There are just two weeks to go till those saucy, sassy Sex and the City girls
slink into cinemas for the first time.
The return of the naughty-but-nice New York sisterhood is keenly awaited by
fans – and you can bet your last buck that the city, too, will look
especially alluring on the big screen.
So, how do you get a bite of Big Apple glam for yourself? You could opt to pay
a scorching £12,000 for a Sex and the City holiday with tour operator
Destination on Location, visiting Manhattan hot spots featured in the movie.
Or you could save your cash for the stores on Fifth Avenue and follow our
bespoke guide to four supercool (and rather less bank-busting) getaways
there – each tailored to a different SATC personality.
Whether you’re a clotheshorse like Carrie, an incurable romantic like
Charlotte, a man-eating minx like Samantha or a culture queen like Miranda,
your perfect New York weekend starts here.
Unless stated, hotel prices are starting rates for a double, room-only
ROMANCE WITH CHARLOTTE
First rule of romantic New York: don’t go near the horse-drawn carriage ride
around Central Park. Whatever passion survives the stench of the nags is
swiftly extinguished by the hard-nosed attitude of the drivers.
If you must have a vehicle, rowing-boat
hire (£5 per hour) is more private and less pongy. But we reckon
love-struck Charlottes would much prefer a stroll through the 52-acre oasis
of Brooklyn Botanic Garden (00 1-718 623 7200, www.bbg.org).
In May, bluebells carpet its woodlands; by June, thousands of fragrant roses
will cascade and clamber over the arches and pavilions.
As you’re in the neighbourhood, follow up with a passeggiata
along Brooklyn Heights Promenade, for some dreamy views over Lower
Manhattan, then detour to Jacques Torres Chocolate (718 875 9772, www.mrchocolate.com)
in Brooklyn’s fashionable Dumbo neighbourhood. Torres is a real-life Willy
Wonka: peek through the windows of his factory to see the darlingest
delicacies being created, then select a box as a token of your love.
A skyline smooch atop the Empire State Building sounds like a terrific idea –
until you reflect that 3.8m people elbow their way around its claustrophobic
decks each year. Charlotte would choose the elegant viewing platforms at Top
of the Rock in Rockefeller Plaza (212 698 2000, www.topoftherocknyc.com)
– a much more sophisticated spot to watch the sun slink behind the
skyscrapers.
Sleeping and socialising: Soho House New York (212 627 9800, www.sohohouseny.com;
from £260) is the perfect sweethearts’ hideaway, with exposed beams, vampish
fabrics, OTT bathrooms and a rooftop playground for lazy, loved-up brunches.
The Carlyle (212 744 1600, www.thecarlyle.com;
from £325) is the celebrities’ favourite – Princess Diana said she’d like to
live there. Even if you can’t afford a room, drop in to Bemelmans Bar, where
they’ll create a new cocktail just for you – now there’s an original gift.
The VIP suite at the Mandarin Oriental (212 805 8800, www.mandarinoriental.com/newyork;
three hours for £550) is the bricks-and-mortar equivalent of Barry White’s
baritone: day beds, a freestanding fireplace and indulgent deep-soaking tub.
Apparently, it averages one proposal a month.
There are plenty of big-bucks dining options, but Allen & Delancey (212
253 5400, www.allenanddelancey.net),
on the Lower East Side, has a smoochy candlelit vibe and food that’s every
bit as good as the major-league places – mains go for less than £15.
SHOPPING WITH CARRIE
What Carrie Bradshaw wouldn’t give for a bit of British buying power just now.
With the pound worth double dollars, a shopping spree in the city feels
almost like stealing.
You’ll definitely bump into real-life Carries in the Nolita district, which
exploded with expensive boutiques in the 1990s. It’s the place to rummage
for one-offs and vintage pieces. Next, make for the trio of Designer Resale
stores among the brownstones of East 81st Street (www.designerresaleconsignment.com),
and snaffle one or two secondhand labels. And before you go, check the
website Daily Candy (www.dailycandy.com),
which has the inside track on where to find the juiciest Big Apple sales.
Now, how about some heels to match your new outfit? Filene’s Basement (www.filenesbasement.com)
is New York’s TK Maxx, and its Union Square branch has a vast floor of
ready-paired shoes, so you don’t have to waste three lifetimes waiting to
learn that they don’t have your size. I bagged a pair of Jimmy Choo sandals
for £15, and it only took five minutes.
NY old hands might also consider the hour-long £20 bus ride to Woodbury Common
Premium Outlets (www.premiumoutlets.com),
which has more than 200 factory shops from Gap to Gucci. Giorgio Armani
suits sometimes go for £140 there. Of course, if you nab one of those,
you’ll want to stop shopping, as only the first £145 worth of overseas
purchases are tax-and duty-free; after that, we’re liable to Vat at 17.5%
and duty at 12%.
Sleeping and socialising: the glamorous take on gothic Gotham at the Bowery
Hotel (212 505 9100, www.boweryhotel.com;
from £240) is a perfect match for Carrie’s quirky style, with bowler-hatted
doormen, bowls of peacock feathers and a British bulldog (stuffed) guarding
the lobby bar. True, it’s next door to a shelter for the homeless, but you
may well bump into Adrien Brody in the lift, and just across the road is the
industrially chic Great Jones Spa (212 505 3185, www.gjspa.com),
complete with groovy water lounge. If only it weren’t full of willowy
wannabe supermodels, it would be our favourite NY pampering parlour.
For a cheaper sleep, try the cool minimalism of the Duane Street Hotel (212
964 4600, www.duanestreethotel.com;
from £120) in up-and-coming TriBeCa. Dine at the Waverly Inn (212 243 7900),
Manhattan’s answer to The Ivy, which serves up comfort food to celebrities.
The truffle fries are delicious.
CULTURE WITH MIRANDA
Like most true New Yorkers, Miranda loves her museums, and the current talk of
the town are the new Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art (212 535 7710, www.metmuseum.org).
Renovated as part of the recent £110m revamp, they’ve caused a real stir,
and given the city a stunning new museum within a museum – there are more
than 5,000 Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman pieces, many unseen by the public
for decades. Plus, the Met’s new sculpture court, bathed in a heavenly light
by a two-storey glass atrium, is a fine place to while away an afternoon.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum (212 423 3500, www.guggenheim.org)
rivals the Met for architectural impact. Just now it looks even more
magnificent, because the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang has suspended nine
white cars from its rotunda – you’ll have to hurry, though: his exhibition
runs until May 28.
As a busy advocate, Miranda needs to maximise her time, so rather than spend
an evening at the New York Philharmonic (212 875 5030, www.nyphil.org),
she’d doubtless catch a daytime open rehearsal. They’re fascinating, and a
bargain: tickets cost £8 (compared with £60 and up a few hours later).
Sleeping and socialising: 6 Columbus (212 204 3000, www.thompsonhotels.com;
from £175) combines Austin Powers styling, a fun rooftop bar and a fab
location near the Lincoln Center, making it a suitably artsy base for
wannabe Mirandas. The Shoreham (212 247 6700, www.shorehamhotel.com;
from £140, B&B), just off Fifth Avenue, is a cheaper alternative,
with grey-suede rooms and a Zen-like lobby full of thoughtful touches,
including free coffee and newspapers. Nearby, the RitzCarlton’s dinky but
decadent spa (212 308 9100, www.ritzcarlton.com)
offers a glorious gold facial that would accessorise nicely with our star
lawyer’s carefully coiffed locks.
For dinner, Miranda would appreciate the trendy but nononsense Back Forty (212
388 1990, www.backfortynyc.com),
in the East Village. It’s a farm-style tavern serving responsibly sourced
food, including grass-fed burgers and fries with rosemary sea salt.
PARTYING WITH SAMANTHA
IF Ms Samantha Jones had to work in just one New York neighbourhood these
days, she’d point her killer heels towards the celebrity hot spots on the
Lower East Side. It’s got The Box (212 982 9301, www.theboxnyc.com),
a risqué burlesque dinner theatre that attracts the likes of Cameron Diaz,
Uma Thurman and Gisele. Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson have been
spotted at the 1970s-inspired dance lounge 105 Riv (212 475 2600,
105riv.com), underneath the Hotel on Rivington. REM, Moby and Joss Stone are
all frequenters of the National Underground (212 475 0611), a saloon-style
live-music venue on Houston Street. And Mary-Kate Olsen sometimes stays far
too late at Sweet Paradise (212 226 3612, www.sweetparadiselounge.com),
on Orchard Street.
Sleeping and socialising: when the Royalton (212 869 4400, www.royaltonhotel.com;
from £200, B&B) opened 20 years ago, it became the blueprint for
every hip boutique hotel that followed. “Reimagined” for the 21st century,
its lobby is now a lush, firelit meeting place, the bedrooms greyer and
sexier than ever. Alternatively, Samantha would adore the swimming pool in
the lobby at QT (212 354 2323, www.hotelqt.com;
from £80, B&B) – not to mention the hotel’s Egyptian cotton linens
and Kiss My Face amenities. The SoHo institution Balthazar (212 965 1414, www.balthazarny.com)
is perfect for brunch – try the indecently scrummy sour-cream hazelnut
waffles with warm berries.
Spa by day (with slinky black bathrobes and heeled flip-flops) and bar by
night (when the treatment rooms convert to naughty, intimate lounges), the G
Spa (212 660 6733, www.gansevoortspaandlounge.com)
is the obvious place for Samantha to lie back and get pounded by a buff
masseur.
Getting there: Silverjet (0844 855 0111, www.flysilverjet.com)
flies business-class only from Luton to Newark, from £1,099 return. Other
airline options include Continental (0845 607 6760, www.continental.com),
Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007, www.virgin-atlantic.com)
and British Airways (0844 493 0787, www.ba.com);
returns start from about £350.
Susan d’Arcy travelled as a guest of Silverjet, the Royalton and 6 Columbus
