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Lawrence · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels downtown in Lawrence

Andres Molina

Andres Molina Latin America

Updated 1 September 2026 · 46 Lawrence hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Lawrence, out of the 46 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.9690576 down to 4.9262137.

[3] Cozy Retreat is the one I would book myself.

[3] Cozy Retreat

Highest rated of the five

[3] Cozy Retreat

★★★★★4.9690576 from 467 reviews

[3] Cozy Retreat comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.9690576 from 467 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 found under downtown.

46 hotels in Lawrence qualified for this list and five made it. [4] Modern Retreat is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. [3] Cozy Retreat1

    [3] Cozy Retreat

    ★★★★★4.9690576 from 467 reviews

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    • [4] Modern Retreat2

      [4] Modern Retreat

      ★★★★★4.942991 from 428 reviews

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      • [S] The StayAwhile Studio3

        [S] The StayAwhile Studio

        ★★★★★4.990909 from 264 reviews

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        • [c] StayAwhile: Country Retreat4

          [c] StayAwhile: Country Retreat

          ★★★★★5 from 235 reviews

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          • Centrally located, cozy cottage, near KU campus5

            Centrally located, cozy cottage, near KU campus

            ★★★★★4.9262137 from 309 reviews

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            How this list was put together

            46 Lawrence 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.

            Andres Molina

            Andres Molina Latin America

            Field seasons take him to cloud forests, and he adds two weeks of his own on either end to see the country rather than just the research site. Nine countries in Latin America.

            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.