Hôtel Plaza Athénée
Upper East Side
COST: $$$$
One of the few independent hotels left in Manhattan, this 149-room bijou is cherished by Europeans (and savvy celebrities) for its intimacy and attentive staff. Set on a quiet, tree-lined street off Madison Avenue, the hotel entry has a hushed, secret-garden ambience; guests check in while seated at an antique French desk, then pass huge granite urns of cascading flowers on their way to the elevators. The rooms are decorated with fanciful elegance—rose-marble bathrooms, Asian-silk bedspreads, gold Paul Garnier wall clocks, color schemes of copper-and-blue or silver-and-green—although there's something undeniably civilized about all those architectural drawings on the walls. In the afternoons, guests can join well-heeled and done-up neighborhood locals for cocktails or afternoon tea in the dusky, leather-floored Bar Seine.
Tip: Have one of the hotel's two Clef d'Or concierges help you get the best out of the neighborhood—with a Central Park picnic basket or a personal shopper at nearby Barneys or Bergdorf Goodman.
Room to Book: No. 1509 or No. 1510, the only (nonsuite) rooms with balconies.
As Featured In...
From Travel + Leisure, Nov 2006
“And when the weather is warm, the Café du Marché, on Rue Cler, sprays a mist of water onto the patio every 10 minutes, and I can have my orange juice and croissant and read my paper and watch people go by for hours....” MORE>>
From the T+L 500
Upper East Side 17-story landmark building on a quiet, town house-lined street.
- Stats:
- 149 rooms; 1 restaurant; 1 bar.
- Competitive Edge:
- Thoughtful service-including the only sit-down guest registration in New York.
- Rooms to Book:
- A Deluxe Suite with a private balcony.
- Don't Miss:
- A white-cranberry Cosmo at the hotel's Bar Seine, a Moroccan-style spot with animal-print fabrics and leather floors.
lastArticle = 11/2006 and lastAward = 01/2008
