The Best Hotel in Inner City and the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney

If you're tired of the standard travelers' rooms, this renovated Victorian terrace house may be just the tonic. Having undergone a massive conversion into 21st-century cool, it sports a decorating scheme of brash colors—blues, yellows, and creams splashed against reds—and furnishings (platform beds and chaise lounge) that might have come direct from a Milan design gallery. Every room is slightly different, has a kitchenette, and was recently fitted with a new flat-screen TV. Behind the glamour is a comfortable, well-run hotel with friendly, attentive staff. This is one of the few city hotels that welcome guests' dogs, and it's near many good restaurants.