On a luxury stay in NYC, NOLA & Florida

NYC is my husband’s favorite city, and therefore we go there quite often. And believe it or not, we chose the same hotel as 6 years ago, and this for the 4^th time! After the 3^rd time, we were determined to stay at another one. But despite a thorough research we could not find what we had been looking for. We simply could not find an equal alternative to the hotel we first went to in 2010, and it still looks as new as at the time when it had been open for about a year. And which hotel is it? It is the CrosbyStreet Hotel, belonging to the Firmdale group! I will go more into more details at a later point in time, but here are a few details in advance. It is located on a quiet cobbled street in the vibrant SoHo neighborhood and it has constantly been under the best hotels on TripAdvisor for years, at the moment it is #10 and has the rating “Excellent” (5 points). This hotel is modern, stylish and offers every luxury a demanding traveler may request (also have a look at my review of our first stay).

Crosby Street Hotel: Restaurant

Whereas my husband already knew the city, it was my first time there. I did like the Lower French Quarter, but was disappointed by the famous Bourbon Street. There were few jazz clubs and many places selling cheap alcohol! The walk along the Mississippi and the ferry crossing to Algiers was nice as well as the ride with the streetcar through the Garden District and the succeeding stroll there.

New Orleans: Royal Street

From NOLA we drove by car to Florida’s east coast with a stop in Florida’s Panhandle. While the drive was scenic, there is not much to find as top hotels and restaurants are concerned. We made a stop in the quaint village of Port Saint Joe and spent a night at a decent B&B, the Turtle Beach Inn (TripAdvisor #2 B&B), and had a really tasty pizza at Joe Mama’s Wood Fired Pizza (TripAdvisor #3).

Turtle Beach Inn

This city in northeastern Florida is the oldest in the USA, founded in 1565. Its historical district is like an outdoor museum, nice to look at, but a little bit artificial. Nevertheless, we liked our stay there. By recommendation of our B&B owner we did an Old Town TrolleyTour (TripAdvisor # 12) and consider it a good thing. You get an overview of the attractions and learn a bit about the history of the city.

Saint Augustine

As the first class hotels in Saint Augustine did not meet our expectations (mixed reviews on TripAdvisor), we settled for a B&B: The Cedar House Inn (TripAdvisor #1 B&B) and were very satisfied with our choice. This B&B offers a perfect location, beautiful premises and last but not least an excellent host, it really was a treat!

Cedar House Inn

The last three times we stayed at hotels in Miami: Four Seasons (TripAdvisor #3), Mandarin Oriental (TripAdvisor #4) and Turnberry Isle (TripAdvisor #1 Aventura).

This time we wanted to be in Miami Beach, and that in South Beach directly by the sea. We wished to stay at a large ocean front room and were not ready to spend 1,000 Dollars or more. This narrowed the choice considerably, top hotels as The Setai or the Ritz-Carlton were no longer possible. Finally, we opted for the Metropolitan by Como (TripAdvisor #1) because of the good reviews on TripAdvisor and due to the fact that we had made good experiences with the Como Group in the past and were not disappointed. Our Ocean View Suite (see my post) was fantastic, the onsite restaurant really good and the staff very friendly and helpful.

Metropolitan by Como: view from room

Restaurants