Best Omaha Hotels

Innkeeper Jeanna Stavas is as much a gardener as she is a chef and hostess extraordinaire. Her 130-year-old home is surrounded by gardens, and each spring a variety of perennials from daffodils to daisies are in bloom. The main house has four guest rooms, but only the Victorian Suite has a private entrance. For more privacy, try the adjacent barn that has been renovated to accommodate a family of four. Jeanna whips up a full breakfast every morning, often made with vegetables straight from her garden. Check for her packages for holiday stays or to accompany a special event at the inn.

Steeped in the history of Omaha, the Cornerstone Mansion was the dream of the Offutt family, for whom nearby Offutt Air Force Base is named. Built in the 1890s, the house remains as elegant by today’s standards as it was at the end of the 19th Century. Seven guest rooms are uniquely decorated and are quite opulent, some with working fireplaces, claw foot tubs and mahogany woodwork. The current owner-operators have deep roots in the Omaha theater community, as actors, playwrights and directors, and can offer lots of insight into current and upcoming productions around the city, or the special events at nearby Midtown Crossings retail development. Because of zoning and other ordinances, the Cornerstone is Omaha’s only historic bed-and-breakfast inn.

This wonderful old art deco building dates to 1923, when Chester Cook created an upscale setting for offices, shops and studio apartments. You’ll see engravings of his parents on the front of the building. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the Magnolia is Omaha’s only boutique hotel, and a convenient location for exploring the Old Market. However, there’s plenty of energy at the hotel’s restaurant, Hitz On Howard, where happy hour drink specials and occasional live music keep pace with other clubs in the neighborhood. A complimentary hot American breakfast buffet is served here each morning. Wide corridors and original woodwork evoke the hotel’s past, yet the 140 guest rooms have contemporary décor that includes chrome, sleek lines and leather.  Although there’s internet access, there’s no Wi-Fi in the guestrooms.

Rule your kingdom for a night or two at a faux castle in the Iowa countryside, just 25 miles from downtown Omaha. This isn’t some damp, musty thing from the 15th Century, but it does have a moat, a turret and a basement that would suffice as a dungeon if the situation called for it. This castle was built in the 1980s and has been a B&B for more than a decade. In addition to furnishings that make you feel like royalty, this inn has beautiful gardens, fountains and walking trails for exploration. Come in the winter and enjoy a little cross-country skiing. 

If you like the idea of a bed-and breakfast stay, but find all of the antiques and Victorian frou-frou just a little tiresome, you’ll want to check out this inn about 30 miles outside of Omaha. The home is old, built in 1908, in a residential area that’s just off the main drag through Ashland, a community in which Norman Rockwell might have received inspiration. However, as you check into your room, you’ll be whisked away to island time with colors of the Caribbean and accessories geared more for the seaside than the Midwest. A full breakfast made to order is available on weekends, but weeknight guests will be given breakfast privileges at a nearby café, so the innkeeper here, who’s still a college student, can make it to morning classes on time.