The Best New York Hotels
- Nick, Editor
- Oct 29
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 5
Our top five luxury 5-Star hotels in New York
Article summary>>
In this article, we take a look at our top five recommended luxury 5-Star hotels in New York. We also list some of the best tours & activities available in the City.
Casa Cipriani
The Surrey
Four Seasons Downtown
Ritz Carlton Central Park
Baccarat
Casa Cipriani.
Some hotels deliver a room; Casa Cipriani provides a world. Set within the landmark Battery Maritime Building at the southern tip of Manhattan, this members' hotel feels like a glamorous ocean liner moored on New York Harbour, with Beaux-Arts bones, lacquered woods, brass railings, marble underfoot, and windows that frame the Statue of Liberty like a living postcard.
Bedrooms are serenely nautical: panelled walls, cloud-soft beds, Italian linens, and marble bathrooms; many open onto private harbour-facing terraces where sunrise feels like a private screening. The club’s dining rooms and bars supply the full Cipriani ritual, Bellinis, silver service, and classics done with effortless flourish, while a jazz-lit lounge and salon spaces turn evenings into a low-lit swoon. A compact spa and fitness suite keeps the tempo balanced; treatments are tailored, the steam and sauna are restorative, and the gym is quietly excellent.
The vibe is golden-age glamour with New York insouciance, discreet, polished, a little cinematic. You’ll see fashion folk drifting from martinis to midnight music, finance and film sharing the terrace breeze, couples claiming corner banquettes that seem to remember them.
Location is a statement: at the city’s prow, steps to Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry, and boats for Governors Island; a short hop to FiDi, the Seaport, and Tribeca, then back to a harbour sanctuary that feels deliciously apart from the city’s roar.
The Surrey.
Some New York hotels love attention; The Surrey specialises in discretion. Tucked just off Madison Avenue on East 76th Street, this Upper East Side grande dame feels like a chic townhouse with better art, shushed corridors, tailored upholstery, marble underfoot, and staff who greet you as if you’ve lived here forever.
Rooms are serenely residential: pale palettes, cloud-soft beds dressed in crisp Italian linens, and handsome wardrobes that swallow a week’s worth of city outfits. Bathrooms gleam in white stone with deep soaking tubs and walk-in showers; window seats frame treetop glimpses of Central Park. Suites add separate salons for nightcaps and room-service breakfasts that stretch into late morning.
Amenities are intimate rather than ostentatious. A rooftop garden (in season) perches above the brownstones for aperitivi at golden hour; the fitness studio is compact but smartly equipped; treatment rooms offer restorative facials and massages that reset a travel-tired week. Downstairs, a velvet-lined bar mixes classic martinis and quietly glamorous nightcaps; the dining room leans market-fresh and Midtown-adjacent, perfect before curtain time or after museum days.
The vibe is Upper East Side polished: art-world appointments, impeccably dressed couples, solo travellers reading by lamplight. And the location is a dream, half a block to Central Park, moments to the Met and Frick, with Madison Avenue’s boutiques at the doorstep and Midtown’s theatres a swift ride away.
Four Seasons Downtown.
Some New York stays feel like statements; Four Seasons Downtown feels like composure. Rising within Robert A.M. Stern’s limestone tower at 30 Park Place, it sets a quietly glamorous tone, with marble, muted palettes, light catching on tailored textures, steps from the Oculus and the memorial pools.
Rooms are sanctuaries above the fray: floor-to-ceiling windows, cloud-soft beds, generous wardrobes, and marble bathrooms with soaking tubs and walk-in showers that actually behave. Corner suites angle toward the Hudson or the skyline’s sculptural geometry; blackout drapes and near-soundproof hush deliver the rarest luxury: deep sleep.
Amenities are city-best. A serene spa and 75-foot lap pool lower the downtown volume; the fitness studio is bright, spacious, and trainer-approved. Lobby-level dining leans polished and seasonal, perfect for power breakfasts and late, languid suppers, while the bar does pitch-perfect classics for a nightcap before the elevator ride home. House cars, thoughtful kids’ perks, and a concierge team that opens impossible doors round out the ease.
The vibe is discreet, tailored, and deftly hospitable: finance and creative worlds cross paths without performance, staff anticipate without hovering. And the location is a gift, on the seam of Tribeca and the Financial District: minutes to the riverfront at Brookfield Place, cobblestoned galleries and restaurants, the Seaport, and express subways to everywhere else, calm at the centre of the city’s hum.
Ritz Carlton, Central Park.
Some hotels borrow the view; The Ritz-Carlton Central Park seems built for it. Set on Central Park South, the hotel frames the treetops like a private landscape painting, with bay windows, window seats, and that soft hush you only get above the carriage route. Inside, the mood is classic Midtown glamour refreshed: tailored textiles, lacquered wood, fresh flowers.
Rooms feel serenely residential, with cloud-soft beds, generous wardrobes, marble bathrooms with deep tubs and walk-in showers, while park-facing suites turn sunrise into a daily event.
Downstairs, the lounge-bar does polished, all-day New York, elegant breakfasts, composed salads, a proper martini at dusk, while in-room dining arrives with quiet ceremony. The spa and relaxation areas lower the city’s volume; the fitness studio is bright and well-equipped. Guests seeking a heightened cocoon book the Club Lounge, a living-room perch with continuous culinary presentations and a concierge who somehow reads your day.
The vibe is discreet, grown-up, and cosmopolitan: museum-goers in weekend cashmere, business travellers exhaling between meetings, couples orbiting the park at golden hour. Service is signature Ritz-Carlton, anticipatory, unflappable, and kindly precise.
And the location is the postcard: steps to Fifth Avenue shopping, Bergdorf Goodman, Carnegie Hall, and a stroll to MoMA or Lincoln Centre, Manhattan’s cultural axis at your door, with the park as your front garden.
Baccarat Hotel.
Baccarat: Steps from MoMA on 53rd Street, this crystalline temple to French craft feels like slipping inside a jewel box, with pleated silks, lacquered wood, and the gleam of thousands of hand-cut pieces catching New York’s light.
Rooms are couture-tailored: ivory palettes, high-gloss accents, cloud-soft beds in tufted alcoves, and marble bathrooms with walk-in showers and soaking tubs that turn steam into theatre. A red crystal rests by the bed like a calling card from Paris.
Amenities are suitably opulent. The Spa de La Mer cocoons in pearlescent calm; a mood-lit indoor pool mirrors the chandeliers above; the fitness salon is compact, sleek, and trainer-approved. Downstairs, the Grand Salon stages all-day dining under cascades of crystal, truffled eggs at breakfast, tartines and salads at noon, Champagne and caviar at dusk, while the Bar glows like a midnight secret, cocktails served in gleaming stemware that makes every sip feel ceremonial. Afternoon tea arrives with Parisian poise; in-room dining is swift and silver-trayed.
The vibe is high-gloss and hushed, museum-goers, fashion editors, discreet celebrants, held by service that’s polished, anticipatory, and warm behind the crystal. One of the best New York hotels.
Location is a clincher: Midtown’s cultural axis at your feet, MoMA, Fifth Avenue, Central Park, Carnegie Hall, then back to a sanctuary that refracts the city into a softer, more sparkling key.
The best New York hotels (USA) Review 2025
All hotels & resorts on The Five Star Edit are independently selected by our editors. However, as an affiliate partner, we may earn small commissions when you complete a booking made through our links. This is paid to us by the advertiser, not by you and does not affect the price of your booking in any way.
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