The Best New York Escapes for Thanksgiving Weekend
14 October, 2017
Thanksgiving
weekend is upon us, and that means New York is at its prime. With changing leaves and
typically brash New Yorkers suddenly filled with holiday cheer, the
city hums with life at this time of year. Autumn bids its last
farewell in the form of pumpkin pies and warm apple cider, while
fairy lights and bedazzled Christmas trees begin to twinkle along
5th Avenue.
Hop on a last-minute flight and head to Frank Sinatra’s
playground for a long weekend of autumnal strolls through the West
Village and bargaining your way through Black Friday sales at Saks.
If you try hard enough, you might even get to crash a local’s
Thanksgiving dinner.
Upper East Side
If you’ve ever watched Gossip Girl (come on, we know you have),
you know that the Upper East Side is the go-to spot for a dramatic
Thanksgiving meal complete with chic Bottega Veneta dresses.
hotel
The Mark
Upper East Side
Stay at The Mark, this glitzy
neighbourhood’s coolest boutique hotel where Anna Wintour makes her
debut before heading to the Met Gala every year. With a
Jean-Georges restaurant, Frédéric Fekkai hair salon and personal
shopping services at Bergdorf Goodman, this hotel is the ideal spot
for a glamorous weekend away. French designer Jacques Grange, whose
clients have included the likes of Yves Saint-Laurent and Karl
Lagerfeld, has designed every detail to perfection, so you’ll be in
heaven the second you set foot on The Mark’s iconic black- and
white-striped floors. We won’t sniff at the Ladurée treats left by
each bed in the evenings either.
The hotel is just a stone’s throw away from Central Park for
romantic evening wanders (and giving the ice skating rink a go if
you’re up for it). It’s also just off Madison Avenue, so you’ll be
in a prime location for people-watching and winter coat shopping.
Stop by Sant Ambroeus around the corner to pick up a latte for
fuel. We recommend stopping by the Ralph Lauren mansions (one for
women, one for men) five blocks down. The shops’ holiday
decorations, complete with frosty pine trees, chandeliers bedecked
with sparkling icicles and giant teddy bears, will have you giddily
setting up an impromptu Christmas card photo shoot upon arrival.
For an artistic afternoon, head to the Neue
Galerie, an Austrian and German museum set in a townhouse
facing the park. Head up the spiral staircase and you’ll find
yourself face-to-face with Gustav Klimt’s Woman in Gold. For
something more contemporary, check out the Upper East Side’s
Lévy Gorvy Gallery, also set in a stunning
townhouse.
West Village
Home to the legendary Friendsgiving dinner, the West Village is
one of our favourite spots in the city this time of year. Residents
take to festively decking the steps leading up to their impressive
brownstones, and the quiet tree-lined streets carry a dusting of
red and orange leaves. Adorable boutique versions of shops from
Annick Goutal to Marc Jacobs’ Bookmarc bookshop line Bleecker
Street for laid-back gift shopping. When you start to feel a bit
peckish after a morning of exploring on foot, stop by Buvette (which has sister locations in Paris and Tokyo)
to warm up with a steaming croque monsieur.
hotel
Walker Hotel Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
As for a place to stay, the sweetest boutique hotel in the area
has got to be the Walker Hotel Greenwich Village. Its charming
brick façade and toasty light buzzing behind its bay windows
instantly beckons guests inside. The art-deco bedrooms are spacious
and many offer incredible views onto the One World Trade Centre.
For maximum cosiness, head to the hotel restaurant, which has a
roaring fire with rustic stacks of wooden logs on either side.
Soho
Soho – a shopper’s dream come true on Thanksgiving weekend. To
spend the day like a pro, start with the eggs Norwegian at Balthazar before hitting the boutiques on Mercer,
Spring and Greene Streets. We suggest avoiding Broadway on Friday
if you don’t want to get trampled. To end the day, stop by the
Blond at 11 Howard for the best
moscow mule in the city (they also have free wine and prosecco on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 6-7PM).
hotel
Crosby Street Hotel
Soho
Our top pick for staying in Soho is the Crosby Hotel, so
decompress here before heading back out for dinner. The lobby and
drawing room are triumphs in interior design, with a flurry of
textiles, a mauve and white colour scheme and quirky canine art.
Each bedroom has its own theme, with unique floral patterns, huge
sunshiny windows and fresh bouquets in every room. This boutique
hotel is certainly Soho’s most charming, and you’ll probably have
to be forced to leave at the end of your stay.
Flatiron
Being in Flatiron will allow you to be close to the heart of the
Thanksgiving action while avoiding getting stuck right in Midtown.
You’ll be close enough that you can venture to Bergdorf’s and
Bloomingdale’s to partake in the Black Friday frenzy, but will also
have a slightly calmer recluse to return to in the stunning area
surrounding Madison Square Park.
hotel
Nomad Hotel
Nomad
Stay at the Nomad Hotel, a Parisian
beaux-arts retreat where you can chill out after a mental day of
seeing the Thanksgiving parade and managing to snag that pair of
Gucci boots for 70% off in your size. This hotel has one of the
cosiest libraries in the city where you can cuddle up to a book on
New York-inspired cocktails, a bar that brims with stylish locals
in the evenings, and the Parlour, an inviting dining area decked
out in dark oak and deep red velvet. The bedrooms evoke romantic
French glamour with standalone bathtubs and baroque panels.
When you manage to pull yourself away from the variety of
oh-so-cosy options in the hotel, head a few blocks south to
Gramercy Tavern for a spontaneous holiday meal. If
you can’t manage to snag a booking in the restaurant’s dining room,
the Tavern only takes walk-ins, and you’ll still be able to indulge
in their Thanksgiving chocolate bourbon pecan pie. Need we say
more?
East Village
If you’re looking for an authentic and chilled last-minute
holiday, take the time to explore the East Village. The area is
teeming with must-try bars such as Mother of Pearl, Death & Co. and Please Don’t Tell, which you can
only access by entering a secret code into a phone booth at a
hole-in-the-wall hot-dog restaurant. When you’re not stumbling upon
hidden treasures in the evenings, the neighbourhood is packed with
laid-back cafés, vintage shops and record stores reminiscent of the
area’s rock’n’roll days.
hotel
The Bowery Hotel
East Village
We recommend staying at The Bowery Hotel. A hotspot for
the East Village’s cool crowd (and a few celebrities sneaking in
and out), its Italian restaurant, Gemma, has unbeatable burrata,
while its vintage-style bar is the perfect place for a pre-party
tipple. As for the bedrooms, we’re head-over-heels for the
industrial floor-to-ceiling windows that guarantee a wicked view
over downtown NY. Our favourite part? The immense marble bathtubs
that also look out over the city – the best possible way to prep
for a night out, in our opinion. The hotel also has a prime
location a few blocks away from the New
Museum for a Sunday well spent.