Hotel review: NH Collection Madison Avenue, New York

Forget that Alicia Keys and Jay-Z ditty, for a real Empire State of Mind book into Midtown’s quietly elegant NH Collection Madison Avenue, where a pinch-me view of that mother of all NY icons is just the first of its many brags…

Wake up to views of the Empire State

Rooms and facilities

New York, New York so good… and, well, even better when you can see the Empire State Building from your bed. That thrill is all yours at NH Collection Madison Avenue (rooms from £155, nh-collection.com).

Perched on a quiet corner of that famed avenue and 38th Street, in a well-heeled part of Midtown, its 100-year-old renaissance revival looks (think striking red bricks and darling towers) aren’t short on stage presence. Inside, a former men’s college it may be, but in 2021 it went from frat to fab following a major glow-up by its owners, NH Hotel Collection, for its debut as the chain’s first US outpost back (the Spanish brand owns around 100 hotels across the world).

The hotel is located in a well-heeled part of Midtown

The hotel’s spot may be quiet (for NY), but its location, location, location has much to shout about given it is striding distance from some of the Big Apple’s biggest hitters: from the boutique call of Fifth Avenue and hustle of Times Square to Bryant Park, the Museum of Modern Art, Grand Central Station and, yes the Empire State, plus much more. Hell, pop your trainers on and Central Park and the Highline are also goers.

While it has convenience in spades, there’s chic too, with the hotel exuding the sort of Insta-hot swellegance (it was voted North America’s most ‘gramable hotel by Luxury Travel Advisor) that makes a stay in the city that never sleeps pretty, well, dreamy.

Take a spin through its doors and Don Draper springs to mind. Why? With Madison Avenue’s golden days of advertising as muse, the hotel’s interiors will flick your Mad Men switch. Starting in the lobby, retro radios, TVs and typewriters, plus artsy tomes you wish you could take home, bring the period’s vibe to life, while low lights, teals, greys, mid-century furnishings and outbreaks of wood panelling keep it yesteryear ad exec sexy. This is the  heart of the hotel. A place, with its luxe leather and lush velvet seating and come-cosy-up-closer fireplaces, designed to make you linger. And it works.

Welcome to lobby life

Moving upstairs… while intel reveals Justin Trudeau’s favourite suite (in one of those towers) boasts a view of the Brooklyn Bridge (plot spoiler: it’s a mural in the walk-in shower) and Sharon Stone has a penchant for the bare-brick cool-cat penthouse, other rooms prove beeline-worthy, too. Yep, we’re back to that Empire State. Forget pizza, you don’t get a better slice of the Big Apple than enjoying that NY icon from your bed, be it glistening in the morning sun or showing off its LEDs.

Away from the window, my premium king room has much to impress: mid-century details and a considered mix of greys and dark wood keep that Mad Men mood alive, a Nespresso machine, high-speed wifi and smart TV will tick a modern traveller’s boxes and cat swingers can knock themselves out, too (yup, it’s a decent size). As for the bathroom, its pared-back creamy good looks feel both clean and serene.

A sleek premium king 

Food and drink

Did someone say cocktails? Meet you at MadBar (you see what they did), where its sexy-spot vibe is ramped up by nightly live jazz around its grand piano. Of its signature cocktails, the Lavender 75 – gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon, prosecco and lavender syrup – will turn even the most ardent G&T-er.

Did someone say cocktail hour?

As for eats, step forward its Serafina restaurant, just off the lobby, where surrounded by a marble bar, colourful art and punchy chequerboard floor, guests and locals pull up to its jewel-hued banquettes for big chef’s kiss Italian-inspired dishes – the lightly fried artichokes and burrata are too good to share, the branzino and cherry tomatoes banging. It’s here sightseeing fuel is served by way of its European-style breakfast buffet – a dig-in-yourself affair of crowd-pleasing pastries, pancakes, fruit, bacon, sausages and eggs made to order.

Enjoy crowd-pleasing plates at the hotel’s Serafina eaterie

What to do nearby

This is New York, so leave your vertigo at home and get your highs at that easy-to-walk Empire State (empirestatebuilding.com); Summit One Vanderbilt (a glass of fizz at its 93rd floor bar is heady stuff, summitov.com); Top of the Rock (a mere 70 floors up, but still butterfly inducing; rockefellercenter.com) and the Edge observatory deck, which, at 103 floors, has the highest outdoor terrace in the Western Hemisphere (edgenyc.com). For ground-level land lubbers, there’s the Highline, a few streets down and several blocks across to the west on 34th Street, a 1.45-mile-long abandoned freight rail reimagined as an elevated park. For culture lovers there’s the 200,000 plus artworks at the Museum of Modern Art (up on 52nd street, moma.org) or, even nearer on 42nd street, the New York Public Library (forget books, it’s got Charlotte Bronte’s hair plus the original Winnie the Pooh), making sure to hit next door Byrant Park for a java jolt. There’s Times Square, theatre land, the architectural grandeur of Grand Central Station… you get it, NH Collection Madison Avenue serves a serious ace when it comes to location.

Also check in with the hotel’s Guest Relations team, which will be ready to elevate your itinerary with trips such as a helicopter tour of NY’s dizzying delights (from $200 per person) or a three-hour spin around the city’s legendary landmarks (from $210 for two guests). For my dollar, try the Bronx experience. Not just the birthplace of hip hop and J-Lo but the charismatic Ramirez brothers, whose From The Bronx Tour (@FromTheBronx) will take you on a food journey through their hood’s legendary Little Italy. From watching Kurt at Joe’s Italian Deli making mozzarella like only he knows how (if he reveals his secret he’ll have to kill you) and meeting the baker whose family have been making bread and cannolis at local staple the Madonia Bakery since his great grandfather was born next to the oven, to checking out Calabria Pork Store’s eye-popping sausage chandelier, you’ll be charmed by the community and their pasta, pizzas, bakes and cakes… For the finale, the Ramirez boys, who pick up delicious bites at each of the tour’s five neighbourhood stops, serve up their spoils in their The Bronx Beer Hall. Warning: go easy on their slushy turned ‘lushy’ machine, it’s not the brain freeze that will get you but all the vino. @FromTheBronx, tours $150 per person

Highlights?

At risk of repeating myself? That boudoir view.

Whose it best for?

Those looking for quiet – well-priced – luxury with the best of NY on their doorstep