Camden Harbour Inn featured in July 2009 Travel & Leisure

Maine has no shortage of hideaways

Travel & Leisure

From July 2009

By Travelandleisure.com Staff

Slideshow of the Top U.S. Seaside Inns.

After breezing through Maine on a leaf-peeping tour in 2004, Dutch duo (and hospitality-industry veterans) Oscar Verest and Raymond Brunyanszki returned in 2007 to open what is arguably Maine’s first truly design-centric inn, on a hill overlooking Camden’s sail-dotted town harbor. Though it occupies a gracious, rambling 1874 building, the inn has enough mod shine to shake up the Top-Sider set; thanks to Dutch designer Mascha Brunia, the public lounge spaces feel more South Beach bôite than historic New England. The light fixtures from Habitat and Mildred chairs complement the inn’s more traditional bones, but the 18 guest “chambers”—each named after famous ports of the Dutch East India Trading Company and accessed via old staircases—are an ebullient swirl of graphic Metal X wallpaper; Asian antiques; Deco accents; satin, silk, and velvet comforters; plus all the latest technology. The restaurant, Natalie’s, serves elevated brasserie fare—both inside and on the grand porch in summer—in turn-of-the-century Parisian style (note the bar crafted from 100-year-old convent doors from France).

Insider Tip: The inn’s small spa is the only facility in the state to offer the Reiki-like, cutting-edge “Zero Balancing” energy treatment.
Room to Book: The ultrasophisticated third-floor Bonaire room has views of Penobscot Bay and Mount Battie.