Trip GrapevineTop places, picked by travellers

Newport Beach · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels near Water

Marc Delacroix

Marc Delacroix France

Updated 1 September 2026 · 14 Newport Beach hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Newport Beach, out of the 14 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.4 down to 4.3.

All five are within 2.9 km of Water.

Lido House, Autograph Collection

Highest rated of the five

Lido House, Autograph Collection

★★★★★4.4 from 769 reviews

Lido House, Autograph Collection comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.4 from 769 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 and found under poi.

14 hotels in Newport Beach qualified for this list and five made it. Balboa Bay Resort is the one I would book if the first is full.

Check rates Read more

All five, ranked

  1. Lido House, Autograph Collection1

    Lido House, Autograph Collection

    ★★★★★4.4 from 769 reviews

    1.9 km from Water, about a 24 minute walk

      Check rates Read more

    • Balboa Bay Resort2

      Balboa Bay Resort

      ★★★★★4.5 from 2,962 reviews

      2.9 km from Water

        Check rates Read more

      • Bay Shores Peninsula Hotel3

        Bay Shores Peninsula Hotel

        ★★★★★4.7 from 433 reviews

        2.9 km from Water

          Check rates Read more

        • Holiday Inn Express Newport Beach by IHG4

          Holiday Inn Express Newport Beach by IHG

          ★★★★★4.4 from 880 reviews

          2.1 km from Water

            Check rates Read more

          • Newport Channel Inn5

            Newport Channel Inn

            ★★★★★4.3 from 414 reviews

            1.1 km from Water, about a 14 minute walk

            • Parking
            • Kid friendly
            • Air conditioning
            • Accessible

            Check rates Read more

          How this list was put together

          14 Newport Beach hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Water second, then 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.