Best Romantic Hotels in New York

For anniversary theater, nothing beats the Plaza: horse carriages at the door, champagne in the Palm Court, Central Park's lamplit paths across the street. Ask for a park-view room high in the turret line and lean into the cliché — it works.

Essex House's Art Deco sign has glowed over Central Park South since 1931, and its park-facing rooms frame the treetops from bed. The location puts winter skating at Wollman Rink and summer picnics equally close. Classic New York romance at a workable rate.

The Crosby's exuberant Kit Kemp rooms — no two alike — plus honesty-bar nightcaps and a quiet cobbled block make it SoHo's most charming couples' base. Sunday's film club with dinner is a ready-made date.

The Mercer's loft rooms — soaking tubs big enough for two, linen by Sferra, Prince Street below — distill downtown romance. Breakfast arrives from The Mercer Kitchen and nobody hurries you anywhere. SoHo at its most intimate.

The Marlton compresses a Left Bank hotel into Greenwich Village: herringbone floors, brass sconces, a café-lobby made for lingering, and rooms that are tiny in the most forgivable way. Washington Square is a block off. New York's best cheap romance.

Family-run since 1973 on the corner of Washington Square Park, this Deco-tiled hotel once housed Dylan and Baez — and its jazz brunches and park-side location still carry the Village's romantic bones. Small rooms, big atmosphere.

The Maritime's porthole windows glow at golden hour, and its la bottega terrace runs long Italian dinners under strings of lights. The High Line's evening walk starts around the corner. Nautical charm that plays surprisingly romantic.

Take the Chelsea's velvet lobby, its storied stairwell, and El Quijote's paella and gin-tonics, and you have New York's most atmospheric date-weekend hotel — every room haunted by a better love story than the movies.