5 Best Hotels in Skaneateles, The Finger Lakes

Fresh flowers, lovely antiques, and touches of Portuguese lace set the mood at this Queen Anne–style beauty. Its key selling point is the location, across the street from Skaneateles Lake and Clift Park. You can easily walk to shopping, a boat ride, and dinner. The excellent breakfasts include German pancakes.

Furniture dating from the 1700s and other antiques outfit this 1852 brick inn. Most rooms have a gas or electric fireplace, and several have a whirlpool tub. The dominant feature of each of the individually decorated guest rooms tends to be the bed—a tall four-poster or a bird's-eye maple sleigh bed, perhaps. Floors are hardwood, with bedside throw rugs. The inn is a block from Skaneateles Lake and the restaurant and shopping district.

The large 1848 colonial-revival house sits on 300 private acres of woods and meadows across the street from Skaneateles Lake. Interiors are plush but not fussy, with a leather sofa, silk and velvet drapes, Oriental rugs, and a hallway mural. Two bedrooms have fireplaces; most have four-poster beds. Lake views are especially nice from the front and side porches.

Understated elegance is the rule at this châteaulike property. Mirbeau is French for "reflected beauty" and appropriately, the complex wraps around a water garden with lovely lilies and an arched wooden walkway. The 10,000-square-foot Roman-style spa has the region's most extensive treatment menu. Rooms have fireplaces, French-country furnishings, down comforters, and soaking tubs. On Saturday night the elegant Giverny restaurant, which serves contemporary takes on seafood and game, hosts live jazz. Four- and five-course tasting menus are available.

This blue-shingle inn is across the street from Clift Park and Skaneateles Lake. You may book a boat ride, complete with captain, on the inn's 1946 wooden Chris-Craft. Guest rooms in the traditional, tasteful main building are individually decorated with antiques, many carved-wood four-poster beds, and crisp white moldings. Suites have fireplaces and either steam showers or Jacuzzi baths. Drinks are served from the original 1807 tavern, which connects to a refined dining room.