36 Best Hotels in New Jersey, USA

A modern, but warm, alternative to the typical Victorian fare, this new boutique inn and motel from the owners of Congress Hall is an understated jewel. In the motel section, ten efficiencies with kitchenettes and backyards are a boon for small families who would prefer to avoid renting a house for a week. The two carriage suites have their own decks and two bedrooms and bathrooms, ideal for couples traveling together. There's an on-site Starbucks, but guests need only hop across the street to Congress Hall for a bite to eat and even a swim. Booking a room at The Star Inn grants you pool and beach access with Congress Hall.

Painted sunflower gold and edged in red, the 1867 Italianate-style inn seems to smile as you enter the gate and approach its veranda ringed by floppy-headed hydrangeas. In every Victorian-dressed hallway, a bowl of candy sits on a table. The rooms are all plastered with designer floral wallpaper, but each has a different color scheme and theme. There's grand opulence in dark green and pink for the Renaissance Room and a sedate airiness of lace and turquoise for the Turn of the Century Room. It's an upbeat place, and close to town and beach.

Potted palm trees line the corridors, fountains bubble, soft beiges and yellows bathe the walls. You've traveled back to pre-Castro Cuba, or perhaps Miami, anywhere with a Caribbean breeze. That's the idea at least. With the addition of "The Quarter" entertainment complex, the Tropicana has fully embraced its tropical theme. Rooms are spread throughout four towers. In the West Tower, they're more modern and wear blue and white stripes, while in the Havana and North towers they're clothed in wallpaper and plaids. Suites feature a more subdued palette and expansive ocean views. The atmosphere here is slightly frantic and sometimes chaotic, but the hotel offers plenty of escapes from the busy casino scene, including skincare treatments, oxygen facials, and therapeutic couples massages at the Bluemercury Spa.

Open year-round, this family oriented motel has practical accommodations, an outdoor pool, a barbecue available for guest use, and a sun deck. It neighbors Congress Hall and couldn't be more different in style and attitude, but efficiency rooms (with three beds, kitchenette, and balcony) sleep up to six people. Off-season rates are an absolute steal.

With turndown and room service, a copy of the New York Times delivered to your door each morning, and transportation throughout town on modified golf carts, the Virginia is a full-service hotel on an intimate scale (24 rooms). Owned by the Congress Hotel group, the Virginia makes a little Victoriana—fringed lamp shades and potted palms—look modern with up-to-date color palettes. Rooms have down comforters and terrycloth bathrobes, as well as Bulgari soaps and lotions. Five nearby cottages, each with a defining style and decor, are also available for weekly rentals. Its Ebbitt Room Restaurant is one of the town's best.

This modern, boutique-style hotel dotted with pools, fountains, and flowers will especially appeal to swimmers and spa aficionados, rather than gambling buffs. Adjacent to the Borgata, The Water Club is an innovative, non-gaming destination offering sweeping views of the marina and ocean. Immersion spa on the 32nd floor is a high-tech jewel, with an infinity-edge pool; deluge showers as forceful as deep-tissue massages; milk and honey cocoon floats and soaks in bourbon; and blossom and bark-filled tubs. Chef Geoffrey Zakarian (of Manhattan's Town and Country restaurants) reinvents Philly cheese steak, french fries (with truffles) and shrimp cocktail (with fresh wasabi), serving summery food and cocktails in the Sunroom lounge and poolside. Indoor pools and Jacuzzis next to the luxurious lobby are surrounded by pineapple plants, palm trees and bamboo that transport guests from the Jersey shore to the tropics.