New York City

New York is the city of acceleration. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, museums, Broadway, downtown energy and a skyline recognised around the world create a destination where culture, business and ambition meet with unmatched intensity.

New York began as the Dutch trading post of New Amsterdam at the tip of Manhattan, and the 1811 street grid set the shape of the island that followed. Central Park, designed by Olmsted and Vaux, interrupts it with eight hundred acres of meadow and woodland, and Fifth Avenue runs alongside, past the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick and the Guggenheim.

Each neighbourhood holds its own city: the townhouses of the Upper East Side, the theatres of Midtown, the cast-iron lofts of SoHo and Tribeca, the brownstones of the West Village and, across the river, Brooklyn’s own restaurants and waterfront. Few cities concentrate as much art, music, fashion and finance within walking distance.

September to early December is the city at its finest: warm then crisp days, the opening of the opera, ballet and gallery seasons, the US Open tennis at the end of summer and the New York City Marathon in early November. From Thanksgiving to New Year, the Rockefeller Center tree and the Fifth Avenue windows bring the holiday season.

Spring, from April to early June, brings blossom to Central Park and a full cultural calendar. July and August are hot and humid, with the Fourth of July fireworks over the East River and many residents away, which makes restaurants easier to book. January to March is cold, sometimes snowy, and the quietest time for museums.

New York’s defining hotels gather in a few districts. The St. Regis New York has stood on Fifth Avenue since 1904, with The Peninsula New York steps away; The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park faces the park from Central Park South; The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel anchors the Upper East Side; and Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown serves Tribeca and Lower Manhattan.

LVXVRY books The St. Regis and The Ritz-Carlton through Marriott STARS & Luminous and Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown through Four Seasons Preferred Partner — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For The Peninsula and The Carlyle, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay directly, with theatre, museum and restaurant planning.