puts Midtown views under an open sky with DJs and serious cocktails above it all.

A rooftop bar on the 54th floor is the easy sell, but the rooms are the real argument for staying here. This Times Square hotel leans into color and personality where its neighbors lean into beige, and the layout is unusually generous for midtown. Transit connections run in every direction, and the Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels. First-timers to New York will find the location hard to argue with.

A hotel in Midtown that leans hard into the Irish pub aesthetic, Merrion Row sits one block from Times Square, which is either a selling point or a warning depending on your relationship with costumed characters. The rooms take their cues from Dublin's warmer traditions, which makes the whole thing feel less like a theme and more like an antidote. The elevator does the heavy lifting between the city outside and the calm within.

Rooms that look like a glamorous private residence someone actually lives in, not a set dressed to suggest one. The Manner is a boutique hotel on Thompson Street that trades the minimalist downtown look, and its beige "quiet luxury" cousin, for richly colored, heavily textured interiors. The ground-floor restaurant and cocktail bar pull in their own crowd, but the hotel itself stays on the discreet side of the equation.

A Turkish hammam and a mosaic-lined pool tucked beneath a Beaux Arts tower on 32nd Street is about as New York a contradiction as you'll find. The Marmara Park Avenue is a 128-room luxury hotel where designer Joe Ginsberg's taste runs the show: brass-inlaid concrete floors, Mylar wall coverings, velvet everywhere, and custom wallpaper drawn from his own photographs of a Bronx bridge. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

Pastels and soft watercolors replace the old primary-color scheme after a Rockwell Group renovation, which is genuinely good news when you're sleeping a few floors above Midtown's noise machine. The Time New York is a boutique-ish hotel a short walk from Times Square, with rooms that are compact but quietly pulled together, Frette linens, Margiela bathrobes, and suites for when compact just won't do.

A colonial-style waterfront resort on the Miles River where the Eastern Shore slows everything down considerably. The Inn at Perry Cabin has been around forever, holds a Forbes Four Star, and still carries a certain old-money ease through its rooms and grounds. Sailors, wedding parties, and weekend escapees from DC tend to share the dock views without anyone minding much. Chesapeake Bay is right there, and the pace makes that feel like the whole point.

Two private beaches, one facing Nantucket Bay and one the Atlantic, which means you can always find a quiet side. The Wauwinet is a boutique resort tucked nine miles from Nantucket Town, with 32 rooms and four cottages, no children under twelve, and the kind of hush that feels almost conspiratorial. A Forbes Four Star and a Michelin Key. Guests come to go genuinely quiet, which is rarer than it sounds.

Check-in happens on the fourth floor of a glass tower, no credit card demanded at the door, just a welcome drink and a cool towel while your bags disappear ahead of you. It's a luxury hotel one block from the Jersey Shore, and it reads more like a borrowed beach house than a property, with plush settees, fireplaces, and coffee table books stacked just so. Manhattan is 75 minutes away, which the crowd seems to regard as a selling point rather than a commute. Michelin awarded it a Key.

A working farm that also happens to be a resort, Southall sits on several hundred acres outside Franklin, about half an hour south of Nashville. Produce from the land feeds the restaurant, a seven-acre lake handles irrigation and kayaking equally, and the spa ensures nobody suffers unduly for the pastoral ideal. Rooms and cottages mix modern lines with a little retro warmth. It holds a Michelin Key.

A vineyard retreat spread across 450 rolling acres in the Virginia Highlands, Nicewonder is a Forbes Four Star boutique inn with 28 rooms, a handful of yurts, and a 13-acre working winery at its center. An infinity pool overlooks the vines, an Appalachian fine-dining restaurant is a few steps away, and the wine programming gives the whole stay a loose organizing principle. Communal fire pits and board games keep things grounded; the setting does the rest.

Perched in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the tiny, slightly-too-charming town of Highlands, Old Edwards Inn is a Forbes Four Star hotel where every room arrives with antiques, fine Italian linens, and complimentary champagne, which sets a tone the rest of the stay works hard to maintain. A 25,000-square-foot spa draws on its own herb garden, and a heated outdoor mineral pool handles the altitude nicely. Cottages are available for guests who prefer their elegance with a front porch.

Set on 2,200 acres of Allegheny Mountain terrain, The Grand Lodge at Nemacolin is a Forbes Four Star resort lodge that leans hard into the rustic-luxury thing, recently refreshed with updated rooms, an American steakhouse, and two bars. The whimsical interiors thread a needle between hunting-cabin warmth and genuine comfort, so it never feels like a theme park version of the outdoors. The grounds do most of the work once you're here.

The hotel was built over the surf, not beside it, which is something you notice immediately when the sound of waves comes through the floor. It sits on historic Cannery Row as a full-service hotel with a spa, and the bay is less a view than a constant presence: otters and seals drift past while the concierge books kayaking or whale watching for guests who'd rather be out there than watching.

A glass high-rise across from the stadium, Hotel Phoenix Atlanta is a downtown hotel that puts Centennial Olympic Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the aquarium within easy walking distance. The public spaces run art by Georgia natives throughout, and the rooms are compact but dressed in bold color and pattern with floor-to-ceiling city views. Pack light: the standard king offers a two-seat bench and not much else for sitting. It holds a AAA Four Diamond rating.

Velvet, gilt, and a color palette that suggests a Victorian fever dream describe the interiors of this boutique hotel on Savannah's riverfront. The Bohemian leans hard into the city's gothic romanticism, with rooms dramatic enough that checking in feels like a plot point. Downstairs, Rocks on the River does comfort food and Neapolitan pizza; the rooftop bar trades on river views and craft cocktails. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

Check-in is handled at a kiosk, which either sounds like your nightmare or exactly right. CitizenM is a design-forward hotel that keeps rooms small, smart, and genuinely comfortable, with tablet controls for everything including the mood lighting you'll spend ten minutes adjusting. The lobby doubles as a bar, café, and co-working space open around the clock. It sits on a quiet block just above Market, with Union Square, SoMa, and the Financial District all close.

Cashmere on the walls, not the bed, is the tell. This small, apartment-style hotel sits across from Central Park with no lobby to linger in and no public spaces to be seen in, which is rather the point. The Fasano brand's New York foothold runs to duplex suites with vintage furniture and park views, and a quiet caffè that doesn't announce itself. The crowd, such as it is, came specifically to avoid one.

The Beefeater doormen on Powell Street have been a Union Square landmark forever, and they set the tone: theatrical, a little grand, entirely committed to the bit. The Sir Francis Drake is a classic full-service hotel with Art Deco bones, comfortable rooms on the smaller side, and enough happening inside, from Scala's Bistro to the penthouse Starlight Room, that leaving feels optional. The Powell Street cable car stops at the front door, which is either convenient or a trap.

River North's density of bars and galleries practically demanded a hotel like this one. Moxy Chicago Downtown leans into the neighborhood's energy: Bar Moxy runs as a co-working space during daylight hours, then pivots to local beers, cocktails, and weekend DJ sets by night. There's also a games room with shuffleboard and arcade cabinets, a gym, and a podcast booth, which suggests the kind of guest who checks in with a carry-on and a content strategy.

Charlie Palmer owns this place, but you'd never know it from the branding. The Mystic is a hotel in a 1906 building two blocks from Union Square, renovated carefully enough that the rooms feel more like a prewar San Francisco apartment than a boutique property. They run small, so book a suite if you need to spread out. Downstairs, Burritt Room + Tavern does craft cocktails and seasonal American food against live jazz six nights a week.

A boutique hotel that leans into San Francisco's bohemian bones rather than fighting them, the Palihotel sits in Union Square and runs on the small chain's signature approach: design-forward rooms without the fussiness that usually comes with them. It's the kind of place that attracts the laptop-and-oat-milk crowd without feeling like a co-working space with beds. The Michelin Guide includes it among its selected hotels.

Rustic wood-panel art in the cathedral-ceilinged lobby came from an old picket fence, which tells you something about how this 154-room lakefront resort wears its money. Edgewood Tahoe sits on Lake Tahoe's south shore, surrounded by pines, with a George Fazio golf course rolling down to the water. A Forbes Four Star and a Michelin Key. The vibe is warm and unhurried, the kind of place where you stop noticing what things cost.

Soaring windows, brick fireplaces, and balconies stacked on balconies give this boutique resort the feel of a grand estate that wandered into the Florida Panhandle pines. Camp Creek Inn holds a Forbes Four Star and earns it with a lazy river, two zero-entry pools, an 18-hole course, and pickleball courts, all wrapped in a palette of warm wood and cream that makes checkout feel optional.

White walls and terracotta rooftops rise above Italian cypresses in the California foothills, and the illusion of a European castle holds up the moment you step through the heavy wooden door. This small, Forbes Four Star inn sits on nine acres with manicured gardens, a pool, fountains, and a life-sized chessboard where a butler will materialize with elderberry iced tea before you've made your first move.

A former workers' dormitory turned Forbes Four Star country resort, The American Club sits on the Kohler campus an hour north of Milwaukee, which means every bathroom comes loaded with Kohler fixtures as a matter of corporate pride. The Tudor building has been done up comfortably, and beyond the rooms there are five restaurants ranging from pub fare to haute cuisine, plus an ice cream parlor tucked inside a historic greenhouse.

Eleven modern wood cabins sit in the pine forest of Montana's Blackfoot River Valley, adults only, all-inclusive, and about as far from a Hampton Inn as geography allows. The Social Haus turns out multicourse dinners despite being deep in Big Sky Country woods, and the all-in rate covers meals, drinks, and transfers from Missoula. A Forbes Four Star resort where champagne and crisp mountain air arrive together.

A vintage sky-blue VW van parked out front is the hotel's first word on what you're getting into. Paséa is a beachfront hotel right on PCH next to the Huntington Beach Pier, and it leans hard into the surf-and-sand premise, from complimentary flip-flops to a wave photograph spanning your headboard. The rooftop bar and two pools face the water, and the Balinese-inspired spa is a genuine non-sequitur that somehow fits.

Perched on a 650-foot bluff above the Coachella Valley, this Ritz-Carlton resort trades the usual desert-floor setup for sweeping views that make the surrounding mountains feel like wallpaper you can't believe is real. The 24-acre property has had its ups and downs over the years, but a massive renovation brought it back sharper than before. Pools, spa, and the full Ritz polish are all present, with palm-tree sunsets doing most of the heavy lifting.

A Forbes Four Star resort on a barrier island where the pace drops the moment you cross the bridge. Rooms lean into sand and sea tones, with coastal or ocean views that make it hard to justify getting dressed. The beach, golf, tennis, horseback riding, and sailing fill the days, and the restaurants lean heavily on local seafood. Families land here knowing the kids' programming will keep everyone happily occupied and apart.

Donna's is a cocktail bar on White Oak where the evening's main activity is relaying other people's drinks over your head while inching toward the rail. Seats are guarded by strangers who hover with the patience of vultures, and a Fridge Cig, an Old Fashioned built on dark rum and cherry cola, is what you'll be holding when you finally win one. It was a Spirited Awards Top 10 nominee for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar.

A 110-foot water slide and a Flowrider wave machine in the same resort that houses the Agave spa, where the treatments draw on traditional Native American healing practices. This Scottsdale resort runs to ten restaurants, a championship golf course, and day camps that will absorb the kids entirely if you need them absorbed. It's the kind of place where "staycation" stops being a lazy word and starts making geographic sense.

A converted power plant on the Savannah waterfront that now houses 419 hotel rooms, several bars and restaurants, and enough natural history exhibits to make the lobby feel like a museum that got distracted. Rooms are contemporary and comfortable, the river is right outside, and the property has organized enough activities, tours, and a scavenger hunt to keep a family busy without anyone agreeing on a plan. AAA Four Diamonds.

Hydration stations on each floor dispense still, sparkling, or ambient water, which tells you something about the tone of this AAA Four Diamond hotel in Savannah's historic district. The 173 rooms run bright and airy, with big windows that catch the light, and upper floors can pull in river views. The rooftop bar with live music on weekends draws a crowd that has no intention of going to bed early.

A glass of wine at check-in sets the tone at this 25-room boutique hotel in Forestville, a quietly bohemian pocket of the Russian River Valley. The siblings who run it grew up on the property, which explains why six acres of gardens and farmhouse-chic rooms feel genuinely lived-in rather than styled within an inch of their lives. Good wine country base if your idea of roughing it is a very comfortable bed.

The Brooklyn Bridge is a short walk east, and the cobblestone streets outside look much as they did two centuries ago. This boutique hotel occupies a landmarked red-brick building that fits the Seaport District's Federal streetscape so naturally it's easy to assume it's always been there. Sixty-six rooms are spacious and calm, with marble bathrooms; upper-floor terraces face Peck Slip. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.