Mid Price: Colourful, calm and cool - let feng shui arrange your weekend.
Location: Next to the contemporary library in the North Laines; close to both the station and the Pavilion.
From the huge Buddha picture above obligatory candles and cushions to the fish swimming in the fashionable bar and their relatives sizzling in the Zilli Brasserie, this hotel is a tonic for eye and mind. Each floor has fun in-your-face karmic artwork, quiet curved rooms and futuristic beds. The Zilli café is an informal deli with dangerously rich homemade ice cream (surrender your diet to the pistachio) and the restaurant proper has decent wines and delicious fritto di calamari. Splurge on the rooftop Jade studio with Roche-Bobois bed and free-standing bath.
Mid Price: A stripped pine affair where the 20 rooms are named after rivers and everything flows along nicely.
Location: Set in the faded but grandiose Regency Square, it's a central but informal spot close to the sea.
Note the cocktail bar with comfy leather chairs as you check in - pop back later for a concoction. Eden is a wonderfully spacious room and has a huge flatscreen, compact loo and creaky wooden floors. Lie in the bath behind the antique screen, gaze out through the shutters at the sea and plot where to head for supper. Two luxurious rooms here have saunas and the masseuse is firm but fair. The eggs Benedict in the bright breakfast room makes mornings worthwhile and the staff are friendly souls.