Under $100

The cheapest accommodations are at once the most scenic and least convenient. Overlooking North Adams, the Wigwam and Western Summit Cottages (2350 Mohawk Trail/Rte. 2, 413/663-3205, www.thewigwam.net, $70) offer bare-bones cottages from May to October.

$100–150

Named after a character in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Goldberry’s Bed & Breakfast (39 Cold Spring Rd., Williamstown, 413/458-3935, http://goldberrys.tripod.com/, $80–125) aspires to be a place of refuge for “weary hobbits.” Genial host Mary Terio provides high-speed Internet and homemade breads and muffins in a homey Greek Revival house a short walk from Williamstown’s center.

Located at the crossroads of North Adams, the Holiday Inn Berkshires (40 Main St., North Adams, 413/663-6500, www.ichotelsgroup.com, $91–180) offers reasonable accommodations along with inoffensive art and polyester bedspreads.

$150–250

The tiered, cubist exterior, painted in hues of teal and mauve, is your first sign that the Guest House at Field Farm (554 Sloan Rd., Williamstown, 413/458-3135, http://guesthouseatfieldfarm.thetrustees.org, $150–295) is not your ordinary bed-and-breakfast. A Bauhaus-inspired modernist masterpiece, the home is full of modern art and design-conscious period furniture. A heated outdoor pool, private decks, and terry-cloth robes create a sense of peaceful refuge that melds with the natural setting of 300 protected acres that surrounds the house.

In a world of techno-and-neon boutique hotels,
The Porches Inn (231 River St., North Adams, 413/664-0400, www.porches.com, $130–335) stands out for channeling the spirit of North Adams—both old and new. Workmen’s row houses from the 1890s have been transformed into luxury guest rooms, with DVD players and ultra-soft sheets. The design sensibility, however, comes right out of blue-collar Americana, with paint-by-numbers paintings, vintage lamps scrounged through eBay, and breakfast delivered in steel lunch pails.

© Michael Blanding and Alexandra Hall from Moon New England, 2nd Edition