First Place: The Jefferson Hotel

101 W. Franklin St.
649-4750
jeffersonhotel.com

Second Place: The Berkeley Hotel

Third Place: Linden Row Inn

The Jefferson is not only a Richmond icon and one of the grandest hotels in the country, but also seems to have a connection to anyone who's really important. Twelve presidents have slept there — including McKinley, Wilson, Coolidge, Taft, Truman and both Roosevelts — and it's also where Bill "Mr. Bojangles" Robinson waited tables. It's owned by Richmond's most powerful billionaire, William H. Goodwin Jr., and one of the city's most important historical markers. And the food and service are top-notch. The Berkeley Hotel is in Shockoe Slip, and is a bit more intimate, albeit upscale. You can almost feel the cobblestones inside the lobby. Linden Row Inn is historic in a different way. Edgar Allan Poe is said to have milled about in the gardens where the inn now stands, and refers to the experience in his poem, "To Helen."