Globalista

We’re guessing you already know New York - a city with a pulse that is all its own. This guide is meant to serve as a reminder of the best that is out there and, we hope, as an inspiration to branch out and try something new. Because when it comes to New York, the cultural capital of the USA, the scene is ever changing. Use our guide as a compass to steer your way. From deciding the best hotel to stay at to the unmissable supper spots, we’ve got them completely covered. We can tell you a top tip for getting reservations when a restaurant seems to be fully booked, recommend super secret bars and reveal where to find the most heavenly pampering treats in the city, from a beautician and hairdresser to a spa. Finally, we’ve got classic culture for first timers and hidden gems that even the most regular visitor might not have discovered.

You can preview the Best Hotels featured in our Globalista Report below. Or buy the full Globalista Report for this destination, available at the bottom of the page.

The Grande Dames

A soaring, sleek, marble temple of power, the Four Seasons New York always vies for the title of best in New York. The service is legendary, including particularly well-connected concierges, and the top of the line suite, the 4300 square foot Ty Warner penthouse is quintessential glamour with 25 foot tall floor to ceiling windows providing 360 degree views of the city from 52 floors up. At $30,000 a night, it’s also the most expensive in town. Further down from this pinnacle, though, rooms can vary in freshness and view, try to get anything recently redone (ideally the residential-in-feel ones by society designer Peter Marino) and on one of the top 15 floors to see over the buildings in front.

The Mandarin Oriental, New York is usually the chief competition for best in town, with elegant, silk filled Asian design rooms, a serene spa, glassed in swimming pool with views of the Hudson River, and a lobby lounge with views of Central Park. When the hotel opened, self promoting real estate developer Donald Trump placed a banner on the side of his hotel in front proclaiming that it had the real Central Park view. Unfortunately, if you’re in the northern facing part of the hotel, he’s right; his building blocks out most of your view. The other side, which also houses the lobby lounge, is the one to get.

The St. Regis, New York, located in a Beaux Arts beauty built by John Jacob Astor IV, is old world in the best sense - silk wall coverings and crown moldings, crystal chandeliers and antiques, butlers in formal dress. The rooms and suites are traditional and Edwardian but bursts of creativity break out in the theme suites such as the Oriental or popular Bottega Veneta, the latter designed by the company in earth tones with suede and their trademark braided leather.

The Carlyle is an Upper East Side institution, renowned for its dignity and its discretion, the reason so many politicians and celebrities check in behind its protective wall. Many of the 187 rooms, some of which recently got a much needed redo by noted designers Thierry Despont and Alexandra Champalimaud, overlook Central Park; several of the suites also have baby grand pianos and a new art-deco style spa Rosewood spa opened at the end of 2008. Most of the music takes place downstairs, though, in the suave Bemelmans Bar and Café Carlyle, home to Woody Allen’s jazz group on Monday nights when he’s in town and other cabaret greats such as Ute Lemper.

The new, real estate developer owners of The Plaza were hoping to recreate the pedigree of this once venerable hotel when they spent three years and $400 million renovating it (but losing its Central Park views when they lopped that side of the building off for condos.) The furnishings are lush and Louis XV but the general opinion among locals is that the result is gaudy and soulless. The central Palm Court, site of many childhood memories and grand afternoon teas, was also given a drab renovation and ill conceived menu and closed but is expected at some point to reopen. The baroque, Gilded Age Oak Room got such a critical drubbing that the noted French chef was pushed out after a few months and replaced in March for another try. The best part of the hotel may well be the soigné Caudalie spa (see below.)

The Pierre, now owned by the Taj Hotel Group in India, reopened in June after a more restrained, tasteful renovation with all of its marble buffed and sleek Deco-inspired furniture, particularly in a new stylish bar. Upstairs, the style is refreshed but traditional; it shouldn’t shock any of its longtime fans. The Peninsula is in the midst of a major renovation, with handsome, sophisticated room designs in pale palettes of grey and blue replacing the current ten year old decor; try to get one of the new rooms. Added to the beautiful and very Asian in feel renovated spa and the rooftop lounge, Salon de Ning, meant to recreate the glamour of 1930’s Shanghai, this is now a very sharp place to stay.

Best of the Rest - Uptown Classics

Central Park views, cosseting service, plush, spacious rooms, a full scale La Prairie spa and one of the BLT restaurants of star chef Laurent Tourondel in house are the selling points for the Ritz Carlton, New York  in Central Park. Maximum privacy (a tiny lobby with no place for public onlookers to gather), intimacy (47 suites and 25 rooms) and a residential feel make The Lowell a favourite for those who want to drop out of sight but do so in a pedigreed setting - filled with antiques, 18th and 19th century prints and with wood burning fireplaces in 33 of the suites, a rarity in New York. Try to get the Garden Suite, recently given a fresh, stylish redo by famed designer Michael Smith, who was chosen by the Obamas to redecorate the family quarters at the White House. The Plaza Athenee specialises in cosy, residential pied a terre suites, currently in the midst of a floor by floor renovation, and privacy on a quiet Upper East Side street. Known for its duplex penthouses and several rooms with solariums and terraces.

For more quality travel information on this destination, simply buy the full Globalista Report (£15) below:

Globalista’s Pick of the Press

27 June 2009 - The Times - The complete Gay Guide to New York
09 May 2009 - The Financial Times - New York's sculpture park
25 April 2009 - The Guardian - A sneak preview of Manhattan's new High Line Park
10 April 2009 - The Telegraph - Sky high urban jungle
08 April 2009 - The Teleraph - New York: Still Sweet to the Core
 

See the full archive of travel press articles for New York.

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