Lower East Side Hotels

With 427 guestrooms and suites that begin on the 28th floor of the hotel, rooms at the Millennium UN Plaza hotel offer some of the best skyline views around. The full service health club and heated indoor swimming pool, both located on the 27th floor, also boast panoramic views of the city. Many of the guestrooms at this stately Lower East Side hotel feature International themes with tapestries, fabrics and art donated by U.N. members; other rooms offer contemporary settings with cherry wood furnishings, glass-topped desks, New York photography and marble bathrooms. The on-site restaurant, Ambassador Grill & Lounge, offers international selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and is frequented by dignitaries from the United Nations headquarters, which is located across the street.

The Off-SoHo Suites don't promise glamour or envy—it's a no-nonsense property in that offers decently sized, comfortable, clean rooms at affordable rates. Its proximity to the gallery-laden SoHo is a bit exaggerated (it's a five block walk at best), and the location is less than gentrified, but one can easily dance between the sweaty punk clubs of the Lower East Side and the swank watering holes of SoHo and Nolita.

For its primo location and proximity to the United Nations, the Tudor Hotel is especially popular among visiting dignitaries, diplomats and heads of state, but it's the luxury style for non-luxury prices that makes this hotel popular among just about everyone else. Many of the architectural details from its opening in 1931 are still in place, but renovations and décor makeovers have outfitted each room in an elegant European style. All the guestrooms and suites feature modern amenities like digital safes, Italian marble bathrooms, high-speed Internet access and two dual-line speaker telephones with data ports and voicemail. The Tudor Hotel is also home to the Tudor Neighborhood Grill, an upscale restaurant and destination for wine and liquor tastings.