Hotel at a Glance: Excelsior Hotel

The Excelsior Hotel occupies a spot amid some of New York City’s most expensive real estate, overlooking Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. There are lots of iconic landmarks nearby, including Lincoln Center and Columbia University. The hotel matches its swanky surroundings with a marble, chandelier-adorned lobby and guest rooms featuring stylish art-deco decor.

• In-room amenities: flat-screen TVs and WiFi access
• Take a stroll through the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park, where plaques display excerpts of the Bard’s work.
• Nearby attractions: American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium

Manhattan’s Upper West Side: Tony Residential Neighborhood with 19th-Century Townhouses and Waterfront Parks

Set between Central Park and the Hudson River, the Upper West Side is one of the toniest neighborhoods in New York City. Classic brownstones and prewar buildings line streets that are recognizable from innumerable movies and television shows, including Seinfeld, Sex and the City, and Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters. The neighborhood is a favorite address of the rich and famous—the Ansonia building, to take just one example, has been called home by everybody from Babe Ruth to Angelina Jolie.

Carousels, bike paths, and manmade lakes fill the iconic, 843-acre Central Park, which you can access via the entrance at 72nd Street. For a quieter alternative, head west to Riverside Park, where you’ll find beautiful flower gardens and waterfront picnic spots. Nearby, you can duck indoors at the American Museum of Natural History, where you can stroll past lifelike dioramas, a full-size model of a blue whale, and a Tyrannosaurus rex made up of fossils up to 65 million years old. Another classic New York institution is just southwest of here: Lincoln Center, home to the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic.