ViewPoint Hotel

The Hill at the End of Nubble Road

Cape Neddick ends in a lump of rock with a lighthouse on it. The Nubble has stood there since 1879, close enough to the shore that you can hear the surf against its base, and it has been photographed more than almost any other light on the American coast. The Viewpoint occupies the hill immediately behind it, which is the whole idea: a small hotel of suites laid out so that the window does the work. The buildings are low and terraced, each suite with its own entrance and patio, the newest of them dug into the slope behind glass walls facing east. Nobody who books here is booking a bedroom. They are booking a view.

Why It Works

The first reason is obvious from the doorstep, and it is the reason the place exists: almost every suite looks at the Nubble, and the sun comes up out of the water in front of it. The second is the configuration. These are suites rather than rooms, with living space, private entrances and, in the Grand Suites, kitchenettes, which changes what a week here feels like against a standard hotel corridor. The third is the quiet. The grounds are for guests only, the property is small, and the road ends just past it, so there is no through traffic and no passing trade.

Why This Location

Nubble Road runs out along Cape Neddick to the point, and the hotel sits at the far end of it, which is both the attraction and the trade: you are five minutes by car or shuttle from Short Sands and Long Sands rather than on them. Sohier Park, with the classic view of the light, is a two minute walk. York Beach village, with its arcade, its taffy shop and its restaurants, lies just inland. Ogunquit and the Marginal Way are about fifteen minutes north, Portsmouth in New Hampshire around twenty five minutes south, and Portland roughly an hour further up the coast. Boston is close enough for a long weekend, which is how southern Maine fills up.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Coastal, quiet, suite style, sunrise

• Rooms: Suites rather than bedrooms, from a studio to one and two bedroom units; Shoreside rooms built into the hillside behind glass, Grand Suites with kitchenettes and living rooms, private entrances and patios throughout

• Best For: Couples, small celebrations and weddings, long stays that want a kitchenette and a view

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Watching the sun come up behind the Nubble light from your own patio, without leaving the property

• Dining: Breakfast delivered to the room year round, with seasonal breakfast service on the property

• Amenities: Seasonal heated saltwater pool, shuttle to Short Sands and Long Sands, bicycles, beach chairs and umbrellas to borrow, grounds reserved for guests

• Attractions: Nubble Light and Sohier Park (a short walk), York Beach village, Long Sands and Short Sands, Ogunquit and the Marginal Way (about fifteen minutes), Portsmouth (about twenty five minutes)

Shoreside Rooms, Grand Suites and the Studio

The room types matter here more than the star rating. The Shoreside rooms are the newest, built into the hillside with a glass wall towards the water, a private patio and a shower worth the visit. The Grand Suites are the ones to take for a longer stay: one or two bedrooms, a separate living area and a kitchenette, which makes a wet afternoon bearable. There are two bedroom suites without kitchens, and one studio whose ocean view arrives from the balcony rather than from the bed. Flameless fireplaces cover the cold months. Two rooms do not look at the light, and the booking page says which.

Pool, Shuttle and the Shape of a Maine Day

The saltwater pool is heated and open from spring to the middle of October, which is roughly the season this coast keeps anyway. Below it, the shuttle runs down to Short Sands and Long Sands, and the hotel lends the chairs, the umbrellas and the bicycles that make a day work without a car. Breakfast comes to the room year round. The rest tends to sort itself: the light in the morning, the beach in the middle of the day, the village for dinner, and the terrace afterwards while the lighthouse turns across the water.