SELECT SUMMER 2022

PERFECT DAY IN NEW YORK CITY

The city that never sleeps was forced into a two-year nap. Now, the Big Apple isback, with new observation decks in super-tall skyscrapers, expanded parks, and alavish urban water spa, along with a sterling string of Broadway hits.

MORNING

Get your morning jolt with a side order of style at Felix Roasting Co. with two chic locations — one in SoHo and the original in NoMad — both created by the celebrated designer Ken Fulk. Linger over a latte to appreciate the colorful wallpaper, antique chairs, and other quirky details of these much-Instagrammed coffee shops.

Central Park has great variety, but The High Line has arguably more imagination per square foot; it is a public park built on a historic freight rail line — elevated on a nearly 1.5-mile-long line on the West Side of Manhattan. The High Line offers graciously landscaped strolls that thread the built environment past showy glass condos and vaulting original cobblestone streets.

At the end of The High Line, in the Meatpacking District, The Whitney Museum of American Art was forced to delay the prestigious Whitney Biennial in 2020, due to the pandemic. Now, in 2022, the nation’s most esteemed survey of contemporary art is back in its 80th edition, with 63 artists and collectives organized under the theme “Quiet as It’s Kept,” exploring the American experience in what the curators call “precarious and improvised times.”

NOON

Have your travel advisor reserve a few counter seats at Lodi in Rockefeller Plaza, a new Italian concept focusing on aperitivi and homemade breads, pastries, and pastas from chef Ignacio Mattos. Channel Italy in Midtown with liver paté crostini, anchovies and peppers, prosciutto paninis, and spritzes, in the bustling all-day café.

Ride the Ascent glass elevators up 1,301 feet on the outside of the 93 stories up super-tall skyscraper One Vanderbilt to Summit One Vanderbilt, a new panoramic attraction near Grand Central Station. The mirrored infinity room, Air, offers trippy, reflected views of the surrounding city and landmarks, including the nearby Empire State Building.

Steep in the view, part two: Ask your travel advisor to book you a late afternoon soak at QC NY, the new Italian-owned water-focused spa with saunas, steam chambers, massage and meditation rooms, and more, on 172-acre Governors Island — just a six-minute ferry ride from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York Harbor.

NIGHT

Near the new west-side Hudson Yards development, tuck into homemade pasta, caramelized onion torta, and wood-fired whole trout at Ci Siamo, the latest upscale Italian restaurant from restaurateur Danny Meyer and chef Hillary Sterling, who specializes in live-fire cooking fully on view in the open kitchen.

The divas of Six playing the full-throated wives of Henry VIII, or a gender-bending version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company? A Michael Jackson dancing double in MJ The Musical or Hugh Jackman in the throwback The Music Man? Possibly 007’s Daniel Craig in Macbeth? Broadway is back with an embarrassment of riches. Trust your travel advisor to get you close to the footlights for a classic New York evening.

Lean on your trusty advisor to get you a reservation at the hot new Coby Club, a subterranean cocktail lounge in Chelsea, inspired by San Francisco’s Chinatown, circa 1959. Settle into a tufted sofa with a Flaming Dragon (Green Chartreuse and Bacardi) for a nightcap while you enjoy a pop-up performance in cabaret or burlesque styles.