East Side, West Side, All Around the Park

By Sue Kovach Shuman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 6, 2007

It's the ultimate New York City tourist experience: a hotel room with a view of Central Park -- or maybe just a glimpse. Here's a sampling of rooms with a park view, including what you'll pay to hobnob among horse-drawn carriages. It's not cheap (is New York ever?), but we've included the YMCA if you really need your park fix.

The rates listed below are for double rooms per night and are the hotel rack rates. You can often do better if you search online (Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Quikbook, Priceline, etc.). Compare the price with the hotel's rates, which change based on season, special events and availability. Remember that some hotels offer weekend rates and packages only if you book directly with them. (And don't forget to add New York City taxes -- 13.8 percent, plus $3.50 per night per room minimum.)

Upper East Side

* Feel like a local at the 86-room Wales, a boutique property in the Victorian-mansion Carnegie Hill neighborhood. The original 104-year-old floors support antique furnishings and Old World decor. People-watch outside and inside, perhaps over the complimentary breakfast. There's a rooftop dining patio, as well as Sarabeth's restaurant and patisserie and Joanna's Italian restaurant. Rooms without views cost about $350; with a view, they average $450. Best view: from an eighth-floor corner room.

1295 Madison Ave., between 92nd and 93rd streets. Info: 866-925-3746, http://www.waleshotel.com.

20 E. 76th St., between Fifth and Madison avenues. Info: 866-233-4642, http://www.affinahotels.com.

781 Fifth Ave., between 59th and 60th streets. Info: 877-743-7710, http://www.sherrynetherland.com.

57 E. 57th St., between Park and Madison avenues. Info: 800-487-3769, http://www.fourseasons.com.

Upper West Side

* The West Side YMCA has the city's cheapest rooms with a Central Park view -- but just seven, and they can't be booked online. On the 12th and 13th floors, you'll get a view of trees from the five semi-private single rooms *$105, with shared, one-shower bathrooms). There are also two shared-bath, queen-bed rooms with a fridge for $151 (same price for one or two people). The Y also has more than 100 other bunk-bed rooms from $96 per room, which can be booked online. Guests can use all Y facilities, including its two swimming pools. Buses and nine subway lines close by take you all around the town.

5 W. 63rd St., between Central Park West and Broadway. Info: 212-875-4100, http://www.ymcanyc.org.

465 Central Park West, at 103rd Street. Info: 800-524-9109 or 212-866-1880.

1 Central Park West, at Columbus Circle, between 60th and 61st streets. Info: 888-448-7867, http://www.trumpintl.com.

South of the Park

* The park's southern tip is loaded with upscale choices, such as the 33-story Ritz-Carlton Central Park. Eighty-three of the hotel's 260 rooms and 47 suites have a park view, but if you've got super-deep pockets, consider the new 2,220-square-feet, third-floor Central Park Suite -- with a dining room that seats eight and a telescope for up-close park views. The hotel boasts the first U.S. branch of Switzerland-based La Prairie spa, which specializes in de-aging treatments. Park-view rooms start at $1,095 per night; park-view suites, from $1,895.

50 Central Park South, at Sixth Avenue. Info: 800-241-3333, http://www.ritzcarlton.com.

151 W. 54th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Info: 866-690-2029, http://www.thelondonnyc.com.

Seven More Hotels

* Rosewood's Carlyle is where presidents and world leaders have stayed since 1930, as well as big stars who want to hide - as they blend in with those who live in the 181 rooms and suites. Louis XVI style furnishings coexist with iPod docking stations throughout. Seven rooms have partial park views and one has a full view; they cost $905 to $1,050 per night. By September, six Tower Suites with views will be available, ranging from $1,800 to $3,500 per night; they'll have separate cook's entrances, bars, antique books, plasma-screen TVs and Steinway pianos. In this building, music is synonymous with living: For years the Baldwin grand piano has been played starting about 10:30 p.m., luring passersby into Cafe Carlyle. Monday nights, when theaters are dark, Woody Allen jams on his clarinet. And Bemelmans Bar has been a gathering spot for politicians, socialites and moguls for five decades.

35 E. 76th St., at Madison Avenue. Info: 888-767-3966, www.thecarlyle@rosewoodhotels.com.

* The 46-story Helmsley Park Lane has 595 rooms in old-European style and a bonus: the Room With a View restaurant. Even if you don't stay at the hotel, you can see Central Park from the elegant dining room; lunch salad starts at $12, and a turkey club is $16. Standard rooms cost $250 to $600, but park-view rooms are $300 to $660. Park-view suites are $550-$1,300, but an elegant park-view Presidential Suite is $1,500 to $2,200.

36 Central Park South, between Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Info: 800-221-4982, www.helmsleyparklane.com.

* At the 40-story Jumeirah Essex House, every room has a view of Central Park . . . sort of. TVs in the 515 rooms broadcast a real-time view. The Essex, which is undergoing a $90 million refurbishment, was one of the first hotels to offer Sunday brunch for Central Park walkers back in the 1930s. Through at least next April, its elegant lobby features "The Heart of Central Park," a photo exhibit depicting the park since the 1850s. Non-guests can pick up a brochure at the front desk for a self-tour. Rooms start at $329; suites with a park view start at $599.

160 Central Park South, between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Info: 888-645-5697, www.jumeirahessexhouse.com.

* Le Parker Meridien (118 W.57th St.) is furnished in a contemporary, minimalist style. Norma's restaurant is a place to people-watch over breakfast or lunch with cherry French toast with applewood smoked bacon *$17) or a "Mr. Croque" sandwich *$18, with apologies to French bistros worldwide). David Letterman is among its famous guests. Park-view rooms range from $510 to $880; suites, $685 to $1,210.

118 W. 57th St. at Sixth Avenue. Info: 888-627-8121, www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien.

* The 248 rooms and suites at the Mandarin Oriental have floor-to-ceiling windows and Asian-inspired decor. Rates for the Mandarin, on floors 35 to 54 in the Time Warner Center, start at $745 a night, but rooms with park views range from $1,065 to $1,095. Park-view suites are $2,300 to $14,000 per night. For $14,000, you get the 2,640-square-foot Presidential Suite on the 54th floor - 450 feet above ground - with Mozambique woodwork, a Steinway baby grand and a home theater. The hotel's spa has been awarded a Mobil five-star rating, one of only two in North America.

80 Columbus Circle, at West 60th Street. Info: 866-801-8880, www.mandarinoriental.com.

* The Pierre is a 41-floor luxury hotel with 26 park-view rooms and 39 park-view suites (and a total of 252 rooms and 52 suites). Sales manager David Corke says nine "boudoir" rooms - bedrooms with a dressing area - are $1,500 a night and offer some of the best park views. Even if you can't afford a room, visit the elegant Rotunda restaurant for English afternoon tea to see Edward Melcarth's trompe l'oeil murals (no reservations are taken). Standard rooms on upper floors start at about $920 per night; 28th-floor park-view suites are $4,000 per night.

5 Fifth Ave., at 61st Street. Info: 212-838-8000, tajhotels.com/pierre.

* At the 515-room, 85-suite Wellington, a double room costs $189 to $489, but a park view is $339 to $439. The good news: Rooms can cost less - as little as $149 in mid-July for a non-view room. The lobby-level Molyvos Mediterranean restaurant prepares three grilled-fish dishes daily, and the Park Cafe is open early and late. Holiday specials include three nights during Thanksgiving week in a four-person kitchenette suite for $1,199 (with Macy's discounts and breakfasts). The Wellington is at the northern edge of the Theater District; Central Park is a three-minute walk away.

871 Seventh Ave., at 55th Street. Info: 800-652-1212 or 212-247-3900, www.wellington.com.

Sue Kovach Shuman last wrote for Travel oncruise trends and new ships.