The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel

The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel Review

On the well-heeled corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street, this hotel's fusion of venerable elegance and Manhattan swank is like entering a Chanel boutique: walk in chin high, wallet out, and ready to be impressed. As you might expect, everything about this Upper East Side landmark suggests cultivated refinement: rooms decorated with fine antique furniture, vast Central Park views, white-gloved operators working the elevators 24 hours a day. It's all overwhelmingly grand—almost to the point of diminishing comfort. The range of the hotel's dining and entertainment options impresses: cabaret luminaries take turns holding court at the Café Carlyle (Woody Allen still performs every Monday). And Bemelmans Bar, with its fanciful murals and fancy drinks, is one of the greatest old-school cocktail spots in New York. The polished black slots behind the reception desk, once used to hold room keys, serve as a fashionable reminder of the hotel's storied history as host to presidents and celebrities. For pampering, the in-hotel Sense Spa and Yves Durif salon can buff, polish, and frost your every extremity.