2 Best Hotels in Saratoga Springs, Albany and Central New York

The impressive lobby of one of the city's original late-19th-century hotels has slightly worn divans, elaborately stenciled walls and ceilings, and trompe-l'oeil details. The grand staircase leads to three floors of guest rooms and common spaces, including a second-story piazza overlooking Broadway. Bedroom styles—from Victorian and French country to Adirondacks and Arts and Crafts—are diverse. The bar, which spills off the lobby and into a courtyard, is a favorite evening gathering spot for drinks and desserts.

Paper-bag inventor George West had this 23-room villa built in 1866 across from one of his mills, 7 mi west of Saratoga Springs. Today it serves as a luxurious B&B where special services may include being picked up at the train station by the inn's Bentley or having cocktails delivered to your room on a silver tray. Intricate moldings, mirrors, and mantels grace rooms with 14-foot ceilings and Victorian furnishings. Some rooms have four-poster beds; all have down comforters. In warm weather you may opt to have breakfast on the long porch overlooking the mansion's gardens and ponds.