Bend hotels

The Oxford Hotel is a sophisticated downtown option for visitors looking for one of the best hotels in Bend. The hotel’s eco-chic design and brown, gray and green color scheme are inspired by the local landscape. It’s worth splurging on a mountain view room with a balcony just to breathe in that fresh mountain air each morning and see the snow-dusted peaks.

Here, you’ll find yourself right in the heart of the downtown action. Buildings dating back to the early 1900s are filled with locally-owned restaurants, beauty and clothing boutiques, like my personal favorite Hot Box Betty, and wine-tasting rooms and theaters.

The Oxford keeps things interesting with regular jazz nights and a lively scene at the cosmopolitan bar and restaurant Roam. With bikes for pedaling around town, complimentary guitars and record players, and pillow menus all added perks of an Oxford stay.

The luxury retreat, golf course and community of Tetherow Resort is just an eight-minute drive from downtown and twenty minutes from Oregon’s best skiing on Mount Bachelor.

Located on a plateau with stellar mountain and forest views, Tetherow guests are often treated to the fieriest of mountain town sunsets, which can be savored at one of the many outdoor spaces and firepits.

Lodge accommodations include everything from budget-friendly studios to deluxe corner rooms with king beds, sleeper sofas, balconies and fireplaces, offering views of the golf course and mountains.

Tetherow has three restaurants to choose from: a casual pub, The Row; a fine dining restaurant, Solomon’s; and a café serving sandwiches and pizzas. I stayed here once during the holidays and can attest to it being one of the top choices in Bend for families thanks to the year-round heated outdoor pool.

Element Bend by Westin is one of the best hotels in Bend for work and play. The hotel offers complimentary bikes and breakfast, so you can fill up before a day spent hiking, cycling and exploring.

The light-filled, double-height business center feels like an urban co-working space and each extended stay suite and guestroom has a writing desk and white-tiled kitchen.

The hotel has a large heated indoor pool and hot tub, making this one of the best hotels in Bend for wellness-loving travelers. It’s conveniently located too near Hwy 97 and just across the street from riverfront Pioneer Park, one of Bend’s oldest and prettiest public parks.

While there’s no full-service restaurant, Element Bend does have a market selling healthy snacks. It’s an easy drive to the Old Mill District for ramen or a quick walk along the Deschutes River Trail for dinner at the downtown hot spot Wild Rose.

The best hotels in Bend for a wellness retreat include Juniper Preserve, perfect for spa lovers, golfers and anyone looking to reconnect with nature. Located in a juniper forest 30 minutes northeast of town, it has two championship golf courses.

Recently renovated hotel rooms feature natural materials like wood furnishings and locally-made pottery. The hotel portion of the resort, Juniper Lodge, has a stone fireplace, potted plants and a bar that serves lattes and pastries in the morning and microbrews and cocktails in the evening.

I highly recommend booking a treatment at Juniper Spa. My personal favorite is the Sweet and Spicy CBD massage, which gives you a warming sensation thanks to the use of cloves and cinnamon. The transcendental breathwork sessions are also a must.

Additional wellness activities, such as group meditations, yoga, and sound healing sessions, help make Juniper Preserve one of the best hotels in Bend.

Situated in a grove of lodgepole pines on the way to Mount Bachelor, LOGE Bend is more than just one of the best hotels in Bend. It aims to help travelers meet other adventure lovers and provide the ultimate basecamp for experiencing the great outdoors with on-site gear rentals. Surfers, skiers, riders and bikers congregate around the communal firepits and outdoor swimming pool. The café serves locally roasted Thump coffee and craft beer – everything needed to fuel up before and after an adventure. Standard rooms have a gear wall and a microwave, while suites are larger and come with soaking tubs. Meanwhile, family rooms with in-room hammocks sleep up to four in a bunkbed and a queen, making this a great option for active adventure-loving families.

Located in the Cascade Mountain foothills, 20 minutes from downtown Bend, Sunriver Resort is another great hotel in Bend for families.

Initially built on a scenic meadow in the mid-1960s, the natural beauty, lack of light pollution and sense of community – with complimentary events like mixology classes often held in the Main Lodge – entice families to return year after year.

Comfortable accommodations help, too. Guestrooms and suites at Lodge Village or the more private River Lodge come with volcanic rock fireplaces, outdoor patios and flat-screen TVs.

Sunriver also has four golf courses, a fitness center, pickleball courts, horseback riding and an aquatic center with a waterslide. Astronomy lovers should visit the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory for a guided constellation tour. One of my favorite local attractions, a wildlife refuge with rotating exhibitions called the High Desert Museum, is just 10 minutes away.

Campfire Hotel’s location on busy NE 3rd Street might not seem the most idyllic, but head into the property – one of the best boutique hotels in Bend – and you’ll find a revamped motor lodge with a Central Oregon spirit.

The double-height lobby is home to lush plants, dark wood walls and floors, and a mod green fireplace. One of the best hotels in Bend for cocktail lovers, bartenders at Canteen serve up delicious concoctions, like a margarita with black lava salt I wish I could recreate at home and a mai tai with a wine float.

Grab the Breedlove guitar in your room, join the hipsters at the wide campfire pit and soak up the sun at the year-round saltwater pool, lined with bright orange umbrellas.

While Campfire Hotel attracts a younger crowd, it’s also family-friendly – the two-bedroom Happy Camper Suite sleeps up to six people and has a living room for lounging.

Wall Street Suites may not have a restaurant or a spa, but it does offer comfortable rooms that quickly get snapped up by travelers looking for a stylish spot in a central location.

Just across the street from the river, a stay at this rustic-chic revamped motel quickly gets you into the Bend groove. With suites complete with writing desks and ergonomic chairs, custom-tiled bathrooms, microwaves and minifridges (larger suites have fully-equipped kitchens), it’s easy to stay awhile.

The unfussy décor perfectly captures the country modern aesthetic that many of the best hotels in Bend sport, with sliding wood barn doors and black and white checkered throws. Downtown Bend’s buzzy wine bars, like the excellent Ferm & Fare, shops and restaurants are just a short walk or bike ride away.

This downtown hotel adjacent to a historic Catholic school wins the award for the most unique hotel in Bend. McMenamins is a beloved Pacific Northwest hospitality brand with dozens of restaurants and hotels in restored buildings throughout Oregon and Washington. The Bend outpost, McMenamins Old St. Francis School, is one of the best hotels in Bend for travelers seeking something a little different, with character in spades.

I love the movie theater with a bar and vintage couches showing the latest flicks and the pub and brewery in a former lunchroom. Another highlight is the semi-enclosed soaking tub, with turquoise tilework, stained glass and a mural. Guests don’t soon forget delicate snowflakes falling through the roof’s opening or stargazing from the comfort of the warm waters. Guestrooms, many housed in former classrooms, are eclectic but comfortable, with cedar plank walls, custom light fixtures and painted headboards.

Springhill Suites by Marriott, one of the best hotels in Bend for location, is in the Old Mill District, where former mill buildings have been transformed into boutiques and restaurants.

Perched above the Deschutes, guests can run along the river and walk across a footbridge to reach Hayden Homes Amphitheater, Bend’s top outdoor music venue. I try to go to as many concerts as possible during the summer. In a nod to the neighborhood’s history, the hotel’s façade has brick accents, while the industrial modern lobby has a log art piece above the check-in desk.

Modern suites come with microwaves, refrigerators, flat-screen TVs and complimentary Wi-Fi. Guests can recharge in the indoor pool, whirlpool and fitness center, making this one of the best hotels in Bend for active travelers. The complimentary breakfast, with egg frittatas and crispy croissant breakfast sandwiches, provides plenty of fuel for the day ahead.