Everyone knows New York’s Times Square. Fewer people know that one avenue west, the neon gives way to something with a lot more personality. Hell’s Kitchen runs roughly from 34th to 59th Street, from Eighth Avenue to the Hudson River, and it packs in an aircraft carrier, a restaurant for every mood and enough theatre to keep you busy until last drinks. It’s also where one of Manhattan’s best-known hotels is about to get a very big makeover. Here’s how to do it properly.
Where to stay: the hotel with ink in its veins
Ink 48 occupies a building that began life as a printing press in the 1930s, which explains the name. It’s now set to become MGallery Collection’s US flagship, announcing the boutique brand’s arrival in New York. The hotel has 222 guestrooms, including 17 suites and a signature penthouse, designed to feel spacious by Manhattan standards (a rare luxury). Expect Hudson River and skyline views, a ground-floor restaurant called Hudson Local and a rooftop bar called Hudson VU.
The hotel will undergo a renovation, then reopen under the MGallery banner in 2028, managed by Rebel Hotel Company. In the meantime, it keeps operating independently, so you can still book it before the makeover.
Start with an aircraft carrier
Few neighbourhoods let you begin the day by walking across an aircraft carrier. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, on Pier 86, houses the carrier itself, a Concorde and the space shuttle Enterprise. Afterwards, wander Hudson River Park, where you can even try your hand at kayaking on the water.
Eat your way up Ninth Avenue
Ninth Avenue is the neighbourhood’s spine, and it’s lined with independent restaurants and bars that feel more local than anything in Times Square. Thai is a specialty, with Pure Thai Cookhouse and Larb Ubol both beloved for their noodles and Northern Thai dishes. Expect queues at peak hours, so go off-peak or put your name down and walk around the block. Come May, the 9th Avenue International Food Festival takes over the avenue.
Curtain up
Hell’s Kitchen sits beside the Theatre District, and the classic night out here is dinner on Restaurant Row (West 46th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues), a show a few blocks east and a drink on Ninth Avenue afterwards. For something quintessentially showbiz, Don’t Tell Mama is a piano bar where the staff take turns belting out show tunes into the small hours.
Go high, then go green
To the south-west, Hudson Yards brings the Vessel, the Shed and the Edge observation deck. From there, the High Line starts nearby and runs down into Chelsea, ideal for walking off lunch.
Finish upstairs
Come evening, head back for a drink at Hudson VU, where the view across the skyline and the Hudson River is the best seat in the neighbourhood.
The MGallery factor
Ink 48’s new owner brings a lot of momentum. MGallery is Accor’s collection of more than 125 boutique hotels with distinctive stories, with more than 60 projects in development and nine openings planned before the end of 2026, including Kove Hotel & Spa Mykonos and V Villas Maldives at Mirihi. The US is one of its top five feeder markets, which makes New York a logical next stop. The brand already has a Sydney address in The Brighton Hotel, so Australian travellers will find a familiar name on the West Side.
The reopening is still a couple of years off, but a printing-press building, a riverfront rooftop and a neighbourhood this good make 2028 an easy date to circle.
