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There was a time I would've scorned Batman's first post-Code era-- the period I like to call "Candyland Batman," because everything's so bright and colorful. However, over time I've found that the period has a wonky charm at times, including the "Robin Dies at Dawn" story mentioned elsewhere on the board. But it's not one of my favorites.
One of my favorites is the period of "Gothic Batman," going from the character's debut through maybe the next four-five years, which is the period when most of the best villains appear. I might extend this period to 1946, since I don't think the creators quite got a proper handle on Catwoman until '46, with "Nine Lives Has the Catwoman."
There's not a clear transition between the WWII and the postwar years, but lately I've been calling the next era "Dark Procedural Batman." There's not a real sense of Gothic craziness any more, but there's still a strong emphasis on a vision (admittedly juvenile) of the pervasiveness of crime. Batman is still a little spooky at times, but he usually relies on rational solutions to fight crime. Costumed villains are a little lighter in tone, such as the Riddler.
The period following "Candyland" is sort of a mashup of "Dark Procedural" and "Gothic." It starts with very rational (if still gimmicky) stories during "the New Look," mostly written by Gardner Fox and Robert Kaniger. Some Gothic elements start coming back, like the return of the Scarecrow, though the influence of the TV-show also brings in a few more Candyland elements (Mister Freeze, the Monarch of Menace). Arguably this concept of Batman goes on through both the goofy Frank Robbins period and the fan-beloved collaborations of O'Neil and Adams, and maybe-- maybe-- this era culminates with the Englehart-Rogers sequence.
After that, I can't claim that I've studied the eras that followed as closely, so I'll end by my favorite periods are "Early Gothic" and "Procedural-Plus-Gothic."
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