5 Best Hotels in Portsmouth, The Seacoast

This refined boutique hotel fashioned out of a stunningly restored brick-and-wood 1860s building that originally served as the First Congregational Church of Portsmouth offers posh yet unpretentious rooms with tall windows, local art, custom linens and beds, and premium bath products. The friendly staff can arrange in-room massages, and guests can relax in the warmly decorated parlor and enjoy a meal of sublime Japanese food in Nichinan restaurant. Numerous other dining options as well as shops, museums, and bars are within a short walk.

Nearly demolished in the 1980s, one of coastal New England's most elegant Victorian grand resorts—where the likes of Harry Truman and Gloria Swanson once vacationed—has been meticulously restored and now ranks among the cushiest golf, boating, and spa getaways in New Hampshire. The hotel has spacious rooms, all with ocean or harbor views. Huge sunny suites, which have gas fireplaces, occupy a modern building overlooking the marina. 

Each of the stylish rooms in this urbane inn occupying a converted Victorian redbrick brewery on the historic riverfront has plenty of handy amenities, such as wine glasses with corkscrews and plush robes, and the modern bathrooms have handsome Italian tilework.

From downtown Portsmouth, it's a picturesque 2-mile drive or bike ride along the Piscataqua River to this urbane inn set inside an 1820s home that's been given a nautical-chic redesign, all of its six apartment-style studios equipped with well-stocked kitchens, washers and dryers, and light-filled living spaces. Although the inn offers only a self check-in, there is a concierge available to answer questions by text. Some rooms have water views. 

This downtown Victorian mansion built in 1881 by a sea captain is now a 32-room boutique hotel with elegantly updated furnishings, plush bed linens, and such modern conveniences as fast Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs.