The Best Luxury Hotels in SoHo, New York City

Named after the East Village avenue on which it stands – a thoroughfare once synonymous with near penniless down-and-outs and punk rockers – the celebrated Bowery is a hipster’s delight. While the wood-paneled lobby and bar with club chairs and vintage furnishings seemingly nod to old-school movie-set gangsters and theatrical city grandees, rooms at this SoHo hotel are bright and modern with floor-to-ceiling windows. It all feels rather fun and finessed.

Right on the edge of SoHo, alongside TriBeCa, the Soho Grand Hotel has a boho-industrial vibe and heart-of-the-action location, elevating the striking red-brick tower into a cultural and physical landmark. Eclectic styling, including the fabrics, artwork, concrete floors, cast-iron detailing and plump tub chairs, reinforces its claim as Manhattan’s first luxury boutique hotel in SoHo. Many rooms have expansive city views, and all have state-of-the-art technology, including smart TVs. The lounge bar is a popular celebrity hangout, too, with the buzz amplified by live music and the trove of fine whiskeys.

With a prime SoHo location, 11 Howard has a Danish-inspired “casual luxury,” which seems primed for a trendy crowd. The elegantly curated minimalism of the rooms and amenities embellished with moody lighting and refined furnishings set the style, while the elegant Library – a co-working space, meeting room and coffee-to-cocktail bar – lends practical kudos. The Blond, a cheekily named (does it reference people or beer?) bar, and a French restaurant complete the groovy package.

A cool, hip, almost minimalist design seeps effortlessly through the accommodation at SIXTY SoHo. This upscale property – one of the best hotels in SoHo – has nearly a hundred rooms yet exudes a cozy, intimate boutique-like feel seasoned in part with Harland Miller’s sardonic artwork and a popular bright French-style bistro. The dim lantern-hung lounge bar, complete with cow-hide furniture and framed butterflies, is memorably quirky, but you can always come up for air at the rooftop bar and terrace, which has impressive sunset views across the city skyline.

The Roxy’s heart and soul, never mind a retro cinema-like entrance that also references its name, exudes fun, unpretentious showbiz. Perhaps no other luxury hotel in SoHo has quite such a convergence of facilities, including an esteemed jazz club, a small cinema (also used for film festivals) and a hair and beauty salon. It’s all heartily augmented with several bars and a cavernous atrium lobby lined with rugs and stuffed with Chesterfields. An array of rooms swerve between art deco-lite furniture and bold, if not brash, 1970s patterned decor.

An enviable location in the artsy East Village near SoHo gives this formerly unremarkable high-rise property a real boon. The complete remodeling of the lower floors and lobby in 2013 tapped the fizzing youthful energy of the neighborhood. The glorious Manhattan views from the rooms at this boutique hotel in SoHo remain, but your bed will now likely brandish a lurid pink-lip pillow. Some bathrooms even feature deep soaking tubs. A “new wave” neon-lit gay bar, street-side cafe and intimate live music in the penthouse tick all those affable right-on boxes.

There’s no mistaking the high-tech vibe of this Ian Schrager (co-founder of legendary Studio 54) hotel. Design permeates almost every facet of PUBLIC, with the minimalist rooms fusing a Japanese-Scandi aesthetic and the smoked glass, neon and mirrors of the public areas signifying disco. Several bars – including one on the rooftop – a small garden and a basement space for events and club nights help foster a gregarious atmosphere.

On the southern edge of SoHo, within an easy stroll of the grooviest boutiques and best-known restaurants of the neighborhood, this hotel skillfully entwines the area’s industrial-loft heritage with the artsy bohemia of today. Contemporary artwork and installations stud the public areas, while bright, almost minimalist, rooms emulate unfeasibly neat studios. The rooftop bar lends terrific views across the city skyline, while the adjoining pool – unusual for a city-center hotel – adds a dreamy decadence.

A vast two-story statement-making lobby with quasi-industrial vibes lends this austere-looking high-rise unexpected style and vigor. Spacious rooms and suites, with floor-to-ceiling windows and incredible views, are sleekly modern and make this one of the top hotels in SoHo. The rooftop pool comes with an appealing spacious outdoor deck, but it’s the enormous spa (including Manhattan’s only luxury Turkish hammam) with an array of treatments that really gives an edge in a city where luxury isn’t exactly a rarity.