INTIMATE GETAWAYS: HOME AWAY FROM HOME

And now for something completely different.

The world’s travelers may flock to Las Vegas, thronging our massive megaresorts, basking in our neon-lit glow, braving the relentless swelter of our triple-digit days from a shady lounge chair by the pool.

Those of us who call Las Vegas home, however, may be hungry for a simpler, more intimate getaway — the kind you’ll find at a bed-and-breakfast inn somewhere cooler than here.

This time of year, “somewhere cooler” takes in a lot of territory.

So we’ve narrowed the choices a bit, selecting three contrasting destinations: the balmy shores of Laguna Beach, Calif.; the cool mountain pines of Northern Arizona; and Southern Utah’s “Festival City,” Cedar City, home to the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespearean Festival. (You’ll find details in “postcards” describing each locale.)

Unlike their overseas inspirations, where bed-and-breakfast accommodations provide budget, no-frills alternatives for travelers, America’s B&Bs have evolved in a lusher, plusher direction, notes author Pam Lanier, whose “The Complete Guide to Bed & Breakfasts, Inns & Guest Houses International” is in its 25th-anniversary edition.

Instead of “staying at someone’s home, it’s staying at boutique lodging,” Lanier explains, where “the whole idea of getting away” involves “a more personalized experience” than travelers can find at a larger hotel or motel. “There’s nothing cookie-cutter about it.”

Antique furnishings, gourmet breakfasts, wine and cheese parties — even friendly, furry, four-legged residents — add to the unique charm of each B&B.

“It’s a very personal experience,” says Gary Edelbrock, president of the Arizona Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns — and the proprietor of the four-room Prescott Log Cabin in Prescott, Ariz. (On his Web site, Edelbrock lists himself as “Director of Hospitality,” while his dog Bailey is “Director of Security.”)

“Each of our rooms is different,” Edelbrock says. “You walk into a hotel — whether it’s a Westin or a Four Seasons — and it’s pretty much the same.”

With 20 guest rooms, the historic Casa Laguna Inn in Laguna Beach, Calif., is much larger than the three- and four-room Arizona properties.

But the emphasis on individualized service remains the same.

“We’re a unique blend between a bed-and-breakfast and a hotel,” explains Kathryn Mace, Casa Laguna’s general manager. “People call and ask ‘How many of those rooms do you have?’ ” she says. “I always say, ‘I have one.’ Each room is different.”

The popularity of bed-and-breakfast inns has increased dramatically since Lanier published her first guide in 1982, she says. That first edition listed 1,200 properties; by contrast, the latest guidebook has “more than 25,000 (listings) in the U.S. alone.”

Lanier attributes part of the B&B appeal to the “fabulous decor” at bed-and-breakfast inns. (To illustrate “how popular it’s become,” Lanier has collaborated on B&B-inspired furniture and mattress lines from Lane and Simmons, respectively, so guests can enjoy the B&B lifestyle at home.)

Opting for a B&B also allows busy folks “to plan a weekend getaway” without attending to every detail, Lanier adds.

“You can leave it to the innkeeper,” she says. “That’s a really big plus for a lot of people. I’m a busy mom myself. It’s nice to have help from a knowledgeable source.”

After all, the innkeepers are “local insiders” who can guide guests to their favorite attractions and restaurants, Lanier points out. “It’s like having your own concierge.”

For plenty of B&B aficionados, the second “B” — breakfast — comes first.

“The whole food thing is central” to the attraction of B&Bs, notes Lanier, whose www.lanierbb.com Web site features 4,000 recipes from various inns. (She’s also published a series of B&B cookbooks featuring favorite recipes from various inns.)

At Legacies in Williams, Ariz., for example, innkeepers Ron and Linda Dixon find out what breakfast foods their future guests like, dislike — and are allergic to — when they take their reservation calls.

“We have things (Linda) excels in and things I do,” Ron Dixon explains, describing a menu that ranges from blueberry pancakes to breakfast casseroles to homemade granola — which also is a fixture at the Casa Laguna Inn, a nine-time winner of the B&B category in the Orange County Register’s annual “Best of Orange County” survey.

Casa Laguna’s chef “has won awards for his food,” says Kate Buckley, executive vice president of Costello Cities Internet Network, which includes the online site www.LagunaBeach.com.

(The latest award-winner: Smoked Salmon Crepe Purse with Cream Cheese Dill Mousse and Fennel Oil, submitted by Casa Laguna’s Peter O’Keefe and Jordan Rich, which recently captured a silver medal in the inaugural “Inn-Credible Breakfast Cook-Off,” a national culinary competition designed to recognize the best “Inn” breakfast in North America, sponsored by Select Registry, an association of about 400 inns.)

Audrey Whipple of Bard’s Inn in Cedar City, Utah, describes the breakfasts they serve as “huge,” complete with homemade croissants, souffles and fresh fruit, among other attractions.

“One of my guests said, ‘You’ve ruined my lunch — and maybe dinner!’ ” Whipple says with a laugh.

That’s a refrain also heard at Starlight Pines in Flagstaff, Ariz., acknowledges Richard Svendsen, who owns the inn with partner Michael Ruiz. (Their B&B was chosen as one of Arizona’s 10 best B&Bs in Phoenix magazine’s June edition.)

Then again, he says, “you do work up an appetite” hiking and biking in the area — or visiting the Grand Canyon, a 75-mile drive away.

In addition to the spectacular scenery (Starlight Pines, is situated at the foot of Mount Elden), visitors enjoy the ambience of a home built 11 years ago as a bed-and-breakfast — from the blueprints for a 1912 Victorian-style home still standing in Tempe, Ariz.

The previous owners were antique dealers, so “everything is old in the house — except us and the house!” Svendsen jokes.

And for all the antiques and mountain views, Starlight Pines’ canine welcoming committee, Shih Tzus Mooshu and Taz, provides definite competition, he adds.

“They’re great posers — they know how to go up the stairs and pose at an effective spot,” Svendsen says. “Sometimes I think the guests take more pictures of the dogs than they do of the house.”

In addition to the resident pets, guests also form attachments with their fellow visitors.

At Casa Laguna, a visiting British couple left for a few days, Mace recalls — they didn’t check out, they merely accompanied their new friends (and fellow guests) back to San Diego for a visit.

At Laguna Beach’s Tides Inn, “it’s one big party,” says co-owner Linda Humes, especially on the Fourth of July, when people return every year to barbecue and gather ’round the saltwater pool.

“We’ve had people meet here — and they’ll come back together,” Humes says. “It’s amazing.”

At Bard’s Inn in Cedar City, “we have guests who now make reservations together,” Audrey Whipple says. “Northern Utah and Las Vegas people” rendezvous every year for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, she adds. “Couples tend to really bond. When I finish this season, I’ll be 80 percent full for next summer.”

That personal touch extends beyond the guests to the innkeepers themselves, who must “be very personable with people” to succeed, Legacies’ Ron Dixon says.

“You have to be outgoing. You’re having guests in your house,” he points out. And “no matter how you feel, you have to wake up with a smile on your face.”

Which, he says, isn’t all that difficult to do.

After all, “I take 10 steps into the kitchen and I’m at work. My commute’s over,” he says. “I get to sit down with the guests and have a cup of coffee — what could be better than that?”