The best independent hotels under $250 a night.

From $215. Eighteen-room boutique motel at the base of East Rock Mountain, minutes from downtown Great Barrington.

From $235. A 1908 schoolhouse converted with cabins and a Japanese-style bathhouse — Columbia Gorge spa-hotel.

From $215. An 1893 Queen Anne on the Cape Fear River — seven rooms in the historic district.

From $215. An 1845 Greek Revival mansion — five rooms, walking distance to Main Street.

From $255. A 1940s cypress-shingle B&B across the dunes — six rooms, adults-only, Jockey's Ridge views.

From $150. A 1950s Route 50 motor court redone with Pendleton blankets and a few Airstreams — the base camp for the Arkansas River and the Collegiate Peaks.

From $195. The only hotel right in Merchants Square — family-owned, 9 rooms, across from Colonial Williamsburg.

From $245. An 1801 inn in a restored village preserved by a Vermont non-profit. The whole town is the hotel.

From $245. A waterfront inn on Manteo harbor — 25 rooms, 1587 Restaurant, pre-dinner wine hour.

From $245. Nine rooms, four-season, somebody actually cooks your breakfast. The opposite of a Cape Cod Comfort Inn.

From $245. An 1874 schoolhouse-turned-B&B with on-site cooking school — eight rooms, herb gardens.

From $215. A Woodstock native's Novogratz-designed revival of a '70s bi-level motel. Turntables in every room.

From $215. The 1930 hotel that hosted the cast of Giant — Liz, Rock Hudson, James Dean. Still independent.

From $175. A budget-friendly mountain lodge — 36 rooms, ski-bus stop on-site, the working-traveler pick.

From $180. A lakeside 1856 farmhouse lodge on the Appalachian Trail at the foot of Killington — the low-key, dog-and-kid base for the mountain.

From $225. A 1930s beach Victorian a block from the boardwalk — 12 rooms, wraparound porch, gay-friendly since 1980.

From $245. The last surviving original 1932 Nags Head shingle-style hotel — moved three miles to save it.

From $245. Family-owned for three generations — 41 rooms in Ephraim's National Historic District.

From $245. A WWII-era airfield hangar reimagined — 50 art-deco rooms, Officers' Club bar, runway-side balconies.

From $245. Family-owned — 33 rooms in the historic district, walking distance to Elk Avenue.