Mandarin Oriental, New York

Rooms and decor

Picture taking the elevator from the ground-floor lobby, shooting up past floor 35, and the doors opening onto the whole of New York under your feet — that is what makes Mandarin Oriental, New York different from anywhere else. The hotel occupies floors 35 to 54 of the Deutsche Bank Center (formerly the Time Warner Center) at Columbus Circle and has been open since 2003. The roughly 244 rooms and suites start at about 480 sq ft, clearly larger than the typical hotel in the middle of Manhattan. The best part is the big floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto a panorama — rooms on the Central Park side look down on the full green of the park set against the towers around it, while rooms on the west side catch the Hudson River stretching out with the sunset. The decor is the restrained Asian-meets-Western luxury the brand is known for, with good fabrics and furniture, a roomy marble bathroom, and a bed so comfortable that several reviews say they slept unusually well. Open the curtains in the morning and the park or the skyline fills the window — that is what people travel a long way for.

Food and amenities

Beyond the view from the room, the heart of a stay here is the shared space high up in the building. The highlight everyone mentions is the 75-foot indoor pool under a glass roof that lets natural light pour down and opens onto the city, so you swim and watch the Manhattan skyline in a way that is hard to find elsewhere. Next to it is the well-known Mandarin Spa, around 14,500 sq ft, with several treatment rooms, a relaxation area and Asian-style treatments that reviews rate as one of the best hotel spas in the city, plus a gym with a city view. For food and drink, the hotel has an upper-floor restaurant and bar that open fully onto Central Park and the skyline — a morning coffee or an evening cocktail with the park and the tower lights as the backdrop is one of the most romantic and most talked-about corners of the hotel. What really wins people over is the service at Mandarin Oriental standard; many reviews agree the staff are polished, attentive and remember guest details well enough to make you feel genuinely looked after.

Location and getting there

The location lands the way Central Park lovers want. The hotel sits at Columbus Circle, right on the southwest corner of Central Park — walk out of the building, cross the circle, and you are at the edge of the park in about 2 minutes, which makes a morning run, a bike ride or a stroll under the trees easy. For the subway, the 59 St-Columbus Circle station, which gathers lines A, B, C, D and 1, sits right under the building, so you can hop on the metro to other parts of the city in minutes — down to Times Square, Midtown or Downtown, or up to Uptown, with barely any need for a taxi. Especially handy is the covered passage straight into the Shops at Columbus Circle, with restaurants, shops and a Whole Foods supermarket, so you skip the sun, rain or snow, which is a lifesaver in winter. Nearby, Lincoln Center, the home of opera and ballet, is within walking distance. In short, if you want to wake up and run in Central Park, shop and eat in the mall under the building, then take the metro anywhere else with ease, this location scores a full ten.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. The first unavoidable point is the price, which runs high to match the luxury tier and the city's top-tier views, and like New York luxury hotels generally, the amount you actually pay usually adds a meaningful service charge and tax, along with various extras that can creep in — check the all-in total when you book so there are no surprises. And if the view is what you came for, make sure the room you book really faces Central Park or the Hudson, because some of the cheapest rooms do not open onto a full park view the way you might hope. The second point is design: the hotel has been open since 2003, and the room tone is a restrained classic luxury that is genuinely handsome, but some reviews that expect bolder, modern flash may feel it looks a touch plain for the price — if you love a sleek modern style, weigh that. The third point is location: while Columbus Circle is very convenient, right on the park with a metro under the building, it is on the west edge of Central Park, not in the heart of Midtown or within an instant walk of the Fifth Avenue shopping district. If your plans center on that area, you may need to take the metro or walk a bit farther.

Our take

From working through the real reviews, Mandarin Oriental, New York sells "city views from high floors, a top-tier pool and spa, and a location right on Central Park" so fully that it becomes its own signature. If the trip in your head is opening the curtains to the full green of Central Park or the Manhattan skyline filling the window, going down to swim in the 75-foot pool under glass that looks out on the city, then closing the day with a sunset cocktail at the upper-floor bar, this is about as well-matched as it gets — ideal for couples who want a romantic stay above the city, luxury travelers who value the view and spa, and anyone who wants to be right on Central Park with the metro under the building. But if your budget is tight, you are after a bold modern design, or you want to plant yourself in the middle of Midtown within a walk of Fifth Avenue, the high price and park-edge location may give you pause. Overall we give it 9.0/10, best for couples and luxury travelers who want to wake up to a full view of New York with a first-class pool and spa right on Central Park.