NYC Escapes
Big Apple Weekend getaways
January is the perfect time for a little post-holiday pampering. Why not jump on MetroNorth and enjoy an urban vacation at a spa in the City? Not far from Grand Central, luxury hotels boast high-tech fitness centers, beauty salons, chic shops, gourmet restaurants and hip lounges. Many offer special getaway packages. Besides enjoying customary amenities—flat-screen TVs, robes and slippers, fluffy duvets—we sampled some extra niceties at these three properties.
Chic Modern
Gansevoort Park Avenue
Find the pillowcases pre-monogrammed with your initials when you check into a soothing gray and white room with floor-to-ceiling windows at this “comprehensive urban resort.” Take a Core Fusion yoga class, have a manicure at Exhale spa or opt for a trim at Cutler salon. Sip an aperitif at the bi-level infusion bar, Twenty 33, and splurge on wood-fired baked eggs for brunch at Ristorante Asellina. Pick out a classic golf shirt at the lobby-side Lacoste shop.
Get a ride to dinner in a complimentary, chauffeur-driven Porsche Panamera 4S, or stay in and take the elevator to the popular Plunge rooftop bar and lounge, where the pièce de résistance is the outdoor pool 20 stories up. Sip a cocktail seated deckside on the terrace or swim laps in full view of the Empire State Building. Gansevoort Park Avenue, 420 Park Ave. South, 877-830-9889, gansevoortpark.com.
Elegant Contemporary
The Setai Fifth Avenue
Stay in your own posh room or apartment with views above city skyscrapers at this boutique retreat that reaches more than 60 stories. An open kitchen stocked with complimentary sodas faces the living room, which has tempting titles on the bookshelves. Find artistic Richart chocolates on your pillow and Lorenzo Villoresi amenities in the spacious bathroom.
Venture to the 3,100-square-foot fitness center for a workout on state-of-the-art equipment and proceed to the Auriga spa where signature treatments reflect the cycles of the moon.
After a soothing apricot peel and relaxing Swedish massage, enjoy the hot tub, steam room and nine-nozzle showers in the Aqua Lounge. After three-star Mediterranean cuisine at Ai Fiori, go downstairs past a wall with 65 niches of fresh flowers and join the trendy crowd at the Bar on Fifth. Try a specialty Gin Daisy cocktail, or stop by for lunch and splurge on passion fruit crème brûlée for dessert. The Setai Fifth Avenue, 400 Fifth Ave., 877-734-3028, setaififthavenue.com.
Tony Traditional
Kimberly Suites Hotel
For an Old World setting, book a suite with Oriental rugs and brocade furnishings at the Kimberly Suites Hotel. The living room has its own walk-out balcony and a stocked kitchenette-wet bar. Brew a pot of Wolfgang Puck coffee while reading the complimentary newspaper or watching a movie. Stop by the sun-dappled penthouse for an omelet at the breakfast buffet.
Jog up a sweat in the on-site fitness room. Or head to New York Health and Racquet Clubs, where hotel guests are welcome. The branch two blocks away has a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, steam and sauna cabins and three floors of exercise machines. Return to the hotel for an in-room massage, and rinse off with Neutrogena amenities before stopping for a cocktail at the Upstairs bar. Enclosed in glass with heated floors and an outdoor fireplace terrace, the rooftop bar overlooks the Chrysler Building’s iconic glittering crown. Kimberly Suites Hotel, 145 East 50th St., 800-683-0400, kimberlyhotel.com.
