The Vero Beach barrier island finally has several nice oceanfront hotels ready to provide deluxe accommodations for visitors to our beachside community.

The most upscale of these is the Vero Beach Hotel & Club, which is now largely completed and offers luxurious one, two and three bedroom suites as well as the hotel's standard junior suite.

Summer rates range from $169 per night for a junior suite up to more than $1,200 per night for a Grande Ocean Suite with fully equipped designer kitchen. For more information about the Vero Beach Hotel & Club, which is located on Ocean Drive in the heart of central beach, call 1-866-395-7948.

The newest hotel on Ocean Drive is Costa d'Este, a stylistically distinctive oceanfront hotel with Art Deco arches, circles and porthole windows. While the finishing touches are still being put on the hotel, its 94 rooms have been open to guests since June 22nd.

Summer rates range from $179 per night for a smallish studio or $239 for an oceanfront double up to $309 for an oceanfront suite. For more information about Costa d'Este, which is located on Ocean Drive in the heart of the central beach shopping district, call 772-562-9919.

Another option located about a mile and a half south of central beach is the 17-room, island-style Caribbean Court hotel.

This boutique inn, totally renovated after the 2004 hurricanes, sits across the street from South Beach, Vero's widest strand of sand, in an area that otherwise consists predominantly of condos, town houses, and single-family residences.

Summer rates run from $110 to $125 for a double room. For more information about the Caribbean Court hotel, call 772-231-7211.

To the north on the Vero Beach barrier island is Disney's Vero Beach Resort, one of Disney's first vacation-club time-share operations which is now a decade old.

While many locals were initially concerned about the idea of a Disney resort coming to Vero Beach, the hotel's tasteful, buff-color, four-story clapboard styling styling is tastefully integrated with its beachside location, and Disney's tried and true formula for hospitality has made this hotel a winner with vacationers.

Summer rates, according to Hotels.com, start at $180 for a double room. For more information about Disney's Vero Beach Resort, cal 866-538-0187.

Two long-standing hotels on Ocean Drive in the heart of Vero's central beach also deserve mention.

For many years, the Holiday Inn Oceanside -- at the corner of Ocean Drive and Sexton Plaza -- was about as good as it got. This oceanfront hotel, with summer rates starting as low as $97, is still a pretty good bargain, directly on the ocean in epicenter of the central beach shopping district, but the ambience is typical Holiday Inn. For more information, call 772-234-8069.

Finally, how would you conclude a list of Vero beachside hotels without mentioning the Driftwood Resort.

Created by Waldo Sexton more than a half century ago, the Driftwood is a Vero beachside institution.

A rustic cluster of buildings assembled (probably a better word than built) over the course of several decades in the mid-1900s, the complex -- now a time-share with rooms available through a rental pool -- incorporates a variety of antiques, cannons, mosaics, paintings, and bells into its structures..

Based on comments from those who have stayed at the Driftwood in recent years, many may find it a better idea to wander about and sight-see than to spend the night. But for more information, call 231-0550.