In fairy tales, being locked in a tower generally meant your stepmother had some serious issues with you. But in these five hotels, gaining access to the tower suite means you may very well lock yourselves in and refuse to leave.
1. The Aviary
(Wheatleigh)
Wheatleigh, Lenox, Massachusetts
When Leonard Bernstein conducted at the Tanglewood music festival, just down the lane, this two-story tower was turned into his summer studio, with a grand piano squeezed through the ground-floor doorway.
2. The Tower Suite
(Thornbury Castle)
Thornbury Castle, Glouceshire, England
No less impressive a couple than Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn visited and wandered the grounds, though they certainly didn’t climb the 77 circular stone steps that lead to a suite centerpieced by the widest four-poster in the country.
3. Pinnacles Suite
(Primland)
Primland, Meadows of Dan, Virginia
If you tire of the 1,800 square feet of rich leathers, raw silks, polished woods, and the perfect minimalist four-poster bed (not to mention a spa-like bathroom and a balcony just big enough for two), head up to the retractable tower dome, where a giant telescope takes resort guests on nighttime tours of galaxies 27 million light years away.
4. Grande Chevalier Suite
(Chateau d’Ouchy)
Chateau d’Ouchy, Lausanne, Switzerland
It shelters four junior suites with four-poster beds and regal water views, but for the real storybook experience, book the Grande Chevalier Suite, on the tower’s first floor. Designated a historical monument, its supersleek furnishings are a dramatic contrast to the gargoyles, stained glass windows, wood paneling, and gorgeously carved ceiling.
5. Carnegie Suite
(Oheka)
Oheka, Huntington, New York
This Gold Coast estate has been a party house for nearly 100 years: first as the scene of Gatsby-style gatherings hosted by industrialist Otto Kahn; now as a lavish wedding location. But it’s also home to 32 guest accommodations, most romantic of which is the Carnegie Suite. Smack in the center of the French chateau-inspired structure, in the imposing fourth-floor turret, it boasts a bedroom straight out of Cinderella—the four-poster sits beneath a peaked ceiling smothered in lavish draping.
See more fairy tale towers at Conde Nast Traveler
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