Park Lane New York

For our tenth wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided a celebratory getaway was in order; but, after a year spent weaving through too many airports, dealing with too many rental-car hijinks, and having to change one roadside flat tire, we longed for an excursion that offered the sensation of escape without the burdens that can bring – a destination without the journey, if you will. For us, that meant a weekend at the Park Lane New York hotel in Uptown Manhattan. Sure, it was only a 45-minute train ride from our Brooklyn apartment, but it felt a world away.

Climbing the subway stairs and making our way to our new home-from-home with our weekenders slung over our shoulders, we felt so carefree. And I realized that this is exactly the sort of location people picture when they come to New York for the first time. Set on Central Park South – just down the block from the Plaza – the hotel’s mere address makes tourists’ eyes go Kevin McCallister wide as they take in the sights, sounds and smells: roasted nuts and clip-clop carriages, among more city sensations. Entering the lobby of this post-war building (which was revamped in 2022), you immediately see that visitors come to this storied locale from far and wide for all kinds of trips. There were couples decked in US Open merch, families readying for the Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival, and trios of women fresh from outings to Bergdorf Goodman, just around the corner.

Check-in was a breeze, and as we made our way up to our city-view room we clocked the interior details, which pay tribute to what counts as NYC’s woodlands (well, sprawling parkland) just outside its door. With design nods to topiary shapes and bunny statues on display, I had begun to suspect that the iconic Alice in Wonderland statue 15 blocks north of here had made it onto the mood board. The rooms carried the theme through, with an owl adorning the drapes and a squirrel painted on the credenza, but with plenty of marble and black-and-white bathroom tile for the design to feel modern and grown-up too.

We didn’t dwell on the details for too long – after all, we had an early reservation at the 47th-floor bar-restaurant Darling to kick-off our fêting. Here’s where I confess that I feel like I buried the lede by not telling you about the rooftop sooner. Shaded by a striped awning, the open-air terrace has north-facing views of Central Park. Now, I don’t mean glimpses of a slice of the park from certain angles; I mean sweeping vistas of the entire thing, and well past it, up to the Bronx. Heck, we could see the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium across the East River. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, these might have been the best city views I’ve witnessed in my 18 years living here. The proof is on my camera roll.

Once my husband and I got our gaping under control, we ordered a round of Watermelon Smash bourbon cocktails and a seafood tower. Given its spectacular setting, Darling needn’t exert too much effort on anything else, but our server was warmly upbeat, and the crab legs were so hefty I needed to dig their meat out with a knife. 

Though evening dining and drinks are an open-to-everyone scene – non-guests can make online reservations – breakfast is a guests-only affair. There’s a buffet bar with a choose-your-own-adventure spread of hot and cold standards (pro tip: heartily pair up the prosciutto and melon), and the beverage station included the makings of mimosas and Bloody Mary’s, with mini bottles of prosecco and Ketel One at the ready. Also waiting were those gobsmacking views, now bathed in morning light.

From then on, we had a whole Upper East Side day planned: beating the Sunday crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, splitting a schnitzel and Viennese desserts at the recently remodeled Café Sabarsky, meandering down Madison Avenue and across 72nd Street to visit the Central Park Dance Skaters, then dipping into Bemelmans Bar for a drink and jazz piano before heading back to Park Lane to change for dinner. The next day, we had an equally classic Upper West Side excursion: an hour or two in the Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History and an alfresco lunch at Hummus Place, a standby – that still holds up – we’ve patronized since we were New York newbies. If it wasn’t time for us to head back to our home borough, we might have caught a movie at the single-screen Paris Theater and followed it up with the tasting menu at Indian Accent.

I’m still kicking myself for not checking out the concert schedule at Carnegie Hall. To be able to catch a performance at that legendary venue and tuck into pre-show Persian kebabs and saffron-rose rice pudding at Nasrin’s Kitchen – all within just four blocks of your hotel bed – well, that’s what staycation dreams are made of.