Nantucket, United States

Life House, Nantucket

Price per night from$129.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD129.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Inn Vogue

Setting

The Grey Lady

Housed in a former 19th century inn, Life House, Nantucket now draws the in-crowd with its quiet residential setting, lush gardens and laidback attitude. But it’s the daring design that will stay with you – it somehow manages to be both unspeakably cool and adorable all at once. Once you’ve finally finished admiring the lacquered paint, hand-painted floral tiles and framed Gucci scarves, pedal ten minutes in any direction on your borrowed beach cruiser to find the island’s best lobster rolls, golden beaches or quaint cobblestoned streets.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of wine on arrival

Facilities

Photos Life House, Nantucket facilities

Need to know

Rooms

14.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 4pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability.

Prices

Double rooms from £119.84 ($151), including tax at 17.29 per cent.

More details

Rates include free daily continental breakfast as well as free cocktails, beer or wine in the garden during daily happy hour.

Also

It may look quaint as can be but there are high-tech touches, too – check-in and check-out is done via an app and you can text the house manager with any requests during your stay.

Hotel closed

The hotel shutters annually for the winter season after the Christmas Stroll (in the first week of December) and re-opens for Daffodil Festival (in the last week of April).

At the hotel

Gardens, fire pit, free WiFi. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, Le Labo bath products, Marshall bluetooth speaker, free bottled water.

Our favourite rooms

The Deluxe King will give you extra space to unwind. If you’re very tall, go carefully in the Cozy Queen – it’s in the eaves which means low, slanted ceilings (but extra charm points).

Packing tips

Pack a copy of In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick – this epic seafaring tale about the whaleship Essex will teach you about life on Nantucket in the day of the house’s original owner, Captain Robert Calder.

Also

Unfortunately, due to the hotel’s historic architecture, it isn’t suitable for wheelchair users.

Children

They’re technically welcome, but not at all catered to. Most rooms can’t accommodate a cot or crib and narrow hallways will be difficult to navigate with a buggy.

Food and Drink

Photos Life House, Nantucket food and drink

Top Table

In the garden, under a white fringed umbrella (providing the perfect opportunity for *that* Nantucket hydrangea pic).

Dress Code

Break out the Breton stripes and break in your topsiders – yes, people really do dress nautically on Nantucket.

Hotel restaurant

Free continental breakfast, plus tea and coffee, is provided daily in the lounge, the gardens or on the veranda, but there’s no restaurant on-site, so you’ll need to eat out for lunch and dinner.

Hotel bar

There’s no bar per se, but pedal back from the beach for the daily happy hour (5-7pm) when guests gather in the garden or the lounge for drinks on the house – either one free cocktail or unlimited wine or beer. Try the Elderflower Spritz, the Noman’s Land (made with bourbon, curacao, rum, ginger, honey and mole bitters) or the virtuous Grey Berry made with a non-alcoholic spirit called Ghia and native Nantucket blueberries.

Location

Photos Life House, Nantucket location
Address
Life House, Nantucket
10 Cliff Rd
Nantucket
02554
United States

You’ll find the historic house in a residential area that’s dotted with inns and bed-and-breakfasts. Though it’s in a quieter part of the island, it's just a 10-minute walk to “Town”.

Planes

The best way to reach Nantucket’s tiny airport, ACK, is to connect via Boston, but there are also frequent flights from New York City, Washington DC and Philadelphia. From the airport, it’s twenty minutes to the hotel by taxi.

Automobiles

Driving is definitely discouraged on the island (it’s devilishly difficult to find parking). Most visitors get around by bicycle – there are lots of rental outfits in town.

Other

You can also get to Nantucket via high-speed ferry from Hyannis, MA (it takes approximately an hour).

Worth getting out of bed for

First things first – you’ll be needing a bicycle. Rent one (by the hour, day or week) at Young’s Bicycle Shop in town. Now, it’s time to pedal to the playa – at nearby Jettie’s Beach, there’s a lifeguard, towels and chairs to borrow, and a restaurant serving lobster rolls and frozen drinks. Much quieter Steps Beach has no amenities, so pack your own picnic and borrow the hotel’s beach towels.

If it’s not beach weather (or those famous mists are rolling in), head into town for a whirl around the Whaling Museum. Here, you’ll learn about what it was like aboard whaling voyages in the 19th century (clue: not a walk in the park), measure up to a 46 ft sperm whale skeleton and probably make a mental note to re-read Moby Dick

Nantucket’s boutiques specialise in souvenirs of the very chic variety – buy a needlepoint pillow at Erica Wilson, superlative stationery at Parchment (in Sconset) or a hand-woven throw blanket at Nantucket Looms.

And, for the actively inclined, the Sconset Bluff Walk winds from Sconset to the Sankaty Head Lighthouse with panoramic sea views on the way. Or, try a class at the Yoga Room, a friendly studio in town.

Local restaurants

You don’t have to go far for dinner: turn the corner to reach American Seasons, a rustic restaurant with a list of more than 500 American wines and seasonal fare. In the heart of town, the Proprietor’s Bar & Table pays homage to Nantucket’s whaling history and celebrates the palate of its well-traveled sailors with dishes like seared halloumi, cold sesame noodles, and red lentil falafel. Cru combines classic French preparation with pristine seafood for elegant dishes like chilled cucumber soup with peekytoe crab and yuzu, and seared scallops with creamed corn and truffle butter. There’s a stellar raw bar, too. And you can’t leave Nantucket without homemade ice cream – the Juice Bar has more than 30 creative flavours (Green Monster, Crantucket and Dirty Grasshopper, to name a few) and tonnes of toppings.

Local bars

Behind Ventuno’s Italian restaurant is Ventuno’s Back Bar. While it feels hidden away, it’s one of the most popular spots in town where you can sit outside under a trellis of local Nantucket flora. Order from the menu of specialty cocktails and Italian wines.

Reviews

Photos Life House, Nantucket reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this bed and breakfast in New England and unpacked their deck shoes and beach towels, a full account of their all-American break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Life House, Nantucket

Design-minded boutique hotel group Life House could scarcely believe their luck when they found their new Nantucket home: a shingled 19th century cottage, perched on one of the highest points of the island that even had hospitality in its bones – its original owner was a worldly sea captain who turned his home into an inn to welcome travelers in 1833. Steering clear of the preppy maritime look that’s de rigeur round here, Life House chose instead to embrace the house’s eclectic heritage and make Nantucket’s native flora their muse. So, instead of seafoam greens and sky blues, you’ll find punchy prints, moody florals and photographs in vintage frames. Each sun-soaked bedroom has a raffia writing desk, Revival New York linens, a Marshall speaker and Le Labo bath products, but it’s the tranquil gardens where everyone gathers, whether for pastries in the morning, to read a book under a parasol in the afternoon or by the fire pit for free drinks at happy hour – elderflower spritz, anyone?

Book now

Price per night from $129.00