11 Best places to stay in New York City

Tucked on a narrow, cobbled street moments from heaving lower Broadway and SoHo shopping, yet worlds away, this is a proverbial ‘hidden gem’.

It’s an arty, luxury hotel that oozes personality and attentiveness, with precious open-air spaces within, sprinklings of contemporary art pieces and vibrant décor to refresh tired schleppers. Rooms focus on sumptuous furniture and colourful details that make them simultaneously comfortable and invigorating, with views over the low-rise, post-industrial downtown architecture.

It’s close to the action, yet secluded from all the crazy, and walking distance to New York’s funkiest neighbourhoods, and many top attractions.

Towering over Columbus Circle at the south-west corner of Central Park, where midtown joins the Upper West Side, this grand hotel offers park views and excellent access to theatre, central park and Fifth Avenue shopping.

Typical of Mandarin Oriental properties, it basks in its luxurious, if mildly conservative, atmosphere, and offers its traditional, faultless brand of Asian-inspired design and faultless service. There’s a big indoor swimming pool and huge gym with amazing views, and a destination lounge for afternoon tea overlooking Central Park.

As good as Manhattan five stars get, and in the perfect location – walking distance to New York’s top attractions.

One of the world’s most famous and luxurious hotels, The Plaza is a New York legend, sitting at perhaps the city’s most prestigious corner – where Fifth Avenue meets Central Park.

This giant, castle-like Beaux Arts edifice underwent a $500 million renovation in 2005 which restored its fading grandeur to its original 1907 splendour. There’s an ever-present old-school sense of occasion and fine tradition, and rooms to make you feel like royalty.

The hotel’s Palm Court for afternoon tea, basement-level Todd English Food Court, and Rose Club champagne bar, are all superb places to eat, drink and people-watch.

The location in unrivalled for New York’s top attractions – Central Park is across the road, and the big art museums, Broadway and the Museum of Natural History are all close by. It’s also on 5th Avenue opposite famous department stores for a spot of upscale shopping.

It’s ridiculously expensive and grand, but an institution traditionalists will be proud to splash out on.

One of the best bargains in a city notorious for expensive hotel rates and gloomy, cramped rooms.

Rooms here are tiny – hence the name ‘Pod’ – but fun, sunlit, efficient, comfortable, incredible value – and with an ingenious jigsaw of furniture that somehow gives you everything you need. Funky public spaces with fabulous art make this a surprisingly pleasant little bolt-hole.

Best of all is its location. Slap bang in the centre of Midtown, it’s close to New York’s cultural highlights – Museum Mile, Central Park, Broadway and the major performing arts venues.

Great for a first visit and sightseeing, when all you really need is a cosy place to bed down for the night.

Dream Downtown is one of the hottest hotels in town, always in the gossip pages for hosting celebrity bashes. With its distinctive architecture, swimming pool over the lobby and party scene it’s the height of cool for some, pretentious for others.

There are superb city views from roof-level bar. with outside patio seating. The outdoor pool and loungers are a Godsend in the summer heat.

If you want a good central location and plenty of buzz, it’s close to New York’s hippest and most happening neighbourhoods, while trendy Chelsea hosts a plethora of great restaurants and bars.

This fashionable, funky and good value hotel overlooks Midtown’s delightful mini-oasis, Bryant Park, and the splendid New York Public Library, one of New York’s most beautiful buildings.

Many, generally spacious, rooms have fine, open city and Skyscraper views depending on your room type. Below the 15th floor at the back, standard rooms only see walls of adjacent buildings. Above the 15th floor, rooms have views of the Empire State. Front rooms offer park views.

A safe, even genius, pick if you want to be close to the main attractions – notably Fifth Avenue shopping, Empire State, Broadway and Times Square – yet far enough away from the dark, dirty, noisy streets that characterise much of the rest of Midtown.

The original New York ‘loft-living’ hotel is a cool and sophisticated perch in the heart of trendy SoHo, where A-listers roam not only the streets but The Mercer’s lobby, restaurant and nightclub, too.

Famed for its discretion, elegance and under-stated luxurious comfort in a classic SoHo heritage building, it’s still the leader of the upscale design hotel pack. A pricey but precious experience, for New York first-timers and old-hands returning time and again.

There’s no gym, pool or no green spaces nearby – so not for those who want to come back and relax in typical hotel creature comfort. It’s one for shoppers, foodies and partiers who love being in the heart of the SoHo buzz.

Still one of the most happening places in the city, and groundbreaking when it opened on The Bowery in 2007, this is a crowd-drawing boutique hotel with a hot lobby lounge bar and event scene.

The restaurant is a lovely indoor/outdoor space that hums with residents and locals every night. By contrast, the rooftop-view rooms are light, airy, with simple, relaxing luxury furnishings.

It’s superbly situated between all the most exciting downtown neighbourhoods; the Pivotal location abuts the East Village, Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, NoHo and NoLita.

It’s ideal for a first visit, and especially those wanting to be in the thick of the funkiest action.

For those seeking a more refined, cultured New York experience, the elegant Peninsula stands out for its sense of tradition and prime location – perfectly placed for New York’s finest shopping and major museums, and steps away from strolls through the best part of Central Park.

Indeed, this is the luxury hotel that has it all – but with a touch less pomp and price than some of its stuffier neighbours.

Rooms are spacious and light, with sumptuous furnishings, and it arguably has the city’s best combination of spa, pool, gym, sundeck and roof bar for post sightseeing relaxation and rejuvenation. And whether it’s afternoon tea, Sunday Champagne brunch or snacks on the roof, light meals here are a real occasion.

An eclectic, discreet, luxurious sanctuary where guests swap frenetic Manhattan streets for a haven of vintage charm in uber-trendy Tribeca.

Owner Robert DeNiro has created the kind of (ridiculously expensive) oasis where harrassed celebrities and urbane ladies and gentlemen feel cocooned and subtly pampered. The exquisite interiors and intimate atmosphere make it feel like a private club.

All 88 rooms are decorated differently and beautifully, while the guests-only drawing room and courtyard are timeless and priceless. There’s a wonderful basement pool, with reclaimed Japanese wood beams and moody lighting, and a huge gym designed by DeNiro’s personal trainer.

Gorgeous and utterly escapist – but you pay for it.

This spectacular, designer luxury hotel combines striking architecture, amazing city and river views and the hottest social scene in the city.

Built literally straddling the High Line, New York’s famous elevated railtrack park, this Le Corbusier–style, glass-slab building presides over the ever-trendy Meatpacking District, home to the sexiest nightlife and the cafes to be seen in. It couldn’t be in a cooler location.

The somewhat unwelcoming stone and glass exterior belies the slick décor and to-die-for views from floor-to-ceiling windows inside that give a huge wow factor.

The top-floor bar is one of the hottest cocktail spots in town, buzzing with the young, beautiful and affluent – and occasional celebrity.

There’s no pool, but guests are offered free passes to the rooftop pool at Soho House five minutes’ walk away – another uber-trendy scene.

It’s a ‘downtown’ location, close to the Statue of Liberty and less central than other hotels, but nothing in Manhattan is that far on the subway or by cab.