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

Inside the Hotel Helix.   (Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Helix)

Watch the rivers flow at the Ledge House Bed and Breakfast (from $85), where rooms feature views of both the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and private entrances. There's no need to rent a car, as Ledge House is near both the Amtrak and MARK stops in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Get in on the party at Hotel Helix (from $99), a former HoJo’s transformed into an oasis of affordable chic in DuPont Circle. Specialty rooms have surfing wallpaper, bunk beds, and red lava lamps, though most accommodations feature comfortable queens and kings with a fresh paint job and funkier bedspreads (fake-fur blankets!) courtesy of what could be the biggest Ikea shopping spree of all time.

The W Hotel (from $299) opened last month near the White House with Phillipe Starck furniture and room names like "Wonderful" and "Marvelous." Meet the latest crop of the best and the brightest at the POV's rooftop bar.

Published on Aug 6, 2009 as a web exclusive.