St. Charles Guesthouse, New Orleans

The St. Charles guesthouse is a comfortable, clean guesthouse in 125-year-old building on Prytania Street in the lovely Lower Garden district. Don't go there if you are looking for a chocolate on your pillow or if central air conditioning and cable tv are musts. Rooms have neither tv or phone, though phone and Internet access are available. Do go if sitting by the pool under a bannana tree or sharing breakfast with the guesthouse's eclectic group of visitors (artists and writers are regulars) sounds appealing. The owner and staff (most of whom both live and work at the guesthouse) are unfailingly generous with information and insight and go out of their way to make visitors feel at home in the guesthouse and the city. The location is a huge bonus: tucked one block off the St. Charles streetcar line between the French Quarter and the Garden District and uptown. The prices are quite low, and the unique spirit of the place would seem to be what attracts many repeat visitors--laidback, unoretentious, quirky--all these adjectives apply and they make for an unforgettable and affordable stay in one of New Orlean's loveliest neighborhoods.