As one of those Manhattan neighborhoods you have heard of but never visited, Chelsea should be high up on the list of New York City areas to get to know. In fact, Chelsea is so charming, with tree-lined streets and hundreds of historic brownstones that you may just want to stay in the ‘hood’.
No matter what hotel listed is to your liking, you will surely spend time at the former National Biscuit Company building, since 1997 the home of Chelsea Market (9th-10th Ave., 15th-16th St.). Constructed in 1890, the building houses 60+ retail shops plus a diverse assortment of places to grab a bite or have a beverage. The people watching here is also top-notch!
Popular with the young artistic crowd, you will be in awe with the number of independent art galleries, trendsetting restaurants, and boutiques selling clothing, art, and other items to take home that you just cannot find anywhere else. By choosing Chelsea as your base, a smallish neighborhood bordered by 34th St. on the north, 6th Ave. to the east, 14th St. on the south, and the Hudson River to the west, you will quickly be immersed in a thriving cultural mecca neatly tucked away on Manhattan’s west side.
Here are a few of our favorite Chelsea hotels. You will not find any of the big name U.S. chains listed here, though some properties are associated with hotel groups headquartered overseas.
Selina Hotels is an international brand with just six U.S. locations but 100 more in Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Israel, and Australia. Selina Chelsea caters to a varied crowd of travelers inviting guests to stay for a while for leisure, business, or a combination of the two for working nomads. Accommodations are designed with co-working, wellness, recreation and exploring the local community as primary goals of its guests. They especially appeal to what Selina calls “the nomadic traveler”, though it is difficult being one in New York City. The hotel is a perfect place for networking and working remotely.
Stepping inside from energetic Manhattan you will find a ten-story hotel with 60 rooms, a private garden and HOWM Restaurant, which is open all day for breakfast, brunch, and beverages. HOWM also offers a library, art gallery, and comfortable patio.
Creatures Rooftop serves coastal cuisine Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings while providing amazing views of Manhattan and the Empire State Building. Live music adds to the energetic vibe.
Guest rooms come in two flavors: compact or premium, both with a private bathroom, Wi-Fi, and plenty of sockets. The compact is best suited for solo travelers or couples who view their room as a place to sleep and call home. Premium rooms are larger with a wardrobe, queen, or king-sized bed. All accommodations are basic and functional without having to pay for premium surroundings.
Selina Cowork offers fee-based access to in-house efficient workspaces that come with free Wi-Fi, endless coffee, phone booths for private conversations, and the opportunity to meet other digital nomads while away from home.
Spending a few nights in a mid-19th century building that is a Federal Historic Landmark previously known as the General Theological Seminary allows guests to slow down and imagine old time New York City. At The High Line Hotel, named for the nearby elevated park and greenway built along what was once an elevated railroad route, which is exactly what you will be doing. In fact, during the 17th century, the hotel’s courtyard was an apple orchard. Today, it has been transformed into Parisian-style gardens with gas lamps that suggest an earlier, less frenzied period.
To say there is no other hotel quite like it is a major understatement. The High Line’s gated courtyard is reminiscent of Paris, including lovely gardens and gas lamps that suggest a step back in time. The gothic-style buildings speak of a time long ago, but you will find tasteful modern design within. With the exceedingly popular High Line just 50 yards to the west, we cannot think of a better spot to book a room.
Guests rave about this gem of a hotel that feels more like coming home than to a hotel in a large city. The sixty rooms are oversized with plenty of natural light coming through the large windows. Feeling more like a guest house than a hotel, there is a peaceful ambiance throughout.
On the northern edge of Chelsea in the Manhattan West development that includes Hudson Yards, the new Pendry Manhattan West Hotel is an eye-catching building even for New Yorkers. The 23-story tower features 134 guestrooms plus 30 suites that target visitors seeking luxurious accommodations close to Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, and the entire west side of Manhattan.
Aware that wellness is important to the clientele that prefer hotels in the Pendry’s upscale category, the hotel offers a 1,700-square-foot fitness center that never closes. State-of-the-art exercise equipment and Peloton bikes ensure that guests can maintain their fitness schedule while away from home.
When the weather cooperates, the High Line city park and greenway is just up the street. The mile-and-a-half-long elevated trail that was once utilized by the New York Central Railroad has recently been lengthened and includes beautiful landscaping, benches, and sculptures.
The Pendry offers four unique food and beverage options including a 4th floor bar with adjacent terrace. Additionally, an endless array of restaurants in Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and Midtown West are within reasonable walking distance.
New York City is unique in so many ways, and that includes The Maritime Hotel, a 12-story superior first-class property offering 126 nautically styled guestrooms. Or cabins if you prefer. Room windows resemble five-foot portholes offering views of the nearby Hudson River. With a color scheme of blue and white with teak-paneled walls, well, you get the idea. It is a cruise cabin minus the cruise.
Before becoming a hotel in 2003, the building was the headquarters for the National Maritime Union since 1968. The exterior walls are white-tiled, maintaining the seafaring theme, and still today it is considered “the modern, cool hub of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District/West Chelsea neighborhood.” Its location amid New York’s fashion and art industries makes it exceedingly popular with local and visiting creatives business stays, dining, and evening beverages.
Beneath The Maritime is the multi-level Pan-Asian restaurant, TAO Downtown. The sprawling establishment features a 300-seat dining room, numerous bars, plus a lounge. Being below street level, TAO is designed to look and feel like it was recently unearthed, with ancient artifacts being found. You will love the 24-hand Quan Yin Budda sitting on a koi pond as a central feature of the dining room. TAO Downtown is a site to behold. Check it out!
In the heart of Chelsea, the Hotel Hayden is a comfortable hi-rise boutique property that is also pet-friendly. Also, within easy walking distance of NoMad’s sophisticated urban vibe and the trendy Fashion District, the former Hotel Indigo Chelsea is convenient for tourists who plan to visit Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building or Chelsea Market.
The Hayden’s 122 contemporary rooms are stylish with complimentary Wi-Fi, coffee, and tea. Hotel amenities include a 24/7 Fitness Studio and Business Center. If Chelsea is where you want to be and location is paramount, this may just be the place for you. The surrounding neighborhood is filled with an amazing array of restaurants, art galleries, and boutiques. Plus, people watching Chelsea is beyond compare.
The Equinox Hotel New York exudes ultimate luxury for those seeking a more relaxed approach to high-end living. This is the place for you to re-charge away from the heart of the New York City action, but able to re-enter the excitement and energy of the city at a moment’s notice.
This amazing five-star hotel has been designed to make their guests’ needs the central focus. They offer a branded sleep system that will help you wind down and wake up, feeling totally refreshed for the upcoming day. At the Equinox you will have access to an in-room media library where you choose the AM or PM bedtime ritual, and then follow a series of stretches that are streamed on your television. Both have been developed to assist you sleeping better than is often possible while away from home, and to get you motivated in the morning.
The Equinox Fitness Club offers indoor and a rooftop year-round outdoor pool which overlooks the Vessel at Hudson Yards. State-of-the-art exercise equipment, pilates, and spa treatments including massage and facials are available to hotel guests.
Dining options include two elegant restaurants, with the Electric Lemon located on a rooftop terrace with dazzling views of Midtown Manhattan and beyond.
A cozy, upscale boutique hotel with 81 rooms over six floors, The Moore was built in 2009 and most recently renovated in 2019. With several types of rooms to choose from including an Interior Queen for guests who are more interested in a good sleep than the view (there is not one), The Moore will provide a very comfortable visit at moderate prices.
The Corner Queen is ever so slightly larger, but guests get two corner windows which overlook 8th Ave. at 22nd St. and provide a private view of the top of the Empire State Building! Still larger with abundant sunlight are their View Queen guest rooms, which measure 165-sq.-ft. All the rooms described above sleep two, include Frette linens and robes, large HD-TVs, a work desk, free Wi-Fi, a minibar and small safe.
For travelers on a modest budget, if that is possible in New York, the Moore is an excellent choice based on its guest room prices, location, and the unmatched array of things to see and do, all within just a few blocks.
With a past so rich that it has been written about for over a century, the iconic Hotel Chelsea sets the standard as being without question the most eccentric and beautiful property in this amazing neighborhood. Built in what has been described as both a Queen Anne Revival and Victorian Gothic design, this amazing 12-story building was completed in 1884.
Over the last 140 years Hotel Chelsea has been considered a home to many writers, artists, entertainers, musicians, and other celebrities. Originally a housing cooperative, after major recent renovations, most of the hotel is now considered a luxury property. It is both a New York City designated landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Your first time entering Hotel Chelsea will not be forgotten, as it is hard to describe. It has been called sumptuous, beautiful, over-the-top, decadent, and peculiar. But once you have been here, and especially, stayed here, it is likely to become your home away from home when in New York.
There are many distinct types of guest rooms to consider, most with marble bathrooms and rainfall showers. Rooms are elaborately decorated and eclectic with period furnishings that you will not find anywhere else.
Some famous names that have long been associated with Hotel Chelsea include Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Waits, Jack Kerouac, William Seward Burroughs, Mark Twain, Joni Mitchell, and Thomas Wolfe, among others.
Punk rocker Patti Smith described Hotel Chelsea as being…” like a dollhouse in the Twilight Zone, with a hundred rooms, each a small universe.”
Café Chelsea is an in-house institution for all-day robust dining, offering modern as well as traditional French cuisine. The elaborate European-style Lobby Bar is the place to take it all in or have a snack and cocktail. A Basque Spanish restaurant, El Quijote, offers traditional dishes and an inspiring atmosphere.
If you have yet to experience Chelsea in New York, you are missing one of the most intriguing neighborhoods in the entire city. It may be passe to say that Chelsea offers something for everyone, but there is really no place quite like it, even in a city of more than eight million people. There is nothing pretentious about this area of Manhattan, as the people and styles here are real and unique.
With a seemingly endless array of art galleries, superb restaurants, clothing and home furnishings boutiques, museums, and outdoor venues including the High Line, Little Island, and Chelsea Pier, you can come to New York for a long weekend and never leave the neighborhood.
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