Tourists

In far northwestern Massachusetts, roughly equidistant from Boston and New York, the Berkshires are undergoing the sort of revival that travel trend pieces are made of. Thanks in part to the redevelopment that’s accompanied MASS MoCA, the contemporary art museum, the formerly industrial town of North Adams is living a second life as a booming cultural destination. Outside the town center, on the road to neighborhing Williamstown, you’ll find another piece of reclaimed Berkshires heritage: TOURISTS, a Sixties motor lodge reborn as a very modern, very hip little country boutique hotel. Its name was inspired by an old “Tourists Welcome” sign, and the aim is to remove some of the stigma around the term — we can’t be locals everywhere. And the vibe is pared-down but stylish, with a modernist simplicity but a rustic edge, studiously avoiding urban opulence and mid-century modernist kitsch. And while there’s plenty of rural tranquility to be had, it’s balanced by a sort of summer-camp conviviality — nowhere more clear than in The Airport Rooms, the 1813-vintage farmhouse that’s been converted into TOURISTS’ restaurant and bar, serving creative cocktails and bistro fare to hotel guests and Berkshires locals alike.