Downtown suits couples better than Midtown
SoHo, the West Village, Tribeca and the Lower East Side have the restaurants, the walkable streets and the smaller hotels. Midtown is built for convenience and conferences. If it is not your first trip and you do not need to be beside the theatres, head south.
Small hotels, small rooms
Most of the hotels here occupy converted pre-war buildings, so rooms are compact even at high rates. That is the trade for staying somewhere with genuine character rather than in a 700-room tower.
Book the restaurant when you book the room
Several of these hotels have restaurants that are destinations in their own right, and staying upstairs does not guarantee a table. Reserve at the same time as the room.
The shortlist
Hotels that fit, and why.
Crosby Street Hotel
Firmdale's first American hotel on a cobbled SoHo lane, with a sculpture garden and individually designed rooms. The obvious pick if you know the London Firmdale hotels.
- Subway
- Prince St, Spring St and Broadway-Lafayette St
The Mercer
73 rooms in an 1890 building in the middle of SoHo, and the hotel that set the template for downtown discretion.
- Subway
- Prince St and Broadway-Lafayette St
The Greenwich Hotel
88 individually designed rooms in Tribeca, with a spa built inside a reconstructed 250-year-old Japanese farmhouse.
- Subway
- Franklin St on the 1, and Canal St
Nine Orchard
A restored 1912 Beaux-Arts bank on the Lower East Side, with a vaulted banking hall and the neighbourhood's best restaurants outside.
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- East Broadway, Grand St and Delancey St-Essex St
The Marlton Hotel
A Greenwich Village literary address where Jack Kerouac wrote two books, done up in a postwar Paris idiom and better value than most downtown boutiques.
- Subway
- 8 St-NYU, and W 4 St-Washington Sq
Library Hotel by Library Hotel Collection
60 rooms organised by the Dewey Decimal system near Bryant Park, quiet and central, with breakfast and an evening reception included.
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- Grand Central-42 St and 42 St-Bryant Park
11 Howard
Space Copenhagen interiors on the SoHo and Chinatown border, with Le Coucou downstairs.
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- Canal St and Spring St
The Ludlow Hotel
Sean MacPherson's Lower East Side hotel with Dirty French on the ground floor. Loud at weekends, which is either the point or the problem.
- Subway
- Second Av on the F, and Delancey St-Essex St
Fast answers
Questions UK travellers ask.
Where should couples stay in New York for the first time?
NoMad or Greenwich Village give you central access with a real neighbourhood feel, which suits couples better than Times Square. If you are seeing several shows, stay just off the theatre blocks rather than on them.
Are boutique hotel rooms too small for a week?
Some are. Downtown boutiques in converted buildings often run to 200 to 300 square feet. For a week, look at the Langham, the Kimberly or a Brooklyn hotel where space costs less.
Which New York hotels are most romantic?
The Greenwich in Tribeca for the spa and the privacy, Crosby Street for the design, and Nine Orchard for the building. All three are quiet, small and downtown.
Sources and update notes
Last updated: 17 August 2026. Hotel rates, fees, rules and transport details can change.