Ahh…the beach. Relaxing there on a hot summer’s day is an antidote like no other—especially when you choose the right beach hotel as your home base. We asked T+L readers to vote on their favorite hotels for our annual World’s Best Awards Survey, and came away with beachfront winners like The Breakers. So if your summer travel plans call for a stay at the shore, we’ve got a hotel for you.
Many of our U.S. favorites are just where you’d expect; two sun-kissed destinations are home to more than half the winners. Six are in Florida, and another half dozen are scattered between four Hawaiian islands. And which beach most famously personifies the Aloha State? Waikiki, of course, where you’ll find the luxurious Halekulani, with panoramic views of Diamond Head and an award-winning restaurant. Hotel guests can enjoy free tickets to the Honolulu Symphony, Academy of Arts, and the Contemporary Museum—so you’ve got plenty to keep you going after some fun in the sun.
For those who want to dip their toes into the Pacific without the long-haul flight, there’s No. 11 on our list: the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Nigel, in Dana Point, CA. Located atop 150-foot bluffs facing out toward Catalina Island, the hotel provides beach chairs, umbrellas, and boogie boards for guests and will also arrange surf lessons for the adventuresome.
Properties in four other states round out our readers’ picks for America’s best beach hotels, including the Sanctuary Hotel on Kiawah Island, near Charleston, SC. This sprawling 225-room hotel is a favorite for its superb coastline, five world-class golf courses, and the surrounding wildlife-filled wetlands that are home to migrating birds and nesting sea turtles.
Curious to know which beach property was voted No. 1? Read on for all the winners
1 Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, Little Torch Key, FL
Florida’s most secluded and romantic retreat: a South Seas-style idyll set along a white-sand beach on a private 6-acre island, accessible only by boat or seaplane. Suites 15 and 16 offer the most privacy. Be sure to visit Looe Key, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, located minutes away from the resort by kayak.
2 Four Seasons Resort, Hualalai
“Perfect,” “heaven,” and “the best vacation of my life” are just a few ways guests describe this understatedly gorgeous, isolated resort where all 228 rooms, in low-rise bungalows, have ocean views. It’s popular with Hollywood celebrities for good reason: the grounds border the dramatic volcanic rock coast with seawater and freshwater swimming pools; and an open-air spa teems with tropical vegetation.
3 Halekulani, Oahu
Service rules at this recently renovated 5-acre Waikiki Beach beauty, which has existed for nearly a century. The Orchid Suite, the newest of the hotel’s premier rooms, made its debut in 2008. At the open-air dining room at Orchids restaurant, paddle straight for the Hawaiian specialties: pipi kaula beef jerky, marinated ahi tuna poke, lomilomi cured salmon, Waimanalo roast suckling pig, local Kula tomatoes, and Big Island goat cheese. Diamond Head suites on floors nine and higher have the best ocean and volcano views.
4 Montage Laguna Beach, CA
Montage aims for an experience you might find in Positano, crisp service and the smell of the surf. At the Arts and Crafts–style Montage Resort & Spa, the location is exceptional, on a 30-acre spot on a bluff with a 280-degree view of the Pacific. Of the 250 rooms, the best are the Ocean Surf View rooms, located on the upper floors and offering great views of the Pacific Break.
5. Kahala Hotel & Resort, Oahu
This 1964 colossus benefits from having about it a whiff of archaism. It was here, at what was then a Hilton and known as the Kahollywood, that Richard Burton and Liz Taylor hid out from the paparazzi in a private cabana. Opt for an Ocean suite for panoramic views of Diamond Head, then be sure to swim with dolphins in the hotel’s lagoon.
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