Even as I write this article, I’m already plotting my return to New York City. I got us tickets to see the acclaimed revivals of “Sunset Boulevard” and “Gypsy,” and I look forward to going back for the Neue Galerie’s “Neue Sachlichkeit/New Objectivity” exhibition, which runs February 20 to May 26.

For this most recent trip, two splashy hotel debuts were what drew me back. I can’t long resist the opening of a luxury hotel in Manhattan! My traveling companion and I tried one in the increasingly stylish NoMad neighborhood (north of Madison Square Park) and another in long-fashionable Tribeca. Stays in both also allowed us to explore a raft of new upscale Chinese restaurants.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel

As we walked into The Fifth Avenue Hotel’s small lobby, we heard a front desk clerk on the phone announce: “A package just came for [celebrity] — could you bring it up to her room?” Discretion may not be one of this hotel’s strengths, but it has numerous other charms. Part of the property, including the soaring Café Carmellini and some of the 153 guest rooms, occupies a handsome 19th-century mansion on Fifth Avenue. The private home became an art gallery and later a bank, and now, with the addition of a 23-story tower behind it, a wonderfully over-the-top hotel.