The Best Places in the United States

Baby pink tiles and floor-to-ceiling windows set the mood at this Mexican coffee shop inside Tempe's car-free Culdesac community. Daytime runs on carajillos, mazapan lattes, horchata, and breakfast bites; Thursday through Saturday it pivots to wine, amari, and ceviche. The team behind Tacos Chiwas brought the same ease here, and the cozy booths fill with people who seem in no particular hurry to leave.

A roll-up garage door on a repurposed corner house sets the tone for this tiny Old Town Scottsdale coffee shop, which doubles as a weekend car show venue. The counter fits maybe two people standing, but a shaded patio and a quiet garden out back absorb the overflow. Weekend mornings bring themed gatherings of Porsches or vintage off-roaders, which pairs better with a lavender honey latte than you might expect.

A three-level, sunlight-flooded cafe in uptown Phoenix that also runs a full cocktail program, which makes the brunch crowd's priorities refreshingly transparent. Provision is a modern coffee shop doing the classics alongside seasonal lattes and mocha with Oreo crumbles, with quiche, pastries, and sandwiches filling out a menu that gives people a reason to stay well past the first cup.

Two-thirds of this coffee shop's floor space belongs to the roasting operation, not the tables, which tells you everything about where the priorities are. Bags of beans, multiple roasters, all the gear, and baristas who actually want to talk through the difference between a washed process and an unwashed one. The website specifies that specialty coffee newcomers are in a safe place here, and they mean it.

The sourdough starter for the bagels here is fed with imported Brooklyn water, a detail that tells you exactly where this deli-bar's loyalties lie. Grossman's is a relaxed Jewish-style deli and cocktail bar in Santa Rosa, turning out knishes, latkes, and chopped liver in a corner of California that doesn't see nearly enough of them. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best restaurants in Sonoma County and called its bagels the best in the Bay Area.

Each room in this Catskills mansion hotel commits completely to a single fantasy: one recreates a blacksmith's forge, another is an ice-white winter fantasia that a Disney princess would find a touch understated. Sister property to the famously TV-and-movie-obsessed Roxbury Motel, this place carries the same gleeful maximalism into a grander building. Guests who find regular hotel decor too timid tend to fit right in.

Pine forest on one side, the Atlantic on the other, and a porch pointed straight at Linekin Bay. This boutique inn along East Boothbay's craggy shoreline was a summer colony once, and it still feels that way, with nautical stripes, weathered wood, and a fire pit where guests end up eating s'mores later than they planned. Kayaks, schooner sails, and lobster rolls from an Adirondack chair round out the days. A Michelin Selected Hotel.

Five bedrooms tucked into a Telluride townhouse, decorated in a style that tips its hat to the town's Tyrolean roots rather than the usual antler-and-plaid. This is a boutique guesthouse, meaning a party of ten can take the whole place, and given how far in advance it tends to fill, that's worth knowing early. It sits in the same family as Dunton Hot Springs and Dunton River Camp, which have made a name for outdoor luxury that skips the Rocky Mountain clichés.

A 45-foot saltwater pool tucked behind eight rooms is the first hint that this is not your average Jersey Shore motel. Lokal is a boutique hotel that leans into the residential fantasy, contemporary-rustic rooms with quietly upscale details, no party-scene energy in sight. Cape May already runs quieter than the rest of the Shore, and the Michelin Guide has this place on its selected hotels list. Think less "beach rental" and more "friend with a very nice house."

A farmhouse and cow barn that traded their original purpose for a boutique hotel gig, and pulled it off. The modern-rustic rooms sit steps from the Appalachian Trail and close enough to the Killington K1 gondola that you can plan your day around either. Mornings start with a country breakfast; the Kent Bistro & Bar handles the rest of the day with locally sourced cooking. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

A private gondola connects this One&Only mountain resort directly to Big Sky's lift system, which goes some way toward explaining the seclusion. Olson Kundig handled the architecture, and the result is the kind of serious modern-luxe that doesn't shout. Winter draws the obvious crowd, but the expansive spa and outdoor recreation calendar make a summer case too. Big Sky runs rougher than Aspen, and the resort leans into that rather than apologizing for it.

Fifty-seven acres of Maine peninsula, with the Atlantic on three sides and spruce trees filling in the rest. Spruce Point Inn is a full-service coastal resort outside Boothbay Harbor, ranging from rooms in the old inn to scattered cottages and lodges, all done in breezy nautical without going kitschy. There are restaurants, a spa, and an oceanside pool, plus every kayak-and-hiking combination you'd expect from a place that takes the outdoors seriously.

Perched on the shores of Penobscot Bay between Camden and Belfast, this boutique hotel splits its rooms between a main inn, a hilltop building, and a poolhouse, with king beds and gas fireplaces throughout. The infinity pool does the heavy lifting on lazy afternoons, and there's a small spa for good measure. Acadia is ninety minutes away if you feel like being ambitious, but Midcoast Maine has a way of making ambitious feel unnecessary.

A contractor and an interior designer bought an unremarkable roadside motel in one of California's last genuinely sleepy beach towns and turned it into a boutique stay worth seeking out. Cayucos sits a few minutes from San Luis Obispo and operates at a remove from the whole sun-bleached circus of SoCal coast life. The Pacific Motel is a block and a half from the water, selected by the Michelin Guide, and priced like it hasn't noticed.

Four 19th-century buildings on Maryland's Eastern Shore, renovated by a pair of D.C. sisters with design backgrounds into a small, stylish hotel just off the Chesapeake Bay. St. Michaels is one of those historic waterfront towns that leans hard into its colonial bones, so the Wildset's contemporary interiors make a quietly pointed statement. Baltimore and Washington are both about ninety minutes away, which tells you exactly who books a long weekend here.

Secondhand china covers the walls and lands on the table at this mostly French restaurant in Over-the-Rhine, which leans firmly away from the stiff Euro-bistro formula. The room is bright and a little grandmotherly, the service moves fast, and the pastry program is treated with the seriousness it deserves. Pain maison and mille-feuille are the arguments for arriving hungry and leaving slower than you planned.

The Scuffin, a scone-muffin hybrid, is what most people order right after their coffee at this specialty coffee shop in Kaka'ako's SALT complex. 9Bar HNL runs a multi-roaster pourover bar with rotating guest coffees alongside seasonal drinks that lean creative without tipping into gimmick. The banana bread latte and cold brew chai have both made appearances, and the coffee flight is a nice way to kill an afternoon.

The door on Vine Street is easy to walk past, which is a shame because the tapas inside are hard to forget. This Mediterranean small-plates spot in Over-the-Rhine keeps things playful, from wood-fired octopus to a hummus plate that changes daily and pulls regulars in on its own. The pistachio baklava arrives as a thick slab of filling with pastry almost as an afterthought, and the servers watch you react like they've seen it before and still enjoy it.

A coffee shop in San Jose's SoFa district where single-origin espressos share the menu with drinks drawing on Asian flavors, the kind of detail that makes regulars possessive about their order. The space has been a Downtown gathering spot for years, and the staff friendliness that built its reputation hasn't faded. Sprudge flagged it in their San Jose coffee guide, which tracks.

A painted grain silo towers over the plaza outside, which tells you something about the ambition of this coffee shop's setting. The Santa Clara outpost of a San Jose small-batch cafe shares an outdoor space with an urban farm, a bocce court, and a community garden that perfumes the whole terrace. Inside, a line snakes out the door, the staff stays warm about it, and drinks lean toward Asian-inflected flavors and single-origin espresso.

The ube latte quietly became a neighborhood obsession here, which is a little funny given that this is a coffee shop where the roaster's heart is in filter work. Blue Mind roasts its single-origin beans onsite in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood, and the whole operation has a family-run warmth that isn't performed for the room. Pour-overs and sweet signature drinks share the menu without any obvious hierarchy.

The line outside this Berkeley bagel shop has been there since day one and shows no sign of leaving. Boichik turns out chubby, chewy, malty New York-style bagels, kosher and done traditionally: salt bagels heavy with big sea-salt flakes, pumpernickel baked nearly chocolate-dark. The San Francisco Chronicle named them the Bay Area's best. Cream cheese runs from plain whipped to Hatch chile, and the house-made whitefish salad sandwich makes a strong case for staying.

A takeout coffee counter tucked inside a corner grocery in Burlington's Old North End, Carrier Roasting posts its sourcing contracts and coffee scores on the menu board alongside its drink list, so you know exactly what you're buying and what was paid for it. The Northfielder, a shaken quad iced maple latte, handles the obligatory Vermont maple moment with more conviction than most. Drip coffee gets serious attention here too.

A Poursteady automated pour-over system and a zero-emissions roaster running during service set the tone at this coffee shop inside Mitsuwa Marketplace. The house obsession is alkaline water, the kind of detail that sounds fussy until you taste the espresso. The gear is serious, the vibe is not, and the space fills up the way the owners intended, somewhere between a Swiss cafe and an Asian coffee house.

A bagel shop that graduated from popup to a proper Albany storefront, Hella Bagels turns out rounds with the kind of chew that makes you feel like your jaw is doing something worthwhile. The patio, ringed in beige and rust tones that happen to match the bagels, is a nice place to work through a sandwich. The San Francisco Chronicle named them the Bay Area's best.

The roaster sits right behind the bar where you can watch it, which tells you most of what you need to know about this small-batch coffee shop on Coast Highway 101. The roll-up garage door, the metal finishes, and a few tables inside and out keep things tight and unhurried. The owner sources beans across Latin America and Africa and often pulls the shots himself. Old Woodys drifting past on the 101 supply the rest of the ambiance for free.

The Steinway location of this Astoria coffee shop is wedged into a cheese-wedge-shaped room with a reclaimed-wood window bar that's made for watching the neighborhood go by. Kinship roasts its own beans nearby and pulls seasonal espresso drinks alongside pastries from Balthazar and cookies from The Good Batch. A round communal table anchors the middle, and the whole thing has the unhurried energy of a place run by people who actually live on the block.

The cheese-wedge-shaped room is the first thing you notice, followed by the reclaimed-wood window bar and the Steinway Street foot traffic rolling past it. Kinship is a neighborhood coffee shop that roasts its own beans nearby, and the seasonal drinks menu keeps regulars guessing. Pastries come from Balthazar, cookies from The Good Batch, and the whole operation has the warm, slightly chaotic energy of a place run by people who actually live on the block.

The back lounge is velvet, laptop-free, and clearly the whole point. Melting Cups is a Black-owned coffee shop a short walk from Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, pouring Sey Coffee with pastries by day and pivoting to wine and beer come evening. A few tables out front catch the street; the cozy back room is for books, crosswords, or actual conversation, which is a quietly radical offer in 2024.

Tucked into a residential pocket on the Encinitas-Leucadia border, this coffee shop shares a building with an art studio and has the accidental-discovery feel to match. Inside, polished concrete meets warm wood and pops of pink. The coffee program leans into mocktail-style signature drinks alongside seriously sourced Colombian and Ethiopian beans. Baristas will walk you through either side of the menu without making you feel like a philistine for asking.

A pop-up coffee project built on barista salaries, which tells you something about the conviction behind it. Neverhome sources from roasters on both coasts and pairs them with an elaborate matcha program, wrapped in what the cofounders call Midwestern hospitality. On weekends the queue snakes down the street, which is either a warning or an endorsement depending on how you feel about waiting for your coffee.

The pink walls hit you before the espresso does. This coffee shop in San Jose's SoFa District sits among a row of Black-owned businesses and runs like a neighborhood living room, with a mezzanine overhead for anyone who came to read and stayed for three hours. Open mic nights and live music fill the place regularly, and the sidewalk seats are good for people-watching. Strangers here tend to introduce themselves unprompted, which is either charming or a lot, depending on your mood.

The vibrant pink walls are visible before you even open the door, which sets the tone for what Nirvana Soul is: a specialty coffee shop that also functions as a neighborhood living room. The mezzanine overlooks the floor, open mic nights fill the calendar, and the sidewalk seats are prime for people-watching. You go in to get work done and leave having met half the block instead.

The pink walls hit you first, then the smell of specialty coffee, then someone at the next table already talking to you. This is a coffee shop in San Jose's SoFa District, set among Black-owned businesses, with a mezzanine good for reading above the hum below. Open mic nights and live music fill it after dark, and the sidewalk seats are ideal for watching the neighborhood do its thing.

Jiro-style ramen is the calling card here, a Tokyo-born style less famous in the Bay Area than tonkotsu but arguably more interesting, with its shoyu-pork broth running fattier and more rustic, pork fat globules and all. The thick, chewy noodles come from a local craft purveyor, and a fistful of raw chopped garlic goes in to sharpen everything up. This San Jose ramen shop is doing real work diversifying a scene that tends to default to the same few styles.

A ramen shop in a Santa Clara strip mall run by a chef who keeps a tight grip on his broths, making the noodles in-house and letting clean, well-built basics like a smoky shoyu do most of the talking. The real reason regulars check the calendar is the rotating specials, which have swung from crab ramen finished with pistachio oil to buckwheat noodles built around dried red snapper. The San Francisco Chronicle puts it among the Bay Area's best.

Smoke hangs in the air from the moment you walk into this small ramen shop in Fremont, which is a pretty good preview of what's coming. The specialty is tsukemen, where thick chewy noodles and a deeply concentrated dipping broth arrive separately. When the broth runs low, ask the staff to top it with hot chicken stock. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best ramen spots, and the smoke and pork anchovy depth make a reasonable case.

The room bends at odd angles under the Pulaski Bridge, which sets the tone for this coffee shop that has always done things its own way. Sweetleaf roasts its own beans and bakes its own pastries, with a well-stocked case that runs heavily vegan and gluten-free. Choose your corner: a quiet laptop nook, the social bar, a long bench out front, or the back room with a turntable you're free to use.

The room bends at a wacky angle at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge, and the vibe inside reads AC/DC, not ambient folk. Sweetleaf is a coffee shop that roasts its own beans and does its own baking, so the pastry case is stocked and the coffee is strong. A laptop nook sits near the entrance for the heads-down crowd, while the back has a record room where you're welcome to spin something while you drink.

The room bends at a wacky angle where Jackson Ave meets the Pulaski Bridge, which sets the tone for this coffee shop that plays AC/DC instead of something earnest. Sweetleaf roasts its own beans and does its own baking, so the pastry case is stocked and the coffee hits hard. A laptop-only alcove keeps the workers corralled, the main bar is for lingering, and the back room has a turntable you're welcome to use.

Tsukemen is the format here: chilled house-made noodles served separately from a thick, concentrated broth so gelatinous it coats every strand on contact. The broth, built from chicken, pork, dried anchovies, and bonito, is intense enough that you can ask for dashi to thin it for sipping once the noodles are gone. This San Mateo shop is the first U.S. location of an old-school Tokyo institution credited with popularizing the style.

The bagels here start as whole wheat grain, stone-milled on-site before the dough even exists. This Petaluma bagel shop runs a 36-hour process using sourdough starter, so the finished product lands somewhere between New York tradition and Northern California obsession. Toppings skew local and organic, and the menu stretches from classic to pesto and pizza. The San Francisco Chronicle named it the Bay Area's best.