Coastal Winter Getaway | Water’s Edge Resort & Spa in Westbrook, Connecticut

There’s a different slosh to Long Island Sound in the wintertime. It’s weightier. More resonant. A cello to summer’s violin. Checking into Water’s Edge places you in a front-row orchestra seat: a rarity on the Connecticut shore, where few lodging properties have direct waterfront access … and acoustics. 

The private beach here is minimal, yet it’s a canvas long and wide enough for couples to etch their initials into the gluey sand or, better yet, a fresh sprinkling of snow. The resort’s varied accommodations attract all ages, but it’s the newly engaged—giddily anticipating their summer beach weddings—who provide an undercurrent of joy and hope that feels contagious. It warms winter days in tandem with the lobby’s wood-guzzling fireplace and a vibrant slate of culinary offerings and entertainment. Water’s Edge makes Westbrook feel like a major destination, not a smallish coastal town.

You’ll appreciate the on-property hubbub all the more if you venture out to Hammonasset Beach, dressed snugly and armed with a steamy latte from the resort’s Cappuccio Caffé. The state park, a 15-minute drive west in Madison, charges no fees this time of year. Mornings are often fog-banked, ghostly: These two miles of white sand are devoid of all but a few hardy human souls (except in those rare years when a snowy owl sighting lures observers). It seems almost unfathomable that on peak summer days, the beach can get so crowded that cars are turned away. In the heat, it’s a scavenger hunt to find seashells. Now, they’re piled in broad, thick brushstrokes, picked clean by wintering shorebirds.

Your own hunger may be what propels you back to Water’s Edge. The stone-fireplaced Seaview Bistro serves comfort food all day. Dattilo Fine Italian restaurant is open for three meals daily, too, and the main dining room’s high wall of windows makes this Connecticut’s most dramatic spot for savoring pasta, steaks, or seafood with a water view. Sunday brunch is a spectacle of interactive chef stations, with cocktail shrimp heaped around an ice carving, and chafing dish upon chafing dish of tantalizing fare. It will faze no one if you drizzle warmed maple syrup on it all.

Or perhaps it’s a spa appointment that beckons. When you’re paying a fraction of peak summertime rates for accommodations, the urge to splurge is real. So close your eyes and be transported to the tropics as the spa’s Coconut Island Body Polish treatment erases winter’s roughness and leaves you feeling renewed. Allow extra time for a sauna and steam or for staring into the relaxation room’s glass fireplace—it’s mesmerizing in a far healthier way than a smartphone screen.

In a season when darkness creeps into too many hours, nightlife is the resort’s calling card. It may not be of quite the caliber that Bill Hahn attracted when he turned a private seaside estate into this vacation destination in 1941: Imagine Barbra Streisand, at the tender age of 20, singing for guests here in 1962. But Friday “Comedy at the Edge” nights are just the ab workout you need if you’ve been more potato than pro athlete lately. And every low-season Saturday night brings a different tribute band to the ballroom stage. Your ticket includes an expansive buffet and costs far less than seeing the actual Eagles or Billy Joel. Or time-traveling to hear Tom Petty’s edgy voice or to cheer Elvis’s swivelly hips. —Kim Knox Beckius

Nightly rate for typical room option: $189 winter vs. $430 summer. watersedgeresortandspa.com

Water’s Edge Resort & Spa: Beyond the Lobby

BREAKFAST SPOT: Family-owned Mirsina’s is known for its homemade baklava and Greek rice pudding. So make it a two-course morning, and chase a two-egg sandwich or a banana-topped Belgian waffle with a breakfast dessert. You’ll still get away for under $15. Old Saybrook; mirsinasrestaurant.com

NATURE OUTING: A refuge for native animals in need of TLC and an excellent place to learn about coastal habitats, Meigs Point Nature Center at Hammonasset Beach State Park will enfold you in warmth after a windblown walk on the beach. Check the whiteboard for recent wildlife sightings, and you may want to tighten your scarf and head right back out to try spying a seal, bald eagle, red-throated loon, or clown-faced surf scoter. Madison; meigspointnaturecenter.org

RETAIL THERAPY:January is a time of reckoning for retailers, and that makes the year’s dawn the best time to score factory-outlet deals. Just two exits west on I-95, you’ll find 70 or so of these closeout emporiums clustered in a village-like setting at Clinton Premium Outlets. Get yourself some Timberland boots, a Vineyard Vines sweatshirt, and a Yankee Candle: You’re an instant New Englander, even if you’ve traveled from away. Clinton; premiumoutlets.com

DINING PICK: As you proceed slowly down the drive at Chamard Vineyards Bistro, whisper for karma to deliver you a table by the fieldstone fireplace. Or make a reservation—that’s maybe better. Because you don’t want to miss pairing the kind of full-bodied red blends that vanquish winter’s chill with hearty French-inspired creations like handmade gnocchi tossed in a brown-butter sauce with shiitakes, roasted butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts. Clinton; chamard.com

CULTURE HIT: “The Kate,” as the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is affectionately known, honors Connecticut’s brightest star with a museum devoted to the late screen legend and Old Saybrook resident, plus a busy stage visited by thespians and musicians, storytellers and comedians. Winter’s hottest ticket is the annual Oscar Night Party, complete with a red carpet and photo ops with a real statue (Hepburn won four). Old Saybrook; thekate.org

DON’T-MISS STOP: For nearly four decades, Janet and Jerry Connolly’s The Audubon Shop has been as much about building community as selling birding books and binoculars. Even if you’ve never contemplated birds with any seriousness, consider gearing up here: Hammonasset is one of the best bird-watching sites on the Eastern Seaboard. Better yet, sign up for one of the shop’s guided group outings. Madison; theaudubonshop.com