New York: The Edit

Occupying a 1926 landmark building on Madison Avenue, The Mark is defined by the interiors of French designer Jacques Grange. His black and white striped floors are now a signature of New York hotel design. The hotel's private sailboat is available for charter around New York Harbour, and its penthouse is the largest in the country. Each May, the hotel closes to the public, admitting only attendees of the Met Gala, a fact that speaks volumes about its place in the city.

Open since 1930, The Carlyle has hosted every American president since Truman. John F. Kennedy kept a private apartment on the 34th floor for the last decade of his life. Its enduring appeal is found in rooms like Bemelmans Bar, where the artist's murals still line the walls, painted in exchange for a year's rent. It remains one of the city's essential institutions.

Aman has transformed the Crown Building, a 1921 Beaux-Arts landmark on Fifth Avenue, into a quiet sanctuary. The lobby is on the 14th floor, creating both physical and psychological distance from the city below. Its 83 suites are among the largest in Manhattan, each with a working fireplace and serene, Japanese-influenced interiors. It is a rare Midtown hotel that achieves a genuine sense of calm.

The original Fouquet's opened on the Champs-Élysées in 1899, and this all-suite New York outpost successfully imports its Parisian spirit. This is a hotel for those who believe a stay should be an event in itself. The extensive Spa Diane Barrière, developed with Dr Barbara Sturm, offers hyperbaric chambers, flotation tanks and ice baths for a modern approach to wellness.

Robert De Niro spent six years creating this hotel in his home neighbourhood. The result feels less like a hotel and more like a private residence, with artworks by the owner's father lining the walls. Its Shibui Spa is extraordinary, constructed around a 250-year-old Japanese farmhouse transported from Kyoto. Breakfast in the sheltered courtyard garden is one of the most serene experiences the city offers.