Where to Stay in Rocky Point

Most of the decision in Rocky Point comes down to one question: a hotel room, or somebody's condo.

Sandy Beach is where the resort strip runs, and at least eight new developments have gone up along it in recent years, so there is a real choice now. A hotel gives you a front desk, daily housekeeping and a room. A condo in one of those same towers gives you a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, separate bedrooms and a balcony over the same sand, with the resort pools and restaurants included either way. For a family, or two couples splitting a stay, the condo math usually wins before you have counted a single meal cooked in.

Booking direct matters more here than it does in most beach towns. You are dealing with the owner, so the questions that actually decide a trip, which floor, how far to the water, what the kitchen really has, get answered by somebody who has stood in the room.

The two condos below are ours. The guides under them lay out the trade-offs, including the ones that do not favor us.