The Standard High Line Hotel

This spectacular, designer luxury hotel combines striking architecture, amazing city and river views and the hottest social scene in the city.

Built literally straddling the High Line, New York’s famous elevated railtrack park, this Le Corbusier–style, glass-slab building presides over the ever-trendy Meatpacking District, home to the sexiest nightlife and the cafes to be seen in. It couldn’t be in a cooler location.

The somewhat unwelcoming stone and glass exterior belies the slick décor and to-die-for views from floor-to-ceiling windows inside that give a huge wow factor.

The top-floor bar is one of the hottest cocktail spots in town, buzzing with the young, beautiful and affluent – and occasional celebrity.

There’s no pool, but guests are offered free passes to the rooftop pool at Soho House five minutes’ walk away – another uber-trendy scene.

It’s a ‘downtown’ location, close to the Statue of Liberty and less central than other hotels, but nothing in Manhattan is that far on the subway or by cab.