40 Best Hotels in The Finger Lakes, New York

Understated elegance is the rule at this châteaulike property. Mirbeau is French for "reflected beauty" and appropriately, the complex wraps around a water garden with lovely lilies and an arched wooden walkway. The 10,000-square-foot Roman-style spa has the region's most extensive treatment menu. Rooms have fireplaces, French-country furnishings, down comforters, and soaking tubs. On Saturday night the elegant Giverny restaurant, which serves contemporary takes on seafood and game, hosts live jazz. Four- and five-course tasting menus are available.

Rooms at this inn, an 1880 Queen Anne downtown, are imaginatively decorated to highlight alcoves, built-in shelves, curved walls, and steeple views of the city center. Furnishings are traditional and pretty: European armoires, cherrywood sleigh beds and four-poster beds, and wood shutters. Breakfast is excellent, with treats like a homemade English muffin topped with scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, and asparagus, plus fresh juice and assorted muffins. A dessert buffet is offered in the evening.

This 18th-century stagecoach inn has elegant, spacious guest rooms furnished with a well-assembled blend of antique and contemporary country pieces. All rooms have down comforters and thick robes. In the Hotchkiss Room, which has a fireplace, French doors lead out to a walled terrace. A renovated barn 25 feet from the back door contains the private Barn Suite, with a kitchen and king-size sleigh bed. Grassy grounds, with stone walls, gardens, and a hot tub, surround the inn, which is a 10-minute drive outside the city.

Fresh flowers, lovely antiques, and touches of Portuguese lace set the mood at this Queen Anne–style beauty. Its key selling point is the location, across the street from Skaneateles Lake and Clift Park. You can easily walk to shopping, a boat ride, and dinner. The excellent breakfasts include German pancakes.

The smell of freshly baked cookies welcomes you to this turn-of-the-20th-century home. Guest-room furnishings are a blend of Victorian and country-romantic styles. Two rooms have whirlpool tubs, three have electric fireplaces, and one has a private porch. The living room also has a gas fireplace.

Furniture dating from the 1700s and other antiques outfit this 1852 brick inn. Most rooms have a gas or electric fireplace, and several have a whirlpool tub. The dominant feature of each of the individually decorated guest rooms tends to be the bed—a tall four-poster or a bird's-eye maple sleigh bed, perhaps. Floors are hardwood, with bedside throw rugs. The inn is a block from Skaneateles Lake and the restaurant and shopping district.

Most guest rooms in this luxurious 1833 Federal-style brick inn have balconies with lake views; some have fireplaces and whirlpool tubs. Furnishings are a rich and historically appropriate mix of antiques and reproductions. Paintings and Oriental rugs outfit the common rooms downstairs. Modern amenities include flat-screen TVs, Bose CD players, Frette linens, terry robes, and marble bathrooms. The restaurant serves elegant American fare.

The gracious hosts at this B&B win accolades from past guests. In a stately Federal-style home with original olive-green clapboards, rooms are tastefully decorated with a mixture of antique and reproduction furniture and accents, with some gas fireplaces and four-poster, canopy, or ironwork beds. Guests share a hot tub enclosed in a gazebo for all-weather use.

The 1889 castle, complete with tower, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; you can stay in the original stone structure, but better rooms are found in the charming Georgian Revival mansion or in the modern Vinifera Inn, which has less personality but king-size beds, gas fireplaces, and two-person showers. The formal restaurant and lounge have lake views. Belhurst has its own winery, and a wine-tasting room and gift shop are on-site.

All the rooms at this Adirondack lodge–style hotel have gas fireplaces, heated bathroom floors, rustic decor with wood on the walls and wool blankets on the beds, and balconies with spectacular lake views. Guests share an outdoor hot tub. The Lodge Restaurant serves contemporary American and grill fare, from burgers to maple-glazed pork tenderloin. You may cross-country ski or snowshoe on the grounds in winter (rentals available) or play the 18-hole championship golf course. Ski packages with Bristol Mountain are available.

On a residential street off boutique- and café-lined Park Avenue, this 1905 Tudor dwelling has been the home of owners Ellie and Bill Klein for 50 years. The decor is a jumble of patterned wallpapers; original features (like some claw-foot tubs); furniture from various periods (Italian and French provincial, early American, contemporary); and quirky touches like vintage dresses hung in closets. Guests have access to a library of classic VHS movies.

This seven-story lodging, in an East Syracuse business district, is geared for the business traveler. Rooms are contemporary, with large desks and ergonomic work chairs, cordless phones, and pillow-top mattresses.

Under the same management as the Aurora Inn and less than a half mile up the road, the E. B. Morgan House is equally as impressive and has many of the same luxurious amenities (terry robes, Frette linens). The lakefront 1858 Italianate mansion is filled with a mix of tasteful modern, reproduction, and antique pieces. Three rooms have carved-wood four-poster beds. All rooms have marble baths. A full breakfast is available at the Aurora Inn May–October; the on-site Continental breakfast includes a hot entrée and fresh muffins or scones.

This 1896 Georgian home is impeccably furnished and decorated in a mix of Victorian and modern country-cottage style, with lovely moldings and fireplaces, hardwood floors, tasteful floral fabrics and antique and reproduction furniture. The two larger rooms are the most impressive, with more completely executed decor. A room with a twin bed called the Sleeping Porch can be tacked onto the Cottage Suite. Breakfast is served in a pretty dining room or on a side patio in warm weather.

The Finger Lakes Bed & Breakfast Association has extensive B&B listings.

Finger Lakes Premier Properties has a large selection of vacation rentals.

This exquisitely restored 1833 mill sits in a rural town en route to Letchworth State Park. Rooms are immaculate and decorated in historic country-cottage style with handcrafted and antique pieces. A bubbling creek with a waterfall runs alongside the inn, in view of the patio and flowering garden. The huge breakfast, with homemade granola and maple syrup tapped on-site is a high point.

About five blocks from Syracuse University, this hotel has rooms with elegant, streamlined furnishings, hypoallergenic bedding, and granite bathrooms (some with whirlpool baths). The restaurant offers fine contemporary fare with many Italian-inspired selections; the bistro offers more casual fare. The 50-seat theater is used for both business and entertainment purposes. The hotel lounge has a grand piano.

Here's a slice of Europe at the edge of Seneca Lake. Formally manicured grounds and Italian Renaissance architecture call to mind Tuscany. The stunning white manor house, built in 1914, has fireplaces of imported marble and rich upholstery and tapestries. Rooms are furnished with different styles of Stickley furniture. Ten suites have two bedrooms. Studios have living rooms and Murphy beds. Spend a summer afternoon playing lawn games, fishing, or taking a pontoon boat ride on Seneca Lake.

Within Letchworth State Park, this country inn overlooks the park's tallest waterfall. Park founder William Pryor Letchworth had used the mansion as a retreat; it became an inn in 1914. Interiors are Victorian in style. Smaller standard rooms have one double or two twin beds, but the suites, with queen beds, are spacious. The Cherry Suite has a whirlpool tub, a private porch, and chevron-patterned hardwood floors. Also available are contemporary lodge rooms and three houses.

The lodging is in a suburban spot 3 miles from downtown. Motel rooms are simple, with no-frills furnishings. Rooms in the separate lodge building have wood-covered walls and vaulted ceilings. A cottage and a carriage house contain several rooms and suites. Picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, sprawled across the lawn, offer a respite after hikes at Buttermilk Falls State Park, 1 mi away.

The large 1848 colonial-revival house sits on 300 private acres of woods and meadows across the street from Skaneateles Lake. Interiors are plush but not fussy, with a leather sofa, silk and velvet drapes, Oriental rugs, and a hallway mural. Two bedrooms have fireplaces; most have four-poster beds. Lake views are especially nice from the front and side porches.

Rooms at this downtown high-rise hotel either look out onto some of the city's finest examples of 19th-century architecture or face Lake Ontario or the Genesee River. The hotel is within walking distance of the Blue Cross Arena and Geva Theatre Center. Guest rooms and corridors were completely renovated in 2006 and 2007; beds are topped with down duvets and bathrooms are granite.

Every room has a view of Seneca Lake at this inn 10 mile north of Watkins Glen, built in 1999 to complement the on-site Glenora winery (Seneca Lake's oldest winery, opened in 1977). All rooms are furnished with Mission-style pieces and have either a balcony or patio; Vintners Select rooms have fireplaces. The restaurant, Veraisons, serves three upscale-American meals a day in a cathedral-ceiling dining room with a stone fireplace, a patio, and excellent lake views.

Our pick for Rochester's top hotel, the Inn on Broadway is in the East End within blocks of the Eastman and Geva theaters, Strong Museum, and various dining and nightlife options. A private club originally occupied the 1929 building, and refinement lingers in the air. Every room is unique, but all have featherbeds (queen or king), down comforters, and thick towels; some have hardwood floors, gas fireplaces, and two-person Jacuzzi tubs. Deluxe rooms have baths with multiple showerheads. A sitting area with a small library is a B&B–style touch.

An 1830s Greek Revival mansion was completely renovated to create the main building of this unconventional B&B. Accommodations are rooms, suites, and cottages, some a block away from the main inn. The design is contemporary, with custom-designed furniture by architect and co-owner Kenn Young. Suites and cottages have gas fireplaces. Kenn's wife Madeline, a chef, prepares breakfast. The owners are fairly hands-off.

The waterfront inn next to the city pier has spacious grounds with a pool, a sand-volleyball court, and a barbecue grill. A large lobby-lounge extends out onto a deck overlooking the lake. Rooms are upgraded every few years and are contemporary in decor; those with lake views have either a patio or balcony. More lake views are found in the elegant, contemporary Max on the Lake restaurant, with a menu of steak, seafood, and pasta.

This Armory Square landmark is Syracuse's oldest hotel. Most rooms and suites have kitchens, and all have flat-screen TVs and leather desk chairs. Decor is traditional, with wall-to-wall carpeting, walnut veneer furnishings, and crisp white bedding. The pillow-top mattresses were custom-designed for the hotel.

This three-story inn sits on 70 acres on a hill 3 mi from downtown. You can hike into Buttermilk Falls State Park or fish in one of the two on-site ponds. Rooms vary in configuration and style: king rooms (many with fireplaces, hot tubs, and balconies) have swagged windows, light-wood furniture, and an overall feminine feel. A tower room has curved walls and a round bed. The John Thomas Steakhouse occupies a farmhouse on the grounds; the inn building also has a bistro.

A pink-and-turquoise neon sign on Route 5/U.S. 20 welcomes you to this 1953 motor lodge, transformed into an art-deco-style motel. Each room is individually decorated, with some '50s and '60s lamps and furnishings mixed with more-modern pieces. Rooms have comfortable queen beds with better-than-average linens; some have hot tubs.