White Barn Inn

It’s no surprise that Maine’s top-rated Relais & Châteaux hotel is located in the toniest summer community of them all—Kennebunkport—and just two minutes as the gull flies from the Bush family compound on Walker’s Point. Since its opening in 1973, a lot of noise has been made of this sophisticated 19th-century inn compound—with its clapboard 26-room main house, three outlying riverfront cottages, and two 1820s barns. Intimacy, rather than grandeur, is evoked by the property’s elegant flower-lined walkways and secret gardens, hand-painted furniture, sleek marble baths, and sleigh beds perfect for curling up on a cool Maine night. The centerpiece—its famed white barn with wide-plank floors and soaring exposed beams—is the inn’s restaurant, renown for its Maine-inspired American and European dishes. To literally be transported, try a coastal cruise on True Blue, the inn’s private yacht.

Room to Book: With its double-sided fireplace (visible from the bedroom and the bath), Jacuzzi for two, and king bed, Suite Eight is a great choice.