Roaring Twenties-Style Lodging in Dallas Arts District

Touted as the tallest hotel west of the Mississippi when it was built in 1923, the Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa underwent a $36 million renovation in 2008 to revitalize its Roaring Twenties splendor. The hotel’s 11 terra-cotta- and brick-ornamented stories have sheltered everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright and Judy Garland to Tom Cruise and Simon Cowell. Today, 170 sumptuous, designer-appointed rooms and suites in sleek art-deco style open onto the streets of Dallas’s bustling Uptown neighborhood.

The 375-square-foot premier king bedroom paints a dreamer’s landscape in red and white, with custom mahogany furnishings and marble-topped surfaces gleaming in the cool glow of a flat-screen HDTV. In the bathroom, Baronessa Cali Oliva potions soothe travel-weary bodies, and the lacework tracing of Calcutta marble forms intricate checkerboards upon which toes can practice winning chess moves. An upgrade to the 550-square-foot studio suite cushions tired torsos in an expansive sitting room with a sleeper sofa partitioned from a king bed by a double-sided console and swiveling flat-screen.

Early-bird bellies can snag $50 worth of fare from the breakfast menu from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Bolla, the on-site restaurant, where a wall of latticed windows illuminates offerings such as a chorizo and egg taco ($10.75) or a smoked-salmon scramble dappled with crème fraiche ($13.50). Visitors may also opt to take advantage of the included 25% discount to visit the spa for a massage, facial, mani-pedi, or other specialty service.

Uptown: A Haven for Arts, Culture, and Outdoor Recreation

Adjacent to downtown Dallas, the burgeoning Uptown area is studded with museums, private galleries, antique shops, and parks. A trek through the neighborhood may lead wanderers from renowned cultural institutions such as the Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center to free, tucked-away gems such as the Trammell and The Crow Collection of Asian Art and the figurine-inhabited American Museum of the Miniature Arts. Home of the Mavericks and Stars, the American Airlines Center also nabs world-class pop stars, and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts dazzles onlookers with classical and experimental theater, ballet, and opera.

After a visit to the newly developed Victory Park District, travelers can take to the sunny patios of casual restaurants and bars along the brick sidewalks of the West End Historic District to satisfy even the most rigorous people-watching quotas. Just blocks from the hotel, joggers and bikers wend their way through Uptown's Turtle Creek neighborhood via the Katy Trail, which shadows a venerable interstate railroad given to grumbling tales of its first electric locomotive. Farther afield, at the 277-acre, nine-museum Fair Park, boaters glide across the lagoon as sky seekers scrape clouds in North America's largest ferris wheel.