Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street, Boston ★★★★★

A glass tower by Henry Cobb

One Dalton is the tallest thing in Back Bay after the Prudential and the Hancock: a 61-storey tower with a rounded triangular plan, designed by Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed and Partners with Gary Johnson of CambridgeSeven, and the third-tallest building in the city. The Four Seasons occupies floors eight to twenty-one, with private residences above, so the hotel is quiet and the views begin high. The art collection was curated by Kate Chertavian with Boston in mind, and the mosaic by Duke Riley above the reception desk, They Say on a Really Hot Day, retells the Molasses Flood of 1919 in tesserae.

215 rooms with the city at the window

All 215 rooms and suites have floor-to-ceiling windows and marble bathrooms with spacious showers, and the building's soundproofing between floors is one of the details guests notice first. The Back Bay Corner Suite, at 900 square feet, has two walls of glass and a standalone soaking tub, and the Presidential, Cambridge and Charles suites take the views further, toward the river or the South End. A bedside tablet handles room service and the room's controls. The hotel welcomes families, with babysitting on request, and pets.

Zuma, Trifecta and One + One

Zuma, the izakaya-inspired restaurant born in London, has one of its American outposts here, with a Thai-wood interior, an interactive sushi counter, a robata grill, a floating DJ booth and dishes such as roasted Boston lobster with shiso ponzu butter, alongside more than seventy sakes. Trifecta, the lobby bar and lounge, serves New England-inspired cocktails and fare and a contemporary afternoon tea, and One + One is the hotel's brunch restaurant.

The Wellness Floor

The entire seventh floor is devoted to wellness: a heated 64-foot curved pool with views toward the South End, five treatment suites, eucalyptus steam rooms and a 2,100-square-foot fitness center behind floor-to-ceiling windows. Forbes Travel Guide rates the spa Five-Star, as it does the hotel, and Boston Magazine has named it the city's best spa. A house car is available for short journeys.

Dalton Street, between the Prudential and Symphony Hall

The tower stands beside the Christian Science Plaza and its reflecting pool, a few minutes from the Prudential Center and Copley Place, with the Hynes Green Line stop about three minutes away on foot. Symphony Hall and the Huntington Theatre are five minutes away, Newbury Street and Copley Square about ten, and Fenway Park and the Museum of Fine Arts a quarter of an hour. Logan Airport is a short drive across the harbor. Check-in is at 3 pm and check-out at noon, and valet parking is available.

Why we selected it

For the reader looking for the top of the Boston market, One Dalton is the reference: the highest ratings in the city, a spa floor that justifies a day indoors and a restaurant people book without staying at the hotel. We recommend it to couples celebrating, to travelers who want a pool and a spa as part of the stay, and to anyone for whom the view is the point.