Why We Always Book This Hotel for Our Girls’ Trip to NYC
There’s a question we get on nearly every NYC planning call: where should we actually stay? And after three separate trips — three different groups, three different reasons for being in the city — we keep coming back to the same answer: the Times Square EDITION. It’s right in the Theater District, close enough to Broadway that you can walk to a matinee in your coat and still make curtain with time to spare.
It’s not a super flashy pick, and it’s not the only good hotel in Midtown. It’s a practical but still luxurious one. And when you’re building a trip around a tight schedule — a show, a brunch reservation, a dinner across town — practical is what makes the whole weekend actually work.
The location does the heavy lifting
Every itinerary we’ve built around this hotel follows the same rough shape: check in early afternoon, walk to a Broadway show, come back to change for dinner, repeat the next day with a different neighborhood. That only works if the hotel is close enough to everything that you’re not losing an hour of your trip to traffic on the FDR.
Being steps from the theaters means you can browse a marquee on your way to dinner, duck in for a nightcap after a show, and still be back in your room before midnight. On one of our June stays, we wandered past the Booth Theatre on a whim one evening and the Music Box Theatre a few nights later — both an easy walk from where we were staying, both worth a detour even if you don’t have tickets that night, just to see the lights. Theaters in this neighborhood also go all-in on the details — floral photo-op installations in the lobby, playbills worth holding onto — the kind of small touches that make a matinee feel like an occasion instead of just an errand which we LOVE.
It’s the right kind of central for a holiday trip
If you’re planning a Christmas or Thanksgiving weekend in the city, location matters even more than usual. Sidewalks are packed, cabs are scarce, and the last thing you want is a 25-minute crosstown trip standing between you and dinner. Staying in the Theater District puts you within walking distance of a holiday matinee, an easy cab ride to Fifth Avenue for the windows, and close enough to Central Park that a post-brunch stroll doesn’t eat your whole afternoon.
It’s the same reason the Times Square EDITION worked for a February trip built around a matinee and dinner reservations, and a May trip built around shopping and a downtown theater run. The hotel isn’t the destination, but it’s the thing that makes every other reservation on your itinerary easy to actually keep.
What to build around it
A few reservations we’d suggest anchoring your stay to, based on what’s worked on past trips:
A Broadway matinee booked the moment you know your dates. Holiday weekends sell out early!
One dinner within walking distance so your first night isn’t spent in a car.
A daytime block left open for Fifth Avenue or Central Park - both a short cab ride away.
