New is nice, but renewal is a thing of beauty. Nowhere does it quite like New York, the metropolis that never sleeps and is forever undergoing a costume change. Whole constellations of art, architecture and culture have burst forth from its streets and skyscrapers, and you can be sure there’s a whole lot more to come. But it’s a Big Apple indeed, and it can be hard to know where to take a bite.
To help find your match, we’ve selected 10 of the best hotels in New York City based on your priority, whether that’s unfettered romance, cultural immersion, wallet-friendly rates and more.
FOR A GOURMET GETAWAY
Casa Cipriani New York
The glamour of old New York lives on at Casa Cipriani, in the iconic — and quintessentially Beaux Arts — 1906 Battery Maritime Building. Inspired by the luxurious ocean liners of yesteryear, the interiors go heavy on Twenties decadence, awash with polished mahogany, brass accents and maritime murals.
Drinking and dining are at the heart of the experience, with no fewer than seven soigné locations to choose from, including The Club Restaurant, where refined Italian cuisine is served with sweeping East River views; the Jazz Café, drawing on the decadence of early-20th-century supper clubs with its oyster-, caviar- and truffle-laced menu; and the alfresco Terrazza Bar, one of the finest spots in the city for sundowners thanks to its screen-worthy backdrop of Lady Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Best room for those with good taste It’s got to be one of the suites with a terrace, from which you’ll be able to gaze, cocktail in hand, at the East River, Statue of Liberty or Brooklyn Bridge (in some cases all three).
Design details Architect, designer and all-round renaissance man, Thierry Despont was entrusted with the mammoth task of restoring the Battery Maritime Building to its former glory. And for good reason: Despont had already overseen the refresh of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, as well as the Ritz Paris and Claridge’s in London.
Something to eat You’ll find plenty of Harry’s Bar signatures at The Club Restaurant, where sleek woods, velvety banquettes and torchiere lamps set a refined tone. Try the veal with prosciutto and lemon or the butter-soft calf’s liver with wine and rosemary. The Living Room is more casual (well, by Cipriani standards), serving cicchetti, tramezzini (Venetian sandwiches) and freshly fired pizzas.
See the sights The Battery Maritime Building is still a functioning ferry terminal, meaning you need only head downstairs to hop aboard a service to Governors Island, a favourite picnic spot thanks to its wide-open spaces and lush lawns. From the Staten Island terminal next door, you can ride out to Liberty and Ellis islands; the latter is home to the National Immigration Museum, a testament to the millions of immigrants who took their first steps on US soil here.
FOR FIVE-STAR LUXURY
Aman New York
The Aman group’s Empire City stay was years in the making, finally opening to much fanfare in 2022. When you look inside, you’ll see why: creating luxury like this takes a lot more than a New York minute. Aman refurbished 23 storeys of the iconic Crown Building on 57th and Fifth, a local landmark and a love letter to America’s Gilded Age.
Belgian-based designer Jean-Michel Gathy was brought in to feng shui the interiors with Zen-inducing furnishings and Hasegawa Tōhaku murals, illuminated by vast windows overlooking Midtown’s skyscraping silhouette. Add in a three-storey signature spa, a duo of award-winning restaurants and a speakeasy-style jazz bar, and you’ve all the makings of a future classic.
Best room for indulgence If money’s no object, swing for one of the signature Aman Suites. Spread across the corners of floors 11 and 12, these minimalist pads overlook the meeting point of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Big-city loafing doesn’t get better than this, with vast picture windows, a sprawling living area, a well-stocked bar and a glass-encased fireplace to tempt you from leaving.
Design details Long before it became an Aman, the Crown Building was already a temple of indulgence. When it was built in 1921, architecture critic C. Matlack Price compared it to ‘great Babylonian buildings, with terraces and gardens flaunting themselves hundreds of feet in the air.’
Something to eat Nama is the hotel’s Asian restaurant, where head chef Takuma Yonemaru pays homage to authentic Japanese washoku. Book in for one of his twice-nightly omakase dinners (hosted from Tuesday to Saturday), where handpicked plates are dished up along a seven-seater hinoki-wood counter.
See the sights It’s no exaggeration to say this is one of the most coveted addresses in the world, so it’s unsurprising that the hotel has a multitude of New York institutions on its doorstep. Bergdorf Goodman is right across the street and Saks Fifth Avenue is a 10-minute walk away. You’re also perfectly placed for the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Arts and Design and Carnegie Hall.
FOR CENTRAL PARK VIEWS
Park Lane New York
Icons only: that could be the motto for Park Lane New York, which soars 47 storeys over the southeastern corner of Central Park. This is Manhattan at its most legendary, where skyline views and park-crossing vistas are an everyday affair.
What’s less typical is the look: design firm Yabu Pushelberg came in with bold colours, playful furnishings and whimsical murals by NYC-based artists En Viu, chasing away any hint of Upper East Side stuffiness. The hotel’s crowning glory is Darling, the 47th-floor rooftop restaurant made to set hearts aflutter.
Best room with a view Go for one of the Panoramic Park View Studios, all of which have picture windows overlooking a vast sweep of Central Park, seen from the southeast corner.
Design details When creating the concept for the hotel’s interiors, Yabu Pushelberg turned to the hotel’s iron-fisted former real estate-tycoon owner, Leona Helmsley, aka the Queen of Mean. Famously irascible in her human relationships, Helmsley doted on her dog Trouble, who’s personified throughout the rooms, restaurants and lounge spaces.
Something to eat Darling’s roof terrace is the only one of its kind in Central Park South, so book as far ahead as possible. It’s primarily a bar, but it does a fine line of small bites including wagyu beef skewers, lobster rolls and Royal Ossetra caviar.
See the sights Central Park’s Conservatory Garden doesn’t exactly fly under the radar, given it’s one of the most famous green spaces in the world. But many visitors overlook the gates at the entrance, which were once on the New York estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Demolished in 1920, the estate was succeeded by department store Bergdorf Goodman, but the gates survived and were bequeathed to the park by Vanderbilt’s daughter.
FOR A ROOFTOP POOL
Soho House New York
Though it might have seemed the obvious choice, Soho House New York is not, in fact, in SoHo. The members’ club and longtime purveyors of Cool Britannia instead settled on the buzzy, Meatpacking District as their Big Apple home. It’s an inspired choice, given the area is renowned for its creativity and bold contrasts: grit and glamour, old and new, refined and louche.
If you find you’ve overdone it at one of the neighbourhood’s many after-dark spots, recuperate in style at the House’s heated rooftop pool, the place to be when the temperature rises, flanked by striped loungers and overlooking the Hudson. It’s open all year-round, and becomes the building’s social heart in summer, when there’s full waiter service too.
Best room for water-lovers The Medium and Big rooms have freestanding bath tubs, offering an indulgent alternative when the pool gets busy.
Design details Soho House New York’s art collection is curated by Chief Art Director Kate Bryan, who draws on artists who are born, based or trained in the city. Most have works in New York’s museums and galleries, too, including Derrick Adams, Christopher Myers, Miya Ando and Jenny Holzer.
Something to eat The House menu is filled with American classics and comfort food like matzoh-ball soup, short-rib sandwiches and chicken parmigiana loaded with rich arrabbiata sauce and mozzarella.
See the sights Walk the art-dotted High Line, then put your credit limit to the test at the multitude of fashion boutiques in the area: Diane von Furstenberg, Gucci, Hermès, Brunello Cucinelli and Helmut Lang are all within three blocks. Chelsea is right next door, so a day of gallery hopping beckons: the Whitney, David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth and Gagosian are among the big-ticket offerings.
FOR COUPLES
The Twenty Two New York
An antidote to skyscraping midtown modernity, The Twenty Two New York is a hotel and members’ club that brings a turn-of-the-century mansion in Union Square back to life. You’ll find romance comes naturally here: the hotel is a hive of heritage glamour and has a heart-stealing trio of art deco bars and candle-flickered terraces for starlit trysts.
Then there are the rooms, seductively clad in dark wood and jewel-toned textiles, calling for Jay Gatsby levels of abandon. Café Zaffri, the Twenty Two’s ground-floor restaurant, is a feast for the eyes, too, with its gilded floral wallpaper and a glowing stained-glass ceiling, where you’ll dine on Levantine dishes devised by a quartet of New York’s hottest culinary talents.
Best room for romance All rooms have Italian-marble bathrooms and Rivolta Carmignani linens, so none stint on sumptuousness. But the Suites are the glamorous showstoppers, with four-poster king-size beds and views over the hotel’s sunlit atrium.
Design details The task of overhauling the hotel’s historic New York brownstone building was entrusted to London-based Child Studio, run by Alexy Kos and Che Huang. Known for their cinematic and story-led interiors, the duo went for a layered approach, blending elements from classic American styles like Shaker, Mission and Craftsman.
Something to eat Restaurateurs Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano, chef Mary Attea and pastry chef Camari Mick are responsible for some of Noho’s favourite neighbourhood spots, so teaming up for Café Zaffri was bound to lead to something inspired. The menu is built around Levantine and Mediterranean flavours, giving rise to delights like the harissa-spiced grilled octopus and saffron-laced crab spaghetti. For dessert, try Mick’s baklava mille-feuille, made with pistachio, rose water and pomegranate.
See the sights The Twenty Two has date-night bars nailed, but if you do want to venture out, Dante in Greenwich Village is a favourite spot for martinis. Singlish, named after the English-based colloquial language spoken in Singapore, slings cocktails made with spirits not commonly encountered in the West, including baijiu, a grain alcohol originally from China. Beyond libations, you’ll find inspiration at the Rubin, focused on the central Asian art scene, and the Museum of Sex is at hand to quicken the pulse.
FOR A SUPERLATIVE SPA
Equinox Hotel
Ready to get physical? Equinox Hotel is the luxurious NYC headquarters of the cult gym brand, and like its hard-bodied clientele, this Hudson Yards hangout is in peak condition. It has more health-giving facilities than we can list, but here are a few as a taster: SoulCycle classes, personal training, IV drips, cryotherapy pods, a juice bar, a sprawling spa and a vast gym with every piece of equipment you could possibly need.
Granted, it’s not for everyone: if your idea of a health kick is switching from beer to G&T, you may want to cast your eyes elsewhere. But any pain incurred in the gym here is offset by a wealth of ways to rest and recover. Rejuvenate with the help of infrared saunas and deep dermal massages, before bedding down in a room designed to give you the best beauty sleep of your life.
Best room for pampering Go for the Deluxe River View Junior Suite, where there’s plenty of elbow room for private meditations and views of the Hudson River to help you wind down.
Design details Equinox takes bedtime seriously. Every room has a switch that will cool the temperature to a precise 66°F, lower black-out blinds and turn off all tech. You might be in the ‘city that never sleeps’, but you won’t know it, thanks to heavy-duty soundproofing that blocks out all unwanted acoustics.
Something to eat Main restaurant Electric Lemon is on the 24th floor, with an 8,000-square-foot, open-air dining terrace for making the most of the views. The seasonal menus are designed to help you hit your goals, with plenty of healthful substitutions like buckwheat pancakes and spelt toast for breakfast, and lean proteins like Maine halibut, Long Island striped sea bass and NY grass-fed-beef for lunch and dinner.
See the sights Hudson Yards is home to Vessel, a public artwork with stairways interlinked like a honeycomb; guests have exclusive access in the mornings and can join group runs to the top, too. For healthful refuelling, there’s vegan taco joint Jajaja Mexicana and DIY salad spot Sweetgreen close by. Beyond the Yards, there’s the bustling Pier 81 dining hub and Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises launches from Pier 83.
FOR NIGHTLIFE
Public New York
Ian Schrager knows a thing or two about throwing a party. The founder of cult NY club Studio 54 has been serving sybarites for more than 40 years and is credited with elevating New York’s nightlife from dingy basements to glittering disco pads that had even the most rarified patrons clamouring for access. He’s also a big name in the hotel game, and that’s where Public New York, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side ‘hood, comes in.
Designed as a fresh concept for the discerning travellers of today, Public hinges on the idea of ‘accessible luxury’. Schrager has stripped away the unnecessary extras — so don’t expect room service or hatted bellboys — to focus on what really matters: style, experience and value. Night owls will relish the quartet of bars in the building, not least the skyscraping Rooftop, where the terrace overlooks Manhattan’s iconic silhouette.
Best room for post-party recovery It’s all in the name with the Great View rooms, which are higher in the tower, ensuring lofty Manhattan vistas from their slanting, floor-to-ceiling windows.
Design details In keeping with the hotel’s stripped-back ethos, rooms are sleekly minimal, with blonde woods, cream fabrics and concrete creating a neutral palette that makes the city views pop that bit more.
Something to eat Restaurant Popular is as multicultural as the city itself, drawing on Peruvian, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Japanese cuisines. Try the sublime ceviche, sticky-prawn chow mein or any of the meats cooked over the wood-fired grill.
See the sights During daylight hours, shimmy around some of Lower East Side’s 30 or so private galleries, including filmmaker Miguel Abreu’s space, where events are often held, and artist-run 47 Canal. Shop yourself back to life at Assembly, a fashion boutique stocked with a highly curated collection of small and offbeat labels.
FOR FAMILIES
Warren Street Hotel
Hit hotel group Firmdale has taken another bite out of the Big Apple with Warren Street Hotel, their third (and newest) outpost in the city. Founder and designer Kit Kemp swooped on a cast-iron building in the heart of Tribeca, putting you within a few minutes’ walk of the Battery Park City Esplanade and Washington Market Park. Inside, Kemp gets her signature vibrancy in from the get-go, mingling bold patterns, offbeat artworks and kaleidoscopic colours to unite British eccentricity with New York chutzpah.
New York’s hotels aren’t always the most child-friendly, but this welcoming city pad bucks the trend. Every room is awash with colour and natural light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows throughout, and connecting rooms offer the chance to create your own pied-à-terre. Little Smiths get their own menu in the all-day brasserie, and books and boardgames are available in the guest-only drawing room.
Best room for families The suites are the obvious choice, giving you more square footage for kids to splay out on. The Deluxe Rooms are slightly more wallet-friendly but still have enough space for an extra bed.
Design details The walls of Warren Street are adorned with more than 700 works of art, from artists including Gary Bunt, Christopher Kurtz and Sanaa Gateja, the Ugandan ‘Bead King of Africa’.
Something to eat The Warren Street Bar & Restaurant serves a seasonal menu of American classics, including plump, grass-fed burgers, grilled skirt steaks with chimichurri and Lancaster Farm chicken schnitzel; you’ll find smaller portions and simplified recipes on the children’s menu. The light-flooded Orangery, where the hotel’s signature afternoon teas are held, has a kids’ version with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit skewers, cake pops and fruit iced tea.
See the sights Staying in Tribeca puts you close to The Battery, a green space with gardens, bike paths and an urban farm, found at the southern tip of Manhattan. Battery Park City has two playgrounds with climbing nets, slides, water-play areas and a sandpit. The Hudson River Park piers are equally diverting for small guests: there’s the Pier 26 Science Playground, a 4,000-square-foot adventure playground themed around marine life, and you’ll find swings and minigolf on Pier 25. The National Museum of the American Indian has hands-on areas where little Smiths can learn about Native culture and objects.
FOR THE CULTURE
Soho Grand Hotel
Few cities loom larger in the cultural zeitgeist than NYC. It’s not so much the rom-com clichés that make it eternal — smitten souls on fire escapes, eyes meeting amid surging crowds — but the city’s take-a-chance pluckiness, decadence and embrace of unashamed pleasure-seeking. Put yourself right in the thick of it with a room at the Soho Grand Hotel, a classic Manhattan hideout with a skyline-spying terrace and a cocktail bar that hosts jazz nights in a velvet-draped salon.
SoHo and its screen-famous, cast-iron architecture is celebrated throughout the hotel, from the bottle-glass staircase to the masonry columns and loft-style suites, where you’ll find references from the artsy lofts of the 1970s mingled with designs from the Gilded Age.
Best room for total immersion It has to be the Grand Terrace Suite, which has the kind of outdoor space the average New Yorker could only dream of, with views over SoHo to boot. There’s a bar, too, so you’ll be sipping sundowners in total privacy.
Design details The interiors read like a love letter to New York across the ages, drawing from the Gilded Age, Art Deco, industrial design and Fifties Americana (think jukeboxes and red-leather banquettes).
Something to eat There are four drinking and dining spots at the hotel, including palm-lined Gilligan’s (try the lobster roll), Fifties-esque Soho Diner (it’s got to be the hot wings) and the velvet-curtained Club Room, where you can knock back American whiskies like you’re in an episode of Mad Men.
See the sights One of the best ways to see the area is to borrow the hotel’s bikes; you’ll be able to pedal around the SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District, stopping in at hallowed local haunts like Balthazar and La Mercerie. Don’t skip a visit to post-war artist Donald Judd’s five-storey studio and home at 101 Spring Street. Pre-book one of the guided tours, led by local artists.
FOR BIG-CITY THRILLS ON A BUDGET
Civilian Hotel
In a city where parking spaces have changed hands for north of a million dollars (yes, really), budgeting can be a big deal. Some locals will tell you to ‘fahgettaboudit’ if you ask about staying in Manhattan on a shoestring — but it can be done, and Civilian Hotel is here to prove our point.
Inspired by nearby Broadway, Civilian is an homage to New York’s thriving theatre scene. The interiors are filled with one-of-a-kind props, costumes, and thespian-themed art, and there’s a diner and buzzy rooftop bar with spectacular city panoramas. In fact, just about the only aspect that doesn’t hint at melodrama is your room rate, among the most reasonable for a Manhattan hotel that doesn’t skimp on style or substance. Take a bow, Civilian.
Best room on a budget The compact Cozy Queen rooms do what they say on the tin, but the designers still found the space to include retro-theatre details, sumptuous fabrics and framed vintage photos. A costume-trunk-inspired storage space under the bed frees up precious inches elsewhere.
Design details Tony award-winning set designer and architect David Rockwell was responsible for the building’s costume change, and his love for Broadway can be seen everywhere, from the marquee lighting in the lobby that recalls a dressing-room mirror to the black-and-white photos of iconic Broadway productions that hang in the lounge.
Something to eat The Rosevale Kitchen takes French classics and throws in a hint of Asian flair; try the duck à l’orange with five-spice jus. Attached to the hotel is an Emmy Squared pizzeria, where classic New York style pies are given a Detroit edge.
See the sights New York’s legendary entertainment district is on the doorstep, so take your pick from the playhouses and big-budget productions. At the Hudson Yards development, arts centre The Shed hosts regularly changing exhibitions.
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