Hotel Heaven

Chicago is the Midwesterner's big city, and most of us love its boisterous good humor and disarming lack of pretense. The city moves along at a snappy pace, as brisk as the windy froth off the lake, but never seems in-your-face like Right Coast cities or studiously cool like Left.

Yet our own metropolis still belches big-city fumes and rumbles with big-city noises, so it's nice to have a soft cocoon where we can close the door on the City that Works. To take a few hours off, think about booking a room at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago.

Trust us, it's warming at the end of a bustling day on the Magnificent Mile to zoom up to the 12th-floor lobby, step into the Ritz-Carlton's miles of marble, ogle the giant flower arrangement and catch a few notes of music. And have someone actually smile at us — you know, a real Midwestern smile.

This is the hotel that notices everything: If you're only eating the grapes from the fruit bowl in your room, those will be magically replenished and the banana discreetly removed. Line up your cosmetics or shoes a special way? The phalanx will be painstakingly duplicated after the next day's cleaning.

That kind of cocooning, that soft place to fall at the end of the day, is at the heart of many travelers' favorite posh spots. It's doubly great, then, when the best resorts are surrounded by their own cocoons of time and space.

That's certainly true at Michigan's Grand Hotel. Cresting a knoll high on Mackinac Island, the Grand Hotel is the linchpin between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas and the Great Lakes of Huron and Michigan.

With cars forbidden, Mackinac is one of the few enclaves left in the world where horses rule — and rule absolutely. Whatever the temperature, Mackinac is the island that always sounds like Christmas Eve, with the clatter of horses' hooves and the heel chains on their hitches jingling like bells.

This is the place to slip back a century or more, to an authentic horse-based society. That aura takes the hotel with the world's longest front porch far out of any mundane realm.

In their dewy youth, Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour bent all the rules of earthly chronology in "Somewhere in Time," filmed in 1979 in the Grand Hotel. The hotel still celebrates its starring role with a festival each October, and that other-worldliness hovers around her old white pine boards, broad staircases and long dining room.

After a busy day learning to drive a horse-drawn buggy, ducking into fudge shops and exploring Fort Mackinac, there's nothing better than a cold drink and great view from the Grand's Cupola Bar. It's worth the climb up those stairs to survey this craggy island from one of its highest aeries.

South of the high points of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Grand Rapids delivers luxury both old and new at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Built out of and around the original Pantlind Hotel, which was completed in 1913, the hotel also features a 29-story glass tower. Guests can opt to stay in the wonderfully restored Pantlind, with guestrooms styled in original moldings and period-accurate artwork, or they can opt for the newer guestrooms in the glass tower. The Tower Lounge, on the uppermost floors of this glass menagerie, offers gracious views of downtown Grand Rapids and its environs, while six additional restaurants on the property give guests many dining options.

Across the state in the Detroit Metro area, guests at Birmingham's Townsend Hotel are treated to newly styled old luxury. This hotel allows guests to make a grand entrance under a crystal chandelier that casts its light on cherry-wood walls. Guest rooms here feature Egyptian cotton sheets, custom Italian duvets and goose down pillows. Guests who want a comfortable extended stay can choose a suite with a small kitchen, but all who stay at the hotel enjoy a spacious marble-draped bathroom. Situated in the artsy community of Birmingham, the Townsend is close to the city's galleries, antiques shops and boutiques. A short drive will get you to the beautiful campus of Cranbrook; be sure to visit the art museum here.

The view is part of the joy, too, at The Greenbrier, an elegant dowager of a resort outside White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. There are cottages and condos on this 6,500-acre property, but the purest experience may be booking into the old hotel: those wide hallways, those vast rooms, the sense of the past.

Arthritics have been coming to these hot springs since at least 1778, easing into the smelly water, hoping to soak away the pain. As much as modern hedonists relish the spa treatments — a memorable sea salt scrub, eucalyptus massage, lavender wrap, for instance — it's still part of the tradition to take a dip in the hot sulfur water.

Tradition is important at The Greenbrier, the kind of place where families return for generations, often to find some of the same faces in the dining room and golf club. This is country-friendly service that knows no limits. Just mention that you enjoy the after-dinner cookies and an entire plate of them will materialize — tonight and every night of your stay.

Warm hospitality spans cultures and countries, and the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto is a good example of that. The hotel anchors the chic Yorkville area, and again, closes out the great polyglot city that is Toronto for a few welcome hours.

Just walking back to the hotel can be a temptation, with rows of little Canada-only galleries and shops calling to you through their doors. How about a designer coat, the Sirens call, or a $10,000 Inuit soapstone carving? Then, the hotel itself offers its own enticements, especially on the French menu at Truffles.

A tempting newcomer to Toronto, the Drake Hotel is among the quirkiest luxury hotels around. Situated in the Queen West Art & Design District, this old building was a crack house before it was rescued by an Internet millionaire with a dream. The building, with its terrazzo floors, murals and dramatic spiral staircase, seemed an excellent candidate for rehabilitation. But the designers took the project one step further, introducing elements of high-tech modernism to the decor, outfitting the rooms — many with exposed brick walls — with very modern accessories and furniture. The result is a mixture of hardwood floors, old architecture and savvy new duvet-covered beds and ultra-modern decor. Guests can enjoy sipping coffee at the decidedly Bohemian cafe that's frequented by the local artists, binge on sushi at the raw bar, or take a yoga class at the hotel's own Yoga Den. The Drake is an energetic collision of locals and tourists in a setting that's hard to resist if you're at all into the arts.

The arts also take center stage at Pennsylvania's Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Set on 2,800 acres in the state's scenic Laurel Highlands region, Nemacolin's centerpiece is the Chateau Lafayette, an imposing structure set high on a hill. Arriving at the chateau, guests are greeted by art immediately — chairs designed by Gianni Versace grace the lobby. A short walk from the lobby and you're in the middle of a gallery housing the Hardy Family Art Collection which includes pieces from the 17th century to the present.

The resort includes the Lodge, the property's original structure built as a hunting lodge that's now fashioned as an English country inn. A modern spa with amenities ranging from up-dos to hot rock massages is just a short walk away. Golfers enjoy the PGA golf course where the 86 Lumber Classic is held each year; those with the big bucks can stay on the edge of the course's 18th green at Nemacolin's newest facility, Falling Rock. With a design inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright — the architect's Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater are close by — Falling Rock is constructed of stone and slate with cherry-wood accents and an impressive copperleaf ceiling. Guest rooms have 24-hour butler service and feature furnishings custom-made for the property. Fireplaces in the suites and your choice of pillow from the hotel's pillow menu ensure comfort and hominess.

Just about an hour from Nemacolin, the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel offers guests a majestic stay in the heart of downtown. Built in 1906 by industrialist Henry Phipps, the Fulton Building — its original name — was intended to be an office building. At the time, critics said that the grand marble staircase, signature art-glass skylights and seven-story arch made the structure seem more like a hotel than anything else.

In March 2001, the Fulton Building was finally dedicated as a hotel, and the result seems just right. The lobby maintains all its turn-of-the-century charm, and the guestrooms seem just as oversized and grand as original hotel rooms of the period might have been. The guest services and room amenities are award-winning, and those lucky enough to get a room overlooking the river are in for a treat. It's a short walk to most of the downtown attractions, including baseball games and the Warhol Museum. Even the strip district, with its shops and restaurants, is just a short jaunt away.

Fans of old, opulent hotels should plan a stay in Louisville, Kentucky. The city offers two: The Seelbach and The Brown, located just a few blocks from each other in the city's newly revitalized downtown arts and shopping district. The Seelbach Hilton, built in 1905, is a beautiful example of Beaux Arts Baroque architecture, inside and out. Steeped in local lore and history, it is said that gangsters played poker and drank moonshine during prohibition in the hotel's Oak Room, which is now a more innocent hotel restaurant. The hotel's Rathskeller is preserved below street level and is the world's last remaining room made of Rookwood pottery. Even if you can't attend an event in the Rathskeller, you should request a quick tour from the concierge — it's an amazing mixture of medieval-inspired architecture and the rich color and texture of Rookwood.

Just down the street, the Brown Hotel, built in 1923, provides a glimpse at the Georgian Revival style with hints of English Renaissance throughout its interior. Camberley hotels restored this gem in the 1990s, and the result is an upscale hotel experience. Rooms feature plenty of woodwork and reproduction furniture. The English Grill is among the best restaurants in town, but guests also make a point of checking into J. Grahams, a lovely old-fashioned cafe, for an order of Hot Brown, the turkey and brown bread concoction that originated here.

On a much smaller, more rustic scale, it's wonderful to fall under the tempting spell of the Wetlands Wellness Spa at Foxhollow near Crestwood, Kentucky. The comfortable old 1830s manor house takes in boarders, and the renovated farm workers' houses can handle an entire gaggle of spa-goers. Getaway girlfriends love to take over one of the cottages for an indulgent weekend.

Down a tree-lined allee about a half-mile from the manor house, the spa treatment rooms are retrofitted into vintage Bluegrass buildings on a 1,300-acre working farm. Guests take time to sweet-talk the colts and fillies in the paddocks, then head inside for a day of massage, facials and pedicures. It's a day for flopping around in white robes and slippers, sipping raspberry tea, flipping through magazines and talking in that hushed spa whisper. Finally, pampered to the gills, the girlfriends float back to their little white clapboard cottage at the end of the lane.

Fans of small inns will also appreciate the trimmings at the Inns on Negley, two homes in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh where charm and grace meet modern luxury. The Appletree Inn is the first of the two properties. Guests at the faithfully-restored Victorian Italianate wood-frame house spend their time admiring the original wood floors and period-accurate plaster molding, and luxuriating in the home's delightful collections of antiques. The Inn at 714 Negley is a brick house fashioned after an English cottage. Get the inn's personal chef to serve breakfast on the porch — you'll love the view from the vintage ice-cream tables.

If the Inns on Negley represent the best of what's old, then Cleveland's Intercontinental Hotel represents the best of what's brand new. Rebuilt recently on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the hotel kept some of its more important guests in mind: top politicians, royalty and the best entertainers are known to frequent the hotel because of its proximity to the world-class medical facility. But you don't have to be a rock star or a prince to be treated well. Even if you've just ambled in from Pittsburgh, you can request the hotel's "aromatherapy jet lag kit" to help you get over the stress of the three-hour drive.

The hotel's lobby is a study in modern luxury, rooms feature flat-screen televisions, and the workout facility is graced with saunas that you can enjoy 24 hours a day. Classics restaurant, just off the lobby, is among the best and most expensive in town. But when you're going all out for luxury, you've got to bring your pocketbook along.