Between the Darss forest and the wide Baltic beach, the Best Western Plus Ostseehotel Waldschloesschen, Prerow, Germany, spreads across park-like grounds in three houses, with comfortable rooms, suites, free Wi-Fi, satellite TV and a safe, some opening onto a balcony or porch.
A spa with indoor and outdoor pools, saunas and a relaxation pavilion offer massages and treatments, and the restaurants cook with fresh local, seasonal produce. A south-facing terrace catches the afternoon sun, a fine spot for coffee and cake after a walk in the woods.
Prerow is a Baltic resort on the Darss peninsula, where pine and beech forest runs right down to a broad white beach. The surrounding Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park shelters shallow lagoons and wild dunes, and each autumn tens of thousands of cranes gather here in one of Europe's greatest bird spectacles. Boardwalk trails and a lighthouse lead through the forest to the sea.