• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

One of the more spacious offerings at the Hotel Veritas.   (Photo: Courtesy of The Hotel Veritas)

Splurge on one of 114 handsome minimalist rooms and suites at the Ames Hotel (from $395), which opened in 2009 in a stately Romanesque building built in 1893. It’s located just a few blocks from the harbor and the bustling Fort Point neighborhood, and the hotel houses a sceney in-house tavern, Woodward, where D.J.'s spin on Friday and Saturday nights until 2 a.m.

Trade space for style at Hotel Veritas (from $195), which opened on Harvard Square in 2010. The 31 rooms are small, averaging around 230-square-feet, but the details—understated Deco-style furnishings, Anichini linens, and Etro bath products—up the comfort factor.

Get a great deal at Hotel 140 (from $99), where 55 basic but immaculate rooms are just steps away from some of the Back Bay’s poshest five-star options—as well as Copley Square and the city’s destination shopping streets, Newbury and Boylston.

Published on Sep 16, 2011 as a web exclusive.