Empire Hotel

Upper West Side & Central Park


The bones are all that remain of the original Empire, just across the street from Lincoln Center. Wholesale renovations have dressed this hotel in earthy tones and contemporary stylings complete with a canopied pool deck, a huge Empire Rooftop bar and a sexy two-story lobby lounge with a sweeping staircase and floor-to-ceiling drapes. Its 420 rooms feature brightly hued walls with plush dark-leather furnishings.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Upper West Side & Central Park attractions

1. David Rubenstein Atrium

0.02 MILES

The David Rubenstein Atrium is a modern public space behind the Empire Hotel offering a lounge area (with free wi-fi), a cafe, and a TKTS booth selling…

2. American Folk Art Museum

0.14 MILES

This small institution offers rotating exhibitions in three small galleries. Past exhibits have included quilts made by 19th-century soldiers and…

3. Lincoln Center

0.14 MILES

This stark arrangement of gleaming modernist temples houses some of Manhattan’s most important performance companies: the New York Philharmonic, the New…

4. Museum of Arts & Design

0.29 MILES

MAD offers four floors of superlative design and handicrafts, from blown glass and carved wood to elaborate metal jewelry. Temporary exhibitions are…

5. Hearst Tower

0.35 MILES

This 46-floor tower is one of NYC's most creative works of contemporary architecture, not to mention one of its greenest; around 90% of its structural…

6. Dakota Building

0.5 MILES

A turreted, gabled building described in 1884 as so far uptown it was in 'the Dakotas,' this sand-colored gem quickly became the epitome of cool, housing…

7. Strawberry Fields

0.54 MILES

Standing inside the park across from the famous Dakota Building, where John Lennon was fatally shot in 1980, is this poignant, tear-shaped garden – a…

8. The Mall

0.55 MILES

This Parisian-style promenade – allegedly the only straight line in Central Park – lined with rare North American elms, is flanked by statues of literati…