Mr & Mrs Smith

Fantastic location on the lively Lower East Side. In walking (or stumbling) distance of loads of great restaurants and bars. A great place to experience a less tourist filled slice of New York. Go for a high room – there is nothing better than opening the curtains early in the morning and watching the sun change colours on the skyscrapers whilst you're in bed planning your day.

Clinton St Baking is nearby and is great for breakfast. However, you are likely to have to wait at least an hour for a table. It’s best to go early, reserve your space and take a stroll through the neighbourhood with a coffee in hand. Not a place to arrive at if you’re already really hungry!

Having stayed at the Standard Hotel on the other side of Manhattan for three nights in the glamorous Meatpacking District, we chose to jump over to the heart of gritty-grotty Lower East Side for a taste of 'authentic' downtown. Well, we loved it. The Hotel on Rivington has a totally unassuming entrance, bar the weird 'organic' structure as you enter (really misguided if you ask me, with no reception, just a corridor of grotty red carpet and a couple of lifts). A bit of a shock, especially straight after the superglamorous Standard. But then – you hit the button to floor 15 after a brief stop at floor two, where the tiny reception is, and you exit to find NY downtown fabulousness. Our room was a corner king which is highly recommended as it is essentially a superstylish large box – very generous for NY standards, with two walls made entirely out of glass affording you a spectacular view of Manhattan. This is Lower East, so the view is graffitied rooftops with decaying aircon units and blinking deli signs. This is the Tenement district – the old NY of workers and immigrants currently taken over by artists and young creatives – so the image really fits. And you can see as far as the Brooklyn bridges and the Financial District, so no skimming on the panorama. The corner king room is really lovely: super spacious, with the best bed we have ever slept on with Frette sheets, cloud-soft pillows and a divine Tempur mattress; massive bathroom with a shower offering views just like the room (don't turn the light on at night when showering if you're shy). Fabulous austere design of grey-brown-blacks throughout, gorgeous products, sweets and cookies every day. Oh, and a balcony. Really one of the best rooms anywhere ever. No breakfast or restaurant in the hotel for now, they are refurbishing that part, but frankly why would you want it. The area is all cafes, delis and bars where you can have the most wonderful breakfast/brunch/lunch/dinner/drinks at any time of day, literally two steps from the hotel. Basically, think of the Rivington as your private dream apartment in the trendiest area of NY, discretely hidden behind an appropriately unattractive entrance.

If the Meatpacking is old-NY-turned-LA-glamorous, Lower East is old-NY-turned-NY-trendy. The urban structure here is small scale, with the incredibly picturesque tenement buildings being sensitively restored, keeping the old feel with modern 'designer' factor, resulting in a very attractive whole. The area is still quite grotty with quite a bit of poverty evident, as is the case in all genuinely trendy parts of the world – think Shoreditch circa 1999. But it is totally worth a visit. Here are some of the best small art galleries in town as well as the newish New Museum of contemporary art – a major investment in the upscaling of the area. In terms of restaurants, the National on Rivington Street is tiny, white-tiled and beautifully lit, with gorgeous food and drink. A total find, not in any guides we know of. Freeman's: all the hype is right, fabulous place fabulous food. Schillers on Rivington Street does the best brunch all day, great decor too.