Where to stay in New York: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

This is the New York of the films: the Art Deco spire of the Chrysler Building, the skaters at Rockefeller Center, the flagship stores of Fifth Avenue and the cathedral calm of St Patrick's. MoMA is here, Grand Central's celestial ceiling is here, and Central Park is a few blocks north. For a first visit, nowhere is more convenient.

The hotels match the scale. The Lotte New York Palace sits at Madison and 50th, steps from St Patrick's. The Baccarat faces MoMA and glitters with crystal. The Langham occupies a 60-storey limestone tower on Fifth Avenue, and the InterContinental Barclay has been receiving guests near Grand Central since 1926. Midtown is busy, corporate and loud on weekdays; it is also impossible to beat for getting around.

Times Square is a sensory assault of billboards, costumed characters and crowds that never seem to thin. New Yorkers avoid it; visitors love it. The real draw is the Theater District around it, where Broadway's grand old playhouses line the side streets, and Bryant Park and the New York Public Library offer a breather a few blocks east.

Hotels here have learned to give you a calm retreat from the chaos. The Knickerbocker, a reborn landmark, sits between Broadway and Bryant Park; the InterContinental gives you floor-to-ceiling windows above it all; and Kimpton Theta has a rooftop bar in a midcentury building. For families, AKA's serviced apartments on a quiet stretch of West 44th Street come with kitchens and space to spread out.

Central Park South is where New York keeps its grandest hotels, lined up along the bottom of the park like guests at a society wedding. Horse-drawn carriages wait at the corner, Fifth Avenue's department stores are a stroll away, and the park itself unrolls north for miles of lakes, meadows and boating ponds.

The Plaza has been the city's most famous address since 1907, and the Pierre faces the park from across Fifth Avenue. Further up, the Upper East Side is quieter and wealthier, with the Met and Museum Mile on its doorstep; the Mark occupies a 1927 landmark on Madison at 77th Street. At Columbus Circle, the Mandarin Oriental looks out over the park and the Hudson. You pay for the view, but what a view.

The West Side has reinvented itself. The High Line, an old elevated railway turned into a garden walkway, threads from the Meatpacking District's cobbled streets and designer stores up through Chelsea's art galleries to the glass towers of Hudson Yards. Restaurants are hot, bars are rooftop and the evenings run late.

Gansevoort Meatpacking is the scene-stealer, with a rooftop pool and garden over the cobbles. Kimpton Eventi fills a whole Chelsea block with restaurants and bars near the High Line and Madison Square Garden, and Equinox in Hudson Yards is a luxury hotel for people who take their workouts seriously. On the edge of Flatiron, the Fifth Avenue Hotel brings Gilded Age opulence a few minutes from the Empire State Building.

SoHo's cast-iron warehouses now house fashion flagships and galleries, and its streets are a parade of shoppers and street-style photographers. Tribeca, just south, is quieter and more grown-up: wide, cobbled streets, converted lofts, serious restaurants and the occasional film star walking the dog.

This is the place for boutique hotels with personality. The Soho Grand is an industrial-chic downtown classic, and the Roxy, between SoHo and Tribeca, has moved from 1920s cinema to 90s dance club to music-loving hotel. In Tribeca, the Greenwich Hotel has the feel of a private house, and Fouquet's brings a Parisian brasserie, a spa and its own cinema to the cobbles. Romantic, stylish and a little bit smug.

The southern tip of Manhattan is where New York began, and its crooked streets still follow the old Dutch lanes. Wall Street, the 9/11 Memorial and the ferries to the Statue of Liberty are all here, and the Seaport's brick buildings and Pier 17 add a waterfront to wander along. It's frantic on weekdays and peaceful at weekends, when hotel prices often dip.

The Beekman, built around a spectacular nine-storey Victorian atrium under a pyramid skylight, is one of the most beautiful hotels in the city. The 33 Hotel faces the Brooklyn Bridge in the Seaport District, a short walk from the Statue of Liberty ferry, and the Hyatt Centric sits a few blocks from the Stock Exchange.

Brooklyn stopped being the alternative years ago; now it's simply where a lot of the good stuff happens. Williamsburg is the lively one, with cocktail bars, vintage shops, rooftop terraces and weekend food markets, a quick hop over the bridge from Manhattan. Down by the water, Brooklyn Bridge Park has the best skyline view in the city.

Hotels are design-led and sociable. In Williamsburg, the William Vale has an outdoor pool and sweeping views, Arlo Williamsburg has double-height rooms with natural finishes, and CODA adds a seasonal pool. On the riverfront, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge looks across the East River to the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. Ideal for a second visit, when you want to live like a local.

Long Island City, the westernmost corner of Queens, sits directly across the East River from Midtown. A decade of building has filled it with glassy towers, a riverside park and a growing crop of restaurants and breweries, and it's often noticeably cheaper than Manhattan for the same standard of room.

The trade-off is a short subway ride, and most hotels are close to Queensboro Plaza or other stations, with Midtown just one stop away. The EVEN Hotel is aimed at wellness-minded travellers, Z NYC is a stylish boutique option, and the Boro has a lobby fireplace and a restaurant. Many rooms have that famous skyline in the window.