Best New York hotels: new, boutique and luxury stays in New York City

If you’ve ever wondered what it felt like to have your own Upper East Side pied-à-terre, The Surrey on Madison and 76th is there to fulfil all your glamorous, lady-who-lunches fantasies. A short stroll from Central Park, this historic New York hotel has recently reopened with a fresh new facelift that would rival those sported by many of the residents of the neighbourhood.

The decor in the 70 rooms and 30 suites, designed by Martin Brudnizki, is all about hushed luxury, with layered tones of crème caramel, duck egg blue and dove grey. Frette linen sheets and Antica Farmacista amenities are the icing on the Uptown cake.

Reasons to stay:

• It’s the first New York outpost of Italian-style restaurant Casa Tua, following success in Aspen, Miami and Paris.
• The Surrey Spa features top-of-the-range treatments using Sisley Paris products.
• The original Surrey, built in the 1920s, hosted the likes of JFK and Bette Davis.

If your version of New York is less about low-lit glamour and more about fresh spring flowers and maximalist colour bursts, then The Fifth Avenue Hotel — located on the corner of its namesake and 28th in the heart of Manhattan — is where you’ll want to drop your rainbow-coloured Missoni luggage. Need help getting it to your room? Your private butler, available to each room and suite, is on hand for that.

Reasons to stay

• The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) is footsteps away.
• Art lovers will spend hours wandering the hotel’s extensive collection of modern works, from Alanna Airitam to Pae White.
• Café Carmellini serves a beguiling mix of French and Italian cuisine accented with classic New York savoir-faire.

Much copied but rarely matched, Kit Kemp creates whole worlds within hotel rooms, pairing travel necessities with gleeful vignettes. As founder and creative director of Firmdale hospitality group, Kemp dishes up big helpings of whimsy in all her projects. At Warren Street, she has crafted yet another exuberant, detail-driven wonderland, this time in New York’s Tribeca. 

The group’s third New York property (they also have nine in the UK) opened in February 2024 with its 69 individually designed rooms, suites and residences. One-of-a-kind artworks are layered with upholstery, pin-tucked bed skirts and drapery galore. Take note of the buttercup-yellow lobby or the piping on the velvet roll-back dining chairs at the hotel’s all-day brasserie.

Reasons to stay

• Awarded one Michelin Key.
• 24-hour room service, jetlag or no jetlag.
• The roof terrace is an oasis in the sky overlooking the city.

Artistic and youthful SoHo sensibility is everywhere at this colour-splashed beauty, which opened in September 2024 as part of the Standard International Group. Milanese designer Hannes Peer keeps the look sleek and textural, with a strong emphasis on warm, sunset tones (or rich raspberry in the duplex penthouse). The luxury is all in the details, including Lenys World slippers and Anim linen.

Reasons to stay

• Bloomingdale’s beckons; it’s a five-minute walk away.
• The Otter restaurant serves fresh seafood in a chic indoor-outdoor space.
• A seamless check-in experience adds to the sense that you’re staying in a stylish private home.

The Financial District isn’t somewhere you’d expect to find many glamorous hotels, which is one of the reasons The Wall Street Hotel is such a delicious surprise. Just as enticing are the lush furnishings and other design details when you step inside, including tasteful pearl and oyster flourishes reflective of its owners the Paspaleys, the legendary Australian pearling family. The restaurant, La Marchande, stocks its ice chests full of fresh oysters daily, and has a menu of refined, French-leaning classics.

Reasons to stay:

• The Downtown location makes it easy to dash across the river to explore Brooklyn.
• Grab a cocktail on the rooftop bar and see if you can spot the Beaver Building, which had a starring role in the Keanu Reeves hit John Wick.
• The classic fireplace in the lounge area is a thing of great beauty; salvaged from the former Waldorf Astoria.

Although Manhattanites practically consider Brooklyn to be on another planet, it’s a planet you’ll be very glad to be on once you step inside the legendary Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. The former factory still retains a ton of its gritty charm, not least the views to a vintage exposed-brick Brooklyn sign visible from many of the rooms. The $9 cocktails — plus snacks — at Apero Time in Le Crocodile restaurant are a charmingly cool way to while away a few weekday hours at one of the best New York hotels around.

Reasons to stay:

• Numerous hip restaurants and bars within walking distance, including Four Horsemen and Laser Wolf.
• The duck hotdog at the hotel’s rooftop bar, Bar Blondeau, is a must.
• The staff are super friendly, knowledgeable and brimming with under-the-radar local tips.

The red and white striped awning. The neon signage. The guest list of artists and visionaries — everyone from Patti Smith to Bob Dylan and Madonna. When it comes to a New York hotel that shimmers with glamorous grit and creative chaos (in the best possible way), nothing beats the Chelsea. The storied hotel dates from the late 19th century but reopened in 2022 after a long renovation, and has kept its maximalist-to-the-max energy in the form of Warhol prints and tons of velvet and cherub-flocked ceilings.

Reasons to stay:

• Even the gym is cool, tucked into a pitched-roof former artist’s loft.
• Three dining spaces are packed with character, including the French-American Café Chelsea and the Basque-inflected El Quijote.
• Sipping a Manhattan in the lobby bar is about as New York as it gets.

The name ‘Four Seasons’ guarantees a base level of excellence, but this Four Seasons, at this iconic address (on East 57th between Park Ave and Madison Ave, and moments away from Central Park) is a level of excellence that exceeds almost all others. The IM Pei-designed art deco-style hotel reopened in 2024 after closing for renovations in 2020. Many of the suites in the hotel’s 52 storeys have been refreshed, and the Ty Warner Penthouse (yours for a mere $80,000 US per night) offers unparalleled 360-degree views of the metropolis.

Reasons to stay:

• A new spa is expected to open in 2025.
• Suites have been updated with modern lighting and technology.
• Four Seasons service is legendary, with every guest addressed by name.

Craftmanship and classic elegance are the hallmarks of this Upper East Side grand dame, which first opened her doors in 1927. The hotel’s 74 light-splashed rooms and suites are chic and discreet, and the service feels charmingly personalised without ever feeling overly familiar. The delight at this NYC hotel is in the details: many rooms have their own wood-burning fireplaces and fresh flowers are replaced daily.

Reasons to stay:

• The hotel is famed for its elegant tea service, in collaboration with Dior Maison, served in the iconic Majorelle restaurant.
• The Pembroke Room presents one of the finest weekend brunches in the city.
• Central Park and the shops of Madison Avenue are a short stroll away.

Opened in 1904 by John Jacob Astor IV, The St. Regis has led New York’s luxury hotel scene for longer than anyone can remember. The style here is unapologetically classic: dripping chandeliers, a gilded lobby, fresco ceilings and marble shining from every surface. If you fancy spending the day at nearby Central Park, your personal butler can equip you with a picnic basket.

Reasons to stay:

• Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Judy Garland are some of the many celebrated guests to have stayed here.
• The Bloody Mary cocktail was invented here in 1934.
• The Imperial Suite is famous for its dramatic circular windows, which give guests an unmatched view of Central Park.

On the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, century-old the Crown Building (the original home of the Museum of Modern Art), Aman New York is giving Billionaire’s Row a quiet luxury makeover. The serene sanctuary — Aman’s first urban outpost in the USA — brings refined, zen-like polish to every corner. The spa climbs three floors, each of the 83 suites and 22 residences features 11-foot ceilings and views for days, and amenities scale the top end, with Frette robes and Dyson hair dryers keeping quality levels soaring.

Reasons to stay:

• Rooms are beyond palatial for this part of the world, ranging from 67 square metres to 260 square metres.
• Midtown Manhattan is swathed in luxury shopping, including the shiny shopfronts of Bergdorf Goodman, Chopard, Prada, Gucci and YSL.
• Omakase at Nama, under the guidance of chef Takuma Yonemaru. Then settle in for cocktails at The Jazz Club.