Where to stay in New York: hotels by district
A neighbourhood guide to the hippest areas to stay in New York, as chosen by our resident expert, including the best hotels in the Upper East Side, Midtown, the Meatpacking District, the Lower East Side and Brooklyn.
Upper East Side
Venerable and historic, the Upper East Side is the Paris of New York City. A little formal (some might say stuffy), its top-dollar zip codes east of Central Park incorporate The Metropolitan and Guggenheim museums, the splendid Frick Gallery and the high-end boutiques of Madison Avenue. Look out for all the heiresses with dogs in their purses entering the grand townhouses and the doormen-manned apartment buildings of Park Avenue.
Where to stay
The Carlyle
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Perfectly situated on Madison and 76th, the handsome 35-storey 1930s Beaux Arts building is a wonderful merging of old world elegance and contemporary style. Recent updates to its Art Deco interiors includes a lavish restyling of the black and gold hued marble lobby now hung with oil paintings that call to mind a Renaissance museum. The twin columned building features 188 rooms and suites replete with all mod-cons, some with stunning Central Park views. Elegant in-house restaurant The Carlyle Restaurant offers French haute cuisine while Bemelmans Bar, just off the lobby, remains one of the finest cocktail bars in the world. Read expert review From £362per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
The Mark
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
On a beautiful tree-lined block at Madison and 77th, French designer Jacques Grange brings his bold geometric shapes and splashy colors to proceedings. From the marble-floored lobby with its long, narrow black and white floor stripes, to the curvy pink-lit bar counter you half feel as if you’ve stepped into a Tim Burton film. There’s a complimentary shoe shine kiosk by John Lobb, an in-house Frederic Fekkai salon and a stylish fleet of custom bicycles available to guests. Elegant yet high-tech, each of the 100 guest rooms and 40 suites come with Crestron panels that control temperature, entertainment, shades and lighting with a single touch. Read expert review From £428per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Loews Regency New York Hotel
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Positioned on ritzy Park Avenue, just two blocks from Central Park, Loews Regency lives in one of the city's wealthiest zip codes. A Mercedes house car drops off guests for free within a 20-block radius. Interiors lean towards Park Avenue chic finished with a touch of Art Deco glam. Home of the 'Power Breakfast' where New York's elite meet and eat each morning, the Regency Bar & Grill prepares upscale American cuisine. For dinner, the dry-aged New York strip steak doesn't disappoint. Elegant design anchors the rooms and suites, which boast tall ceilings, graceful details and designer furnishings. Read expert review From £282per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Midtown
The corporate and commercial centre of the city, running from Central Park South down to the Empire State Building, Midtown is home to the electric energy of Times Square, the theatres of Broadway, and a range of hotels, from budget chains to the priciest properties in the city. Tourist highlights include Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Top of the Rock and the glorious Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Where to stay
The Knickerbocker
New York, United States
7Telegraph expert rating
Bellhops in baggy knickerbockers and chunky Doc Martens set the tone: there’s an authenticity and attention to detail here that’s rare for Times Square. The lobby, a palette of brown marble floors and beige textured walls seems unremarkable at first until you get the concept: it’s a sanctuary from the sensory-overload outside. The culinary centrepiece is Charlie Palmer at the Knick, on the 4th floor. Start with a Knickerbocker Martini in the bar, (they claim the drink was invented here) then ask for a table in the restaurant, which serves a farm fresh “Progressive American” menu. The 16th-floor rooftop bar and terrace, St Cloud, with its ivy-covered walls, opens in the summer. Read expert review From £190per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Park Hyatt New York
New York, United States
9Telegraph expert rating
Occupying the first 25 floors of the 90-storey ‘One57’ skyscraper in Midtown, Park Hyatt New York offers 210 state-of-the-art rooms. The exterior drama gives way to calm inside: soaring ceilings, polished marble floors, tall glass dividers, soothing cream and brown tones and about 300 contemporary works of art. The sun-drenched three-storey “aerie” on the top floor houses a heated swimming pool in which underwater speakers play an exclusive soundtrack from Carnegie Hall. All rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with dramatic views from the higher floors. Decor-wise, simple clean lines and subtle white and grey tones dominate, but with modish touches such as stone floors, designer rugs, low-slung Scandinavian-style furnishings and built-in mirror televisions. Read expert review From £505per night
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MEATPACKING DISTRICT
The once gritty Meatpacking District long ago gave way to warehouse-sized restaurants, velvet-roped nightclubs and hotels with rooftop pools. But don’t let that put you off. The High Line Park along the Hudson is our favorite urban greenspace, and the recently opened Whitney Museum has brought cultural cachet to the commercialism. The leafy, brownstone-lined streets of the adjacent West Village are simply gorgeous.
Where to stay
The High Line Hotel
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Just across from the High Line Park in Chelsea’s thriving Gallery District, The High Line’s style is “Collegiate Gothic”. Set in the 19th-century seminary of an Episcopal Church, this 60-room boutique hotel is hip hotel as religious experience. Rooms are furnished with Victorian and Edwardian antiques – Tiffany-style lamps, rewired 1920s telephones, a great collection of Oriental carpets – while the lobby’s coffee bar will have you praising the lord. All rooms have handsome hardwood floors and locally sourced furnishings. The kings and the suite are the most spacious, the latter coming with a decorative fireplace, a collection of classic books, and a spacious en-suite bathroom stocked with CO Bigelow amenities. Read expert review From £188per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
The Standard, High Line
New York, United States
7Telegraph expert rating
Andre Balazs’s Meatpacking District hot spot on the banks of the Hudson River literally straddles The High Line Park. The tall, narrow slab of a building may be reminiscent of a 1970s British council block but its aesthetic is more LA flash meets New York glamour. There’s a street-side German beer garden packed with beautiful people, a thriving grill restaurant reminiscent of a Parisian bistro, and two LA-style rooftop lounges as well as a rooftop club, Top of the Standard, offering live jazz and designer cocktails. The 337 rooms, with their floor-to-ceiling windows, overlook the Hudson or the High Line. Read expert review From £155per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Soho House New York
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Soho House New York is two blocks from the High Line Park, Chelsea Market and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The hotel’s nondescript entrance does nothing to disclose the warren-like interiors of Soho House. Covering seven-floors, it manages to conceal 44 bedrooms, two bars, one restaurant, a spa, two drawing rooms and a self-serve charcuterie-cum-sweetie buffet. A highlight is the rooftop bar, decorated with fairy-lights and enjoying superb views of downtown Manhattan. Next door, the characteristic red-and-white striped sunloungers surround the pool and music drifts from speakers at all times of the day. Read expert review From £332per night
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Flatiron/Gramercy
Named for the famous 1902-built triangular building at 175 Fifth Avenue, this once nondescript commercial neighborhood is now home to celebrated three-Michelin-star restaurant Eleven Madison Park, swanky cocktail bar Flatiron Lounge and hip hotels. The off-centre location means you’re close enough to the action of Midtown, but away from the crush of the crowds. Don’t miss a visit to the famous second-hand Strand bookstore at nearby Union Square.
Where to stay
The NoMad Hotel
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Inspired by the Paris apartment he lived in as a child, Jacques Garcia’s interiors combine European elegance – white walls, soaring ceilings, tiled floors – with funky, decadent touches such as tapestry-covered antique furniture, worn and faded Persian rugs, a 200-year-old fireplace, an antique staircase and a glass atrium-like structure on the ground floor that houses a restaurant. The 168 rooms vary in size, but most have hardwood floors and soaring ceilings – so rare to find in New York these days. Chef Daniel Humm and restaurateur Will Guidara (of three-Michelin-star Eleven Madison Park) oversee the food and drink, and there are multiple locations in the hotel to sample it, from the sumptuous Library, to dark and decadent cocktail emporium Elephant Bar. Read expert review From £218per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
The Evelyn
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
This hotel, its bright red façade covered with suspended art installations, is a combination of gallery, museum and hipster hotel. The extraordinary façade hung with giant, silver tear drop-like sculptures gives way to a spacious, light filled gallery-like lobby lined with sleek couches, a popular gathering place for fashionable guests. Sparsely furnished Ikea-style rooms range from “Suites” to “Essentials”, all with en-suite bathrooms and TVs. In keeping with many hip budget hotels, the Evelyn forgoes a restaurant but you are in the heart of the Flatiron District’s dynamic dining scene. Value for money at this hotel is exceptional, it’s hard to beat these prices for this neighbourhood. Read expert review From £98per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Gramercy Park Hotel
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Perhaps no other New York hotel has as much style. Julian Schnabel’s Renaissance-revival look was a revelation when the hotel opened, and it continues to dazzle guests with its red-velvet sofas, Harlequin floors, grand mirrors and Louis XV chairs. There’s even a signature scent—when you inhale that woody fragrance, you’ll know you’re in downtown’s favourite hangout. The 185 guest rooms and suites show off Schnabel’s quirky sense of taste, with leather desks, velvet curtains, mahogany drinking cabinets and marble vanities in the bathrooms. One of New York’s favourite restaurants, Maialino, occupies the street-level entry, and it’s busy from coffee meetings to late-night drinks. Read expert review From £258per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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SoHo/Lower East Side
Ultra-fashionable SoHo (South of Houston) is famous for its cobbled streets, swanky department stores and classic restaurants such as Balthazar. But for all its big money ways, it holds onto a neighborhood feel. You are steps from the chic boutiques of Nolita (North of Little Italy), the hipster bars of the Lower East Side and the dim sum restaurants of Chinatown. For our money, SoHo is the optimal hotel location in the city.
Where to stay
The Ludlow
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Set in reclaimed red brick building around the corner from Katz’s Deli, The Ludlow’s design pays homage to the neighborhood’s gritty, creative past when you could rent large lofts for small change. Décor includes mosaic-tiled floors and chandeliers in the lobby, sheepskin throws in guestrooms and ornate lamps and rugs personally sourced from Morocco, India and Indonesia. The 184 guestrooms, including 20 suites, come in all sizes and feature dark-stained hardwood floors, white ceilings with exposed wood beams and Bellini Italian linens. Enjoy cocktails by master bartender Thomas Waugh in the Lobby Bar & Garden as well as at ground-floor bistro Dirty French. Read expert review From £181per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
The Mercer
New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
This landmark structure was built in 1890 for John Jacob Astor II and later became artist lofts and studios. Which is what it is today in a sense: a home-from-home for international creatives. A sleek library lined with coffee-table books serves as a communal living room, and bi-level Mercer Kitchen, with its towering windows looking out onto cobbled streets, is in effect the dining room. This is loft living for the fashion set. SoHo essentially pioneered urban loft living in the 70s and 80s, and the rooms here – 75 over six floors – fit that aesthetic: high ceilings, hard-wood floors, marble bathrooms and large windows that let in a lot of light. Read expert review From £402per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Soho Grand Hotel
New York, United States
9Telegraph expert rating
Soho Grand merges old world charm with contemporary-industrial SoHo style that channels the grandeur of New York’s 1870s Gilded Age and the loft living artistry of the 1970s. This aesthetic is most evident in the gorgeous Salon lobby area on the mezzanine level: all towering columns, velvet drapes, bare brick walls and soaring vaulted ceilings. The guest rooms meanwhile have a classical European elegance: walls are decorated with black-and-white Howard Greenberg Gallery photographs that celebrate 1940s and ‘50s New York and the bathroom wallpaper is decorated with drawings of legendary New Yorker cartoonist and illustrator, Saul Steinberg. The happening nightlife in the Grand Bar & Lounge and Club Room recalls Jazz Age New York. Read expert review From £150per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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BROOKLYN
Hipper, edgier and more relaxed than Manhattan, Brooklyn may have lost a little of its grit in recent years, but it’s also gained some serious glamour – an outpost of SoHo House is set to open in summer 2018 in Dumbo (standing for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass). There are now restaurants to rival anything the island has to offer – notably Celestine and Vinegar Hill House in Dumbo, Battersby in Cobble Hill and St Anselm in Williamsburg – and, finally, a steadily-growing selection of top-end hotels too.
Where to stay
Wythe Hotel
Brooklyn, New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
The Wythe is in the hipster enclave of Williamsburg, surrounded by bars, restaurants and clubs. It caters to the creative crowd with spacious, light-filled rooms; Reynard, a restaurant to rival anything found in Manhattan; and The Ides, a sixth-floor bar with stunning views across the East River. Housed in a former cooperage dating from 1901, the eight-storey hotel retains an industrial feel, with exposed brick, pine beams and polished concrete floors. There’s an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, both in the restaurant and the minibars, which stocks Kings County Bourbon and Due North Rum; even the ‘idlewear’ denim robe – in place of a traditional towelling one – is made in Brooklyn. Read expert review From £173per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn, New York, United States
8Telegraph expert rating
Dumbo is now a tourist hotspot, with its wide riverside promenade beside Brooklyn Bridge Park, from which to take in the best views/best selfies of Manhattan. 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge snaffled the very best location in the neighbourhood, and features a rooftop bar whose views are unparalleled, and a pool for hotel guests only. The ethos of the hotel is sustainability – it operates entirely on wind power, and the industrial-chic décor is softened by living walls, indoor trees, and naturally-sourced furnishings. There’s a Bamford spa in the basement, a coffee shop, restaurant and a bar with floor-to-ceiling windows, for when the rooftop isn’t so inviting. Read expert review From £183per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
