TOWER23
Pacific Beach, California
The words “contemporary swank” come to mind as you enter the oh-so-minimalist lobby at Tower23 and meander to the hotel’s waterfront restaurant, JRDN (pronounced “Jordan”). The sleek, white architectural lodging and dining box opened in 2005 to acclaim among travelers seeking beachside luxury in the San Diego area. Locals and visitors alike love it for breakfast, lunch, cocktails, and dinner. (The maverick seasonal menu features such creations as sea urchin with tagliatelle.) A sense of energy enlivens everyone here. Maybe it’s the subtly changing light on the restaurant’s chic “wave wall.” Or the hotel and restaurant staff, sincerely engaged in serving guests. Or the vista: All but four of the 44 guest rooms and suites overlook lifeguard tower number 23 (thus the hotel’s name) and an expanse of sea to the horizon.
• Rates: $199–$1,500; 866/869-3723 or tower23hotel.com.

TURTLE BAY RESORT
Kahuku, Oahu, Hawaii
Praised for its two championship golf courses, Turtle Bay Resort may underwhelm you as you enter the main hotel’s uninspired grounds. Surroundings perk up slightly by the check-in counter. Then, as you cross the threshold of your private cottage, both your heart and judgments stand still. These 42 sleeping giants are exquisitely appointed, with views that will keep you from closing your curtains. The cottages, along with dinners at adjacent partner restaurant Ola, give ample reason to visit the resort, an hour from Honolulu Airport. Ola’s views equal those in your cottage, and the restaurant’s creative entrées, coupled with a friendly, knowledgeable staff, make for a wonderful evening. The best part? You finish dinner just steps away from your cottage, where an ocean serenade lulls you to sleep.
• Rates: $900 per night; 800/203-3650 or turtlebayresort.com.

ATLANTIC COAST
INN AT MYSTIC
Mystic, Connecticut
With 67 Yankee-accented rooms scattered among five buildings, the Inn at Mystic delivers a charming combination of luxury and nature. As if to prove the point, early one New England morning, a deer browses the grass in the orchard. An observant guest quietly leaves his room and tiptoes across the 18-acre grounds toward breakfast. The deer glances up, then nonchalantly resumes nibbling. The guest pauses and eases into a strategically placed Adirondack chair. Watching the young rays of sun spill over Long Island Sound and the sailboats anchored in Mystic Harbor, he decides breakfast can wait. First comes nourishment for the soul.
• Rates: $135–$325; 800/237-2415 or innatmystic.com.

EMBASSY SUITES HOTEL
New York City, New York
Hudson River views, live-in comfort, and unbeatable value make a win-win-win combination for this hotel in Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood. A short walk from Ground Zero, the six-year-old hotel closed after 9/11 and reopened in 2002. As a Hilton brand, Embassy Suites offers certain universal characteristics, but this particular location stands out. Bold art and dramatic color energize the lobby, the soaring vaulted-glass atrium, and interiors in the 15-story hotel. Daily, complimentary services for all guests include not only hot and cold breakfast fare, but also evening cocktails. Construction under way on the Hudson River side, when completed within four years, is anticipated to obstruct hotel water views somewhat (below the seventh floor). But with outlooks to the water or the city, the 463 suites will still embrace a dramatic slice of New York.
• Rates: $169–$599; 212/945-0100 or embassysuites.com.

FIVE GABLES INN & SPA
St. Michaels, Maryland
It looks like a modest white frame house on the main drag of once-gritty, now-trendy St. Michaels. Amazingly, the building houses eight guest rooms, a spa, a sauna, a steam room, and even a swimming pool, all without seeming crowded. Another surprise hides across the street, behind the brick facades of two historic homes: three more guest rooms plus three suites, all with utterly romantic, funky-chic decor. And the growing inn has just added a building with one guest room and five suites. Every room contains CD players and gas fireplaces. And oh, the baths—spa tubs, Aveda toiletries, and, in the suites, multijet showers that almost make the spa massage seem superfluous. But not quite.
• Rates: $160–$425; 877/466-0100 or fivegables.com.