The Virginia Hotel
25 Jackson Street, Cape May
800-732-4236, virginiahotel.com
Number of rooms: 24; Summer price range: $299-409
The chic sister to the grand Congress Hall and the family-oriented Beach Shack, the Virginia is a mainstay on the B&B row that is the last block of Jackson Street before the beach. Semi-celebs often haunt the place—like New York literati Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City) and Candace Bushnell, on whom Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw was modeled. All rooms have Belgian and Italian linens, flat-screen TVs, Bulgari bath products, in-room wireless connections, and twice-a-day housekeeping.
The Virginia also provides beach chairs and umbrellas for the small beach a half-block away. The property includes five Victorian cottages down the block, most with seven-night minimums in the summer. The Ebbitt Room, an elegant restaurant with a marvelous wine list and even-higher-than-usual-Cape-May prices (entrées $30-$39), is right off the lobby. Rock on the porch and see the best of Cape May stroll by, or sit inside and play the baby grand