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Ithaca · Hotel shortlist

Ithaca hotels with a spa

Marc Delacroix

Marc Delacroix France

Updated 1 September 2026 · 32 Ithaca hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Ithaca, out of the 32 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.6 down to 4.4.

The Townsend Hotel is the one I would book myself.

The Townsend Hotel

Highest rated of the five

The Townsend Hotel

★★★★★4.6 from 1,314 reviews

The Townsend Hotel comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.6 from 1,314 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is a 4 star property, found under the university district and around $324 a night on the dates we checked.

32 hotels in Ithaca qualified for this list and five made it. The Inn on Ferry Street is the one I would book if the first is full.

Why it works for this trip

  • Spatreatment rooms on site, no booking a taxi for it
  • Air conditioningthe one that decides a summer trip
  • Restaurantdinner downstairs on the night you land
  • Bara drink without going back out
  • Family roomscots and larger rooms rather than a squeeze

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All five, ranked

  1. The Townsend Hotel1

    The Townsend Hotel

    ★★★★★4.6 from 1,314 reviews

    • Spa
    • Gym
    • Restaurant
    • Bar
    • Parking
    • Kitchen

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  2. The Inn on Ferry Street2

    The Inn on Ferry Street

    ★★★★★4.6 from 637 reviews

    • Spa
    • Parking
    • Pet friendly
    • Air conditioning
    • Accessible

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  3. The Henry, Autograph Collection3

    The Henry, Autograph Collection

    ★★★★★4.5 from 2,511 reviews

    • Pool
    • Spa
    • Gym
    • Restaurant
    • Bar
    • Parking

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  4. Frederick Stearns House Historic Inn4

    Frederick Stearns House Historic Inn

    ★★★★★4.9 from 250 reviews

    • Spa
    • Parking
    • Air conditioning
    • Accessible
    • Airport shuttle

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  5. Fort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel5

    Fort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel

    ★★★★★4.4 from 7,824 reviews

    • Pool
    • Spa
    • Gym
    • Restaurant
    • Bar
    • Parking

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How this list was put together

32 Ithaca hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating, then on class, and took the top five.

Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

Marc Delacroix

Marc Delacroix France

Closes the shop two weeks each winter and goes wherever people make something fermented. Dairies in the Basque country, the Caucasus and rural Sardinia.

Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.