This is By Far the Most Enviable Couples' Retreat in the U.S.

My wife, Kate, and I love vacationing together—just the two of us. It's all we know, really. But this summer, in the interest of shaking things up, we invited another couple to join us on a long weekend on Nantucket, the land of Chad and Becky. We spend so much time with them in New York, watching movies and ordering Indian on Seamless, that sharing our time to decompress from the trials of the quotidian didn't seem like a foolish move. Our first order of business: Book adequately equipped lodgings, i.e., a space with warm interiors, a functioning kitchen and air conditioners, and multiple bedrooms. If for whatever reason our shared relaxation turned into something dreadful, at least we wouldn't be on top of one another. We found the perfect place: White Elephant Downtown Lofts.

I know the obvious choice might have been to rent a house, but Kate and I stayed at the White Elephant's main hotel for a mini-moon the day after our wedding and fell in love with it. Staying at one of the two Downtown Lofts was redolent of that trip, except with the amplifiers turned to 11. The Easy Street loft, which is the one we chose, is 3,000 square feet of white walls, sun-filled rooms, and slipcovered chairs. There are three bedrooms and three and a half baths, so if fights do break out, the surplus quarters do double duty as a heavenly time-out space with many fluffy pillows to scream into. The place even comes with a BMW, so the four of us can zoom around the island to sunbathe at secluded beaches and eat at great restaurants that are a little too far to reach on foot. Needless to say, four sets of fantasies were fulfilled within minutes of arriving. (And we all still like each other, which is a major bonus!) Here are the crucial amenities and locales that make the Lofts the ultimate couples’ retreat destination.