The Best Places to Stay in Georgetown

Georgetown's grand old luxury hotel, the Four Seasons holds a Forbes Five Star and draws the kind of guests who already know what thread count they prefer. The 222 rooms lean traditional in a city that considers tradition a professional requirement, so the aesthetic fits like a well-pressed suit. Bourbon Steak handles dinner, a proper fitness club handles the rest, and the staff handles everything with the unhurried confidence of people who've seen every VIP twice.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels
3. The 50 2025 · Most Admired Hotel Group Award

Fifty-five rooms on the C&O Canal in Georgetown, where the smallest luxury hotel in D.C. somehow includes townhouses with private courtyards. The library's double-height ceilings and velvet armchairs do their best impression of a private club, and the rooftop lounge adds skyline views for good measure. Wolfgang Puck handles the food. It holds a Michelin two-key distinction and a Forbes Four Star rating.

1. Michelin Guide 2 Keys
2. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star

A 130-foot smokestack rising from your hotel is either a red flag or a very good story, and here it's the latter. The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown occupies a converted incinerator building, red brick and black ironwork intact, tucked quietly between the C&O Canal and the Potomac. Inside it reads more loft than grand hotel, with a wood-burning fireplace in the lobby and Frette linens upstairs. A Forbes Four Star property.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

The hotel has its own resident dog, Georgie, available for guest cuddles, which tells you something about how seriously the Fairmont takes its wellbeing pitch. This Georgetown hotel is a comfortable, upscale base for the city, with spacious rooms and a three-floor wellness center running a 50-foot saltwater pool, sauna, steam room, and spin classes. A renovated lobby and courtyard bar draw the power-lunch crowd even when they're not staying over.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

The room key reads "no need to break in," and the hotel leans into that history rather than apologizing for it. Luigi Moretti's curving building on the Potomac got a sweeping renovation, with Ron Arad handling the interiors and the "Mad Men" designer dressing the staff, resulting in something that feels genuinely retro-modernist rather than merely themed. Monochrome rooms, Potomac-facing balconies, a rooftop bar, and a whisky bar for co-conspirators round out the package.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Two restored Federal-style row houses on a quiet Georgetown block hold just fifteen rooms, which means the staff knows your name by checkout. This luxury boutique hotel sits in Washington's oldest neighborhood, a short walk from the university and well clear of the monumental everything downtown. The interiors run spare and bright against the historic facades. Breakfast and an evening spread of craft beer and local wine are included, and Georgetown handles the rest.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels