Beach Motel St. Peter-Ording

Three low-slung buildings styled after an American roadside motel, sitting on the North Sea coast where the light does most of the decorating. Rooms run from doubles to family suites, many with balconies and dune or sea views, all done in bleached-out colors that look like the weather got there first. Breakfast is a buffet; the in-house restaurant handles lunch and dinner. There's a small spa with sauna if the wind off the Wadden Sea gets to be too much.

One honor, in evidence: