In New York you see the skyline from across the water or from high up, and our four come in both kinds. Two are in Brooklyn, facing Manhattan over the East River; the other two are Manhattan towers, where the view is a matter of height. The Brooklyn pair trade Midtown on foot for the view, though the NYC Ferry, at $4.50 a ride, calls at DUMBO and North Williamsburg.
At all four, the view is sold by room category, and the entry room looks at something else: the streets of DUMBO, a Williamsburg balcony over the neighbourhood, a quiet courtyard, or no promised outlook at all. So book the category with the view in its name, and in Brooklyn ask for a high floor as well. Then choose what you want in the glass: the bridge, the skyline, Midtown from your own chair or Central Park. Three of the four also have a bar upstairs with the view, open to the public.
At the Pier 1 gate of Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is just south of the bridge, about 200 metres from its Brooklyn tower, and it sells its rooms by what the window faces. A Bridge King turns north, and its large sliding window holds that tower and its cables close up, the Manhattan Bridge further back and Manhattan across the river. The Liberty King faces west over the water to the Financial District skyline, and the Harbor 2 Beds looks over the East River.
No room has a balcony; instead, much of the floor-to-ceiling glass slides open behind a guard rail. Upstairs, Harriet's Rooftop on the eleventh floor faces the Lower Manhattan skyline with the bridge alongside, and Harriet's Lounge on the tenth keeps the same view behind glass for when the weather closes the roof. The stairs up to the bridge walkway, on Washington Street, are nine minutes' walk from the door.
The room to book
Bridge King
300 sq ft (27 m²)$580 a night
The same 27 square metres as the Dumbo King, turned north so the sliding window frames the bridge's Brooklyn tower and cables rather than the streets of DUMBO.
The William Vale gives every one of its 183 rooms a private furnished balcony behind floor-to-ceiling glass, and in a neighbourhood of mostly four to six storey buildings, the rooms run from the 11th to the 21st floor. But the tower is a long slab: its long faces see Greenpoint to the north and Williamsburg to the south, and only the narrow west end and the corners next to it look at Manhattan. Those are the rooms with Manhattan View in their name, and from their balconies you look across the river at Midtown, from the Empire State Building to the towers of Hudson Yards and Madison Square.
Space does not buy the view: below the penthouse, the Manhattan View Corner Suite is the only suite turned to the skyline. For the view with a drink, Westlight, the 22nd-floor bar, takes in Manhattan, the East River and Williamsburg, opening at 4pm on weekdays and noon at weekends.
The room to book
Manhattan View Queen with Balcony
240 sq ft (22 m²) plus a 72 sq ft (7 m²) balcony$331 a night
The first category whose balcony, 7 square metres with a bistro table and chair, is turned to Midtown; the entry King with Balcony faces the neighbourhood.
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel is the 1930 Art Deco tower on Madison Avenue at 76th Street, a block from Central Park, and here the park view starts at a suite. Three categories have it: the Central Park Suites on floors 27 to 33, the Empire Suite, a duplex on the 28th and 29th floors, and the Presidential Suite, which takes the whole of the 26th. From the Central Park Suite, floor-to-ceiling glass looks over the park and the Manhattan skyline.
No standard room has the park: every other room and suite looks at the courtyard, Madison Avenue or the city. For the skyline without the park, the Rosewood Suite, on floors 23 to 33, is the lowest-priced way into the tower and looks over Manhattan from high up. And whichever room you book, the park wall at Fifth Avenue is three minutes' walk west.
The room to book
Central Park Suite
1,200 sq ft (111 m²)$6,500 a night
The first category with the park in the window: floor-to-ceiling glass on floors 27 to 33, facing Central Park and the Manhattan skyline, with a large kitchen.
citizenM New York Bowery is the lowest-priced way to a Manhattan view on this list. Every room is the same 14 square metres, with an XL king bed set under a wall-to-wall window, so the window is the room's main event, and the only category sold on what it looks at is the Premium view: a middle to high floor and a panorama over Manhattan, which only a few rooms have. Of our four, it is also the smallest step up from the entry room to the view.
Upstairs, cloudM takes the whole top floor: a bar behind glass walls for cold nights and a terrace outside when it is warm, with the view running from the Financial District up to Midtown and across to Brooklyn. Anyone 21 or over can go up, daily from 1:30pm until 12:30am, and the stairs back down pass the Museum of Street Art, painted floor by floor.
The room to book
Guest room, 1 King, Premium view
150 sq ft (14 m²)$195 a night
The only category sold on its outlook, a panorama over Manhattan from a middle to high floor; the entry and High floor rooms promise no view.
The Plaza sells its views with its suites: the Pulitzer suites, one a floor from the 12th to the 18th, look over Fifth Avenue and the Pulitzer Fountain, and the Carnegie suites take in part of Central Park.
For a night at JFK, TWA Hotel's Historic TWA View rooms face Eero Saarinen's 1962 terminal, and its rooftop infinity pool looks across the taxiways to runway 4L/22R.
From about $225 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about New York City
Which New York hotel rooms look at the Brooklyn Bridge?
At 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, the Bridge King faces north to the bridge from about 200 metres away, its sliding window framing the Brooklyn tower and cables, with the Manhattan Bridge behind. The Bridge Studio Suite adds a living area and a queen sofa bed for up to four, and the Neighboring Bridge Suite & King pairs a bridge-view corner suite with a king room, and has a tub. The Dumbo King and the Park King do not face the bridge, so book a category with Bridge in its name.
Is it worth staying in Brooklyn for the Manhattan skyline?
For the view, yes, as long as you book the room that faces it: a Liberty King or Bridge King at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, a Manhattan View room at The William Vale. The trade is a ride into Manhattan. From 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, High Street station is nine minutes' walk, and the A and C reach Fulton Street in three. From The William Vale, Bedford Avenue is ten minutes away, and the L reaches Union Square in six. The NYC Ferry, $4.50 a ride, calls at DUMBO and North Williamsburg, four and fourteen minutes from the two hotels.
Which hotels near Central Park have park views?
Fewer rooms than you might expect, because the views are sold with the suites. At The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, the park appears only from the Central Park Suites on floors 27 to 33, the Empire Suite and the Presidential Suite; the other rooms face the courtyard, Madison Avenue or the city. At The Plaza, the Carnegie suites take in part of the park, varying by floor, and the living room of the Grand Penthouse looks at it. On a room budget, walk: the park is three minutes from The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel and across the road from The Plaza.
Can you see the skyline from a hotel rooftop bar without booking a view room?
Yes, at three of our four. Harriet's Rooftop, on the eleventh floor of 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, faces the Lower Manhattan skyline with the bridge alongside, from noon Monday to Thursday and 11am from Friday, weather permitting. Westlight, on the 22nd floor of The William Vale, looks over Manhattan and the East River from 4pm on weekdays and noon at weekends. cloudM, on the top floor of citizenM New York Bowery, looks from the Financial District to Midtown from 1:30pm to 12:30am, for anyone 21 or over. All three are open to the public, so book a table for sunset.
Do any New York hotels have balconies with a skyline view?
The William Vale does: every one of its 183 rooms has a private furnished balcony, and in the Manhattan View Queen and the Manhattan View King that balcony, about 7 square metres, faces Midtown. The Manhattan View Corner Suite has a 29 square metre wraparound balcony on the corner. Elsewhere on this list the view comes through glass: at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge no room has a balcony, but the sliding windows of its view rooms open behind a guard rail onto the bridge or the river.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The view
