Northeastern Iowa
Bordering Wisconsin, woodsy hilly northeast Iowa features the upper Mississippi river—wide but only 9 feet deep—and its limestone bluffs.

Hancock House b&b
1105 Grove Terrace
Dubuque, Iowa
T: +1 319 557-8989. 9 room b&b. US$ 75-
www.thehancockhouse.com
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this elegant 1891 Queen Anne Victorian began life as a wealthy merchant's house. Rooms have bluff or river valley views.

Hotel Winneshiek
104 E. Water St.
Decorah, Iowa
T: +1 (563) 382-4164. 31 rooms. US$ 139-
www.hotelwinn.com
Restored historic hotel and restaurant located in the center of a charming college town. The area surrounding the town is beautiful.

North-central Iowa

Historic Park Inn
Mason, Iowa
T: +1 (641) 422-0015. 27 rooms. US$ 100-
www.historicparkinn.com
Architect enthusiasts will appreciate the opportunity to sleep in the last-standing hotel designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Located in downtown Mason, the boutique hotel and restaurant re-opened in 2011 after a multi-year restoration project.

Central Iowa
30 miles north of Des Moines you'll find the small town of Perry. It's location doesn't really qualify for our definition of romantic notwithstanding our affection for tiny rural towns. Still, we couldn't resist Perry's pièce de résistance, the Hotel Pattee, and its story of a local girl who left small town Iowa for the coast, did very well, and came back to pour both her fortune and her attention-to-detail good taste into restoring the hometown hotel.

Hotel Pattee
1112 Willis Ave.
Perry, Iowa
T: +1 (515) 465-3511. 40 rooms. US$ 125-
www.hotelpattee.com
This meticulously restored Art Deco hotel comes with a vintage bowling alley and rooftop sculptural garden.