The Top 20 Hotels Near The Jewel Box
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A restored 1823 Federal house on a lively Danforth Street corner, where Lark Hotels' renovation has preserved the building's bones while layering in contemporary comfort and a convivial spirit. The name nods to the Prohibition speakeasy once hidden in its basement—a small historical wink that fits the place's unhurried, decidedly Portland temperament.
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A six-room guest house in a quiet residential pocket, appointed with vintage furnishings and local art, that somehow balances intimacy with genuine warmth. Lark Hotels' sensibility runs through it—small enough to feel like a friend's place, open enough that you want to linger in the common rooms.
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At Longfellow, a converted Portland landmark, even the room key signals intention—brass, substantial, a thing to hold. The café brews with precision, the spa leans toward healing over indulgence, and Shaker simplicity meets contemporary ease throughout.
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A brick-fronted harbor hotel in Portland's Old Port brings nautical restraint to contemporary rooms, many fitted with soaking tubs and fireplaces overlooking cobblestone streets. BlueFin, its restaurant, commits to the straightforward proposition of fresh North Atlantic seafood without apology or embellishment.
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The Press Hotel occupies a 1923 corner building in Portland's Old Port that once housed the Press Herald, its brick facade and vintage details now framing a 110-room refuge for guests drawn to genuine newspaper history rather than theme-park pastiche. The lobby's archival references feel earned, not imposed—a place where the conceit matters because the building's own past does.
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A contemporary coastal lodge a few minutes from Portland, Inn by the Sea offers rooms with heated floors and gas fireplaces, their luxury felt rather than announced. The sea breeze here is as much the point as the air conditioning, which arrives only as backup.
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A converted textile mill on the Saco River, the Lincoln Hotel layers exposed brick and soaring ceilings with deft modern and Art Deco touches across its 33 rooms. The on-site restaurant and distillery occupy the ground floor with the ease of a place that knows its bones matter more than its décor.
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An 1880s inn restored to deliberate simplicity—no screens, no phones, only ferry access and park-lodge common rooms—where the rooms themselves surprise with vintage furnishings and local art. The restaurant, helmed by a Portland chef, builds each plate from island lobster, mussels, and farm produce in a way that makes the isolation feel like the point.
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A rustic waterfront inn where New England privilege settles into creaking floorboards and salt air, White Barn has long sheltered the northeastern gentry in understated comfort. The cottage compound feels less like a resort than a family compound where you happen to be an invited guest.
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The grounds at Hidden Pond feel weathered by decades, though the main lodge rose from Maine woods only recently, a calculated illusion sustained by careful architecture and restraint. What emerges is a hotel that honors New England's seaside past without the burden of actually living in it.
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A wraparound-porch landmark freshly revived with bright interiors and a youthful pulse, the Tides Beach Club remains tethered to its beachfront Maine roots. The classic exterior speaks to decades of accumulation; the vibrant new life inside suggests someone finally decided the view deserved company.
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A restored captain's house anchors this hotel's cluster of modern cabins in walkable Kennebunkport, where Elder & Ash's design discipline elevates what could have been another coastal cliché. The suites feel purposeful rather than precious, and the location—steps from the town's modest center—suggests you came here to actually leave the room.
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A Federal mansion from 1813 anchors this quiet tree-lined street, its period bones intact and its rooms spare but unhurried. Walking distance to galleries and the harbor, it reads as the kind of place where New England's maritime past feels less like history than like the air you breathe.
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A pink stucco landmark since 1947, The Colony Hotel preserves its retro-tropical color schemes and scalloped headboards while hosting a steady flow of locals and winter travelers. Swifty's restaurant and the pool bar anchor a scene of casual glamor that has little use for pretense.
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A six-room bed-and-breakfast in a 1753 Colonial house where Ralph Emerson summered, now outfitted with luxe linens and modern plumbing while preserving original pine floors and period details. The place trades exclusivity for genuine hospitality: coffee always brews, the honor bar never closes, and breakfast arrives without fanfare or pretense.
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A sprawling clifftop resort on Maine's rocky coast, all 226 rooms angled toward the Atlantic and terraced private views. Since 1872 the place has grown into something between grand hotel and compound—pools, spa, cottage clusters—where the actual meal is the landscape itself.
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Pine forests give way to Atlantic views at this East Boothbay inn, where weathered porches and nautical touches evoke a vanished summer-colony era. Kayaking, schooner sails, and lobster rolls from Adirondack chairs frame days oriented entirely toward Linekin Bay.
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A former motor lodge reborn with floor-to-ceiling views of Nubble Lighthouse, The Viewpoint Hotel trades dated efficiency for eighteen rooms of coastal-modern restraint and a saltwater pool that faces the Atlantic. Joe Lipton and Michelle Friar have made the case that a Maine seaside hotel need not shout—it need only frame the view and get out of the way.
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A 1956 motel modeled on a Navy ship's bridge rises from Long Sands Beach with nautical-deco rooms and ocean views from every terrace. The cocktail bar that doubles as the lobby is reason enough to linger before climbing to your quarters.
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A restored 19th-century house on the New Hampshire coast where six studios marry period detail with modern convenience—full kitchens, in-unit laundry—and the unhurried rhythm of residential living. The staff reads like locals who've cultivated taste rather than service, offering the kind of advice that sends you toward genuine discovery rather than marked routes.