Harbor House Hotel

The Harbor House is the hotel downtown has needed for a long time: a 1920s building on the river rebuilt behind its white stucco front, with forty-eight rooms, a restaurant on the water, a dock for guests’ boats and the Riverwalk at the door. Rooms are quiet and well made, half of them with balconies over the river and the rest over the courtyard and the pool; the suites on the top floor see the inlet.

The restaurant does breakfast for guests and dinner for everyone, with the fish from the same boats as the Boathouse down the walk, and the bar on the dock is where the charter captains come for one at the end of the day. The hotel can book guest tee times at Inlet Dunes and holds a few seats on the sunset cruise most evenings.

It is the place to stay without a car: the downtown streets, the galleries, the Riverwalk and the sunset cruise are all on foot, and the beach is a ten-minute taxi. Ask for the top floor in winter, when the inlet view is clearest, and the courtyard side in summer, when the pool is.

Good to know

• River-side rooms with balconies cost about $40 more and are worth it.
• Boats up to 40 feet can dock; book the slip with the room.
• Breakfast is included; dinner needs a booking in season.
• Valet parking is the only parking; the city lots are two blocks away and free.
• Guest tee times at Inlet Dunes are weekdays only.