Hotel Review: The Pierre Hotel, New York

Located on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the smart restaurants and Fifth Avenue shopping boutiques are all around. There's a choice of subway stations nearby, quickly taking you in all directions of the city. Central Park, the Rockefeller Center, the posh store Bergdorf Goodman and Radio City Music Hall are all within a short walk.

By plane: flights to New York take 6 hours 50 mins from London and Edinburgh, and 7 hours 10 mins from Manchester. The hotel is a 30-minute taxi ride from JFK airport. Parking on-site costs $50 per day. Book flights to New York.

This 41-storey landmark opened in 1930 and is a tribute to Neoclassical Georgian design. A shrine to old-world opulence, it has a host of classic detailing, with gilded mouldings, stone pilasters and lots of black and white marble flooring. Chandeliers tower over its ballrooms, and its striking Rotunda is a feast of trompe l'oeil murals. Its Indian owners, Taj, gave it a $100m renovation in 2009, adding a few Indian touches. With its feel of luxury from an earlier age, you almost feel like you're Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Aristotle Onassis or Yves Saint Laurent - and indeed all have been past guests.

Here you're stepping into a grand hotel run the old way, with liveried, extremely professional staff. There's a top-notch restaurant, cocktail bar and lounge that offers live music, a 24-hour fitness centre, room service, a business centre and laundry. There are event spaces including a huge ballroom with a 1500 capacity.

• Restaurants
• Bar
• Roof terrace
• Fitness centre
• Beauty treatments
• Paid parking
• Free Wi-Fi

The Pierre's guest rooms and suites are spacious, luxurious, elegantly and traditionally furnished, and typically feature antique tables and cabinets, upholstered chairs and bright artworks. The dominant colours are creams and whites, and the walls are papered. Bathrooms are clad in Turkish marble and there are Etro amenities, plush bathrobes and slippers.

Room types: Superior, ADA Deluxe, City View, Park View, Signature Park View rooms

Key amenities: ensuite bathroom, TV, Bose Wave radios, free Wi-Fi

The hotel's Perrine Restaurant represents fine dining at its best: fantastic dishes, a great wine list, swanky surroundings and outstanding service. There's a good breakfast menu, with pancakes, eggs done every way, continental and more. Afternoon tea is an institution at the hotel and the neoclassical Two E Lounge has jazz and other live music some evenings.

Perrine: French-American dining. Open Tues-Sat 4.30-10pm. Mains from $29.

The Rotunda: lunch, dinner and cocktails.

Two E Bar: drinks, afternoon tea and cocktails.