TOURISTS
915 State Road
North Adams, MA
A motor lodge with 80 acres and a river.
About TOURISTS
TOURISTS occupies a 1960s motor lodge on the banks of the Hoosic River in North Adams, Massachusetts, deep in the Berkshires. The bones are original: a single-story exterior-access layout on Route 2, facing the river and 80 acres of forest. The renovation stripped the rooms to their studs and rebuilt them with a considered natural aesthetic. TOURISTS Welcome was founded by a team that crossed disciplines by design: Ben Svenson of Broder; John Stirratt, bassist of Wilco; Scott Stedman, founder of The L Magazine; Eric Kerns, formerly of MASS MoCA; and Courtney Burns, a James Beard Award-winning chef whose influence shapes the dining program. The name comes from the word 'tourists' that businesses along the Mohawk Trail have hung in their windows for generations to signal welcome to passing motorists. MASS MoCA is a 15-minute walk.
What TOURISTS Is Known For
TOURISTS Welcome was built by a team that came from different fields and arrived at the same conclusion: that North Adams, anchored by MASS MoCA and positioned between the Clark Art Institute and the Green Mountains, deserved a place to stay that matched the quality of what surrounds it. Ben Svenson, John Stirratt, Scott Stedman, Eric Kerns, and Courtney Burns built TOURISTS with the motor lodge format intact and the Berkshires fully in the picture. The Airport Rooms restaurant and the Sing for Your Slumber live music series run on the property, making TOURISTS one of the few places in the country where the motel itself has a meaningful cultural calendar. The Berkshires draw visitors for art and landscape; TOURISTS draws them for both, on a motor lodge budget, in a building that has been made to look and feel like something far more considered than the 1960s structure it started as.
Amenities
- WiFi
- 80-acre forest campus with woodland trails
- Hoosic River frontage
- The Airport Rooms restaurant & cocktail lounge
- Sing for Your Slumber live music series
- Outdoor saltwater pool
- Sculptural installations throughout
- Yoga and crafts programs
What Guests Love
- MASS MoCA a 15-minute walk: one of the most important contemporary art museums in the US, in a sprawling 19th-century factory complex
- 80 acres of trails and river frontage on a classic motor lodge layout
- North Adams punches far above its size for arts: MASS MoCA, the Clark Art Institute, and the Williams College Museum of Art are all within a short drive, and TOURISTS sits at the center of it with 80 acres and a river to come home to.
- The Airport Rooms restaurant and Sing for Your Slumber live music series run on the property: a motel with a genuine cultural calendar
- Founded by a team that includes Wilco's John Stirratt and James Beard-winning chef Courtney Burns: the hospitality instincts show
Worth Knowing
- The Airport Rooms restaurant operates evenings only; breakfast is available at the lodge
- North Adams is a small post-industrial town: expect an arts-and-authenticity atmosphere, not a resort town
- Saltwater pool is on the campus, set within the forested grounds rather than adjacent to the building
The Room
The rooms were designed by Julie Pearson, whose approach favors layered tactile detail over any single pronounced statement: natural wood surfaces, organic materials, and built-in window nooks framed in glass that brings the forest or river directly into the room. King beds come dressed in fluffy down comforters with custom robes waiting in the bathroom. Ursa Major bath products throughout. A curated playlist streams through the room speakers when you walk in. The television, when you want it, lives under a cloth-sewn cover that keeps it from dominating the space. Room categories run from Ramble and Canopy rooms to Gallery and Caravan configurations, up to the Sanford and Archer Suites. Ramble rooms orient toward the Hoosic River; Canopy rooms face into the woodland. The suites offer expanded outdoor terraces. Every room opens directly to the outdoors in the original motor lodge configuration. Outside each door is a private porch and an outdoor shower, a detail guests mention consistently as the thing that made a morning here feel different from any hotel stay they have had.
The Grounds
TOURISTS sits on Route 2 in North Adams, a single-story exterior-access motor lodge facing the Hoosic River and 80 acres of forest. Guests step outside their rooms onto the campus: woodland trails run through the property, sculptural installations appear along the paths, and the Hoosic River is accessible from the grounds. A heated outdoor saltwater pool sits within the forest campus, surrounded by trees. The bones are original 1960s motor lodge construction; the experience of arriving and moving through the grounds is something entirely different.
The Experience
The rhythm at TOURISTS involves more than unpacking and hiking. Dinner at the Airport Rooms restaurant, a short walk to MASS MoCA for a show, live music at the Sing for Your Slumber series, a morning on the woodland trails before breakfast at the lodge. The Berkshires programming calendar is full, and TOURISTS operates as its own cultural venue within that ecosystem. The motor lodge bones are part of the appeal: you pull up to your room, step out to the river campus, and find yourself in the middle of one of the most interesting art and culture landscapes in the Northeast.
Details
North Adams, MA 01247
The Boutel designation is earned, not purchased. Boutels is editorially independent and has no financial relationship with any listed property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TOURISTS pet friendly?
No, TOURISTS does not allow pets.
Does TOURISTS have EV charging?
No, TOURISTS does not have EV charging.
Does TOURISTS have WiFi?
Yes, TOURISTS has WiFi.
What is there to do near TOURISTS?
MASS MoCA: 0.8 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk. The Clark Art Institute: 5 miles, about a 10 minute drive, or you can bike there. Mount Greylock: 10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
How far is TOURISTS from MASS MoCA?
0.8 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
How far is TOURISTS from The Clark Art Institute?
5 miles, about a 10 minute drive, or you can bike there.
How far is TOURISTS from Mount Greylock?
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
How far is TOURISTS from MASS MoCA?
MASS MoCA is 0.8 miles from TOURISTS in North Adams, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
Does TOURISTS have a restaurant?
Yes. The Airport Rooms is a full-service New American restaurant and cocktail lounge on the TOURISTS campus. It is open evenings. Breakfast is also available at the lodge.
Does TOURISTS have a pool?
Yes. TOURISTS has an outdoor saltwater pool set within the 80-acre forest campus.
Does TOURISTS have live music?
Yes. TOURISTS runs Sing for Your Slumber, a regular live music series on the campus.
What is North Adams, Massachusetts like?
North Adams is a small post-industrial city in the Berkshires that transformed when MASS MoCA opened in 1999 in a sprawling former factory complex. The museum is one of the largest contemporary art museums in the United States. The city has an independent restaurant and cafe scene that grew up around it. The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown is 5 miles west.
What is TOURISTS like in the Berkshires?
TOURISTS is a renovated 1960s motor lodge on 80 acres in North Adams, Massachusetts, a few minutes' walk from MASS MoCA. The campus includes woodland trails, Hoosic River frontage, a saltwater pool, a full-service restaurant, and a live music series. It operates as both a motor lodge and a cultural destination in the Berkshires, at significantly lower price points than properties in nearby Lenox or Stockbridge.
Is TOURISTS a good base for the Berkshires more broadly?
Yes. MASS MoCA is 0.8 miles away. The Clark Art Institute is 5 miles west. Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home, is 30 miles south in Lenox. Hancock Shaker Village is 20 miles south. The northern Berkshires tend to be less crowded and less expensive than the Lenox-Stockbridge corridor while giving equally good access to the region's best institutions.
Is parking available at TOURISTS?
Yes. Free on-site parking is available at TOURISTS.
Does TOURISTS include breakfast?
No. Breakfast is not included at TOURISTS.
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Things to Do Near Berkshires, Massachusetts
MASS MoCA
0.8 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
One of the largest contemporary art museums in the United States, a former 19th-century factory complex housing permanent and rotating installations from artists including James Turrell, Laurie Anderson, and Sol LeWitt.
The Clark Art Institute
5 miles, about a 10 minute drive, or you can bike there.
A world-class art museum in the neighboring town of Williamstown, strong on French Impressionism and American paintings, with 140 acres of meadows and reflecting pools.
Mount Greylock
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
The highest point in Massachusetts at 3,491 feet, a state reservation with hiking trails, a fire tower, and views into five states on clear days.