Casa Cipriani
Daily price line
Upcoming nightly rates
Review
Character and identity
Set inside the 1909 Battery Maritime Building at Manhattan's southern tip, Casa Cipriani is a 47-room hotel and private members' club that doubles as a love letter to Art Deco ocean liners. Thierry Despont's restoration turns the Beaux-Arts ferry terminal into something that genuinely evokes the Queen Mary, complete with portholes on guest room doors, lacquered handrails, and Loro Piana cashmere wall coverings in the suites. The fifth floor holds the soul of the place: The Club restaurant doing Cipriani classics, the Jazz Cafe, two bars, the Living Room, and a rooftop Terrazzo. Service is Italian, polished, attentive without hovering. An Aston Martin sits out front as the house car.
Who's it for
Best for:
Design-literate couples and well-heeled travellers who want a stylised, transportive New York experience rather than a generic luxury hotel. Anyone who values dressing for dinner, lingering over Bellinis, jazz till 1:30am, and river-facing terraces with the Statue of Liberty in view. Helicopter-to-JFK types will find the location ideal.
Should look elsewhere:
Families, anyone who wants to be in the thick of Midtown or downtown nightlife on foot, and travellers who prefer a contemporary, minimalist aesthetic. The members' club element means public spaces share a clubby register that won't suit everyone, and the Financial District location is quieter on weekends.
Bottom line
What you're really paying for here is atmosphere: a fully realised Art Deco fantasy on the waterfront that few other New York hotels can touch. If that appeals, it delivers completely. Book a river-facing suite for the terrace and the Statue of Liberty view, reserve The Club for dinner when you reserve the room, and build in at least one late night at the Jazz Cafe.