The Higgins Beach Inn is very nice. It's quaint, and certainly has very nice character. We found all the staff to be courteous. It is also a very good location; a 60 second walk from the beach although most (or maybe all) rooms don't have a view. It's very historical-looking, and most rooms have a shared-bath in the hallway. The floors creak, and it is not very modern. However, this may add to the "quaint" characteristic if this is your taste. I see other reviews of this property saying that it was filthy; we certainly did not find it to be filthy. It was well-kept, just not modern looking. The restaurant was a bit of a disappointment. We heard great things about the restaurant, and it fell short. Both my wife's and my dinner came very quickly to the table, but the food was cold. They took it back and it came back hot, but it was not as spectacular as we'd heard. Although they do have an impressive wine list. I also heard the folks at the table next to us at breakfast being charged $2.50 extra for maple syrup. Would I go back to the Higgins Beach Inn? Yes, but we would get a room with a private bathroom, and we'd probably go somewhere else for dinner.

Expect simplicity to get away from it all. And I mean "ALL". No TV. No phones. Half the rooms do not even have a private bath. This charming Victorian Inn will take you back a hundred years to lazy summer vacations of days gone by. Clean, comfortable, quiet, nostalgia. The gourmet restaurant on site is handy and pleasant for breakfast and dinner. There also is a comfy little lounge and a patio area. The beach is one block away at the end of the street, and surfers love this beach.

The drawback to Higgins Beach Inn is lack of electrical access in the rooms for today's electronic requirements. Each room has only one electrical outlet, and that outlet is only 2-prong. Therefore, you can not plug in a laptop computer or other types of electronic devices or chargers which have 3-prong plugs. The room's single 2-prong electrical outlet is already in use for an alarm clock and a bedside lamp, which are the only electrical appliances in the room. The owners evidently recognize that one outlet is not enough because they have an outlet extender plugged into the socket and an extension cord in the chest of drawers so that one can attempt to get electricity from one side of the room to the other. However, the 2-prong outlet extender and the 2-prong extension cord are both useless for our typical 3-prong appliances of today. The only place you will find a 3-prong-plug outlet at Higgins Beach Inn is in the bathroom, and if you do not even have a bath in your room, you have no place at all to plug in. Face it -- the only way most of us can take time to go on vacation these days is to lug our communications devices with us. It is ok that the rooms do not have phones -- we all have cell phones anyway. It is not bad that the rooms do not have TVs -- we can carry our own portable DVD players and mini-TVs for entertainment. However, we have to have a way to plug in and charge up these electronics, and the Higgins Beach Inn lacks this by not having 3-prong outlets in the rooms.

The Inn does have complimentary WI-FI access, but notes that the bandwith is not suitable for large downloads. Again this is not bad because we can access email and get to the internet for most typical purposes. But, if we can't plug in due to lack of 3-prong outlets, then what good does complimentary WI-FI do? It can't be accessed from a dead computer.

As some reviewers have mentioned, there also is no elevator, but the inn is only 3 stories, so 2 flights is the most you ever have to climb. Although the back stairs are somewhat steep, the elegant carpeted front stairs are part of the Victorian charm and easy to to use. Climbing a few stairs is easy and healthy exericise for most of us, especially after dinner and dessert!

i stayed 3 nights at Higgins in July 2011. overall, a very pleasant and convenient stay. the hotel is one block from the sand beach as well as a small roadside coffee shop/market, which was everything you need without having to use a car. the hotel also had a nice restaurant and great outdoor seating.
the hotel and restaurant appear to be family owned and you could feel that extra sense of care.

the room was small but clean and had free WIFI. the only drawback is that you could basically hear everything in the hallway and nearby rooms(hence the reason i travel with my small fan!), but for the price, it was a great value.

Went here last weekend and will have to say it was the worst! It smells musty and the rooms are filthy, to top it off the staff is extremely rude, will never go back, i advise anyone thinking about staying here to find someplace else!