The Plaza Hotel Is Closing for Renovation: Planning a New York Trip

For more than a century, The Plaza has been one of New York's best-known addresses. The eighteen-storey hotel at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, just south of Central Park, has hosted The Beatles and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, appeared in Home Alone 2 and gave the fictional Eloise her home. Now it is preparing to close its doors for a few years.

Why The Plaza is closing

The reason is the building's marble façade. Starting in 2027, the hotel will begin a four-year restoration of its exterior. Architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh designed the building in 1907 with rusticated marble on the lower levels and smooth, polished marble higher up. According to Condé Nast Traveler, rusticated marble wears faster in the weather and often needs restoration within about twenty years. The last major renovation was in 2008.

The work is complicated because both the façade and the interior are designated landmarks. New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission is working with the hotel, and the restoration has to be carefully managed to protect the marble and the historic details. Allison Doyle Partners Architects, who worked on the earlier interior renovation, are leading the project, with design firm HLZAE overseeing the masonry.

If you were hoping to stay at The Plaza

If The Plaza is on your wish list, check directly with the hotel about its final dates before you book anything. Once the work begins, plan on a few years before it welcomes overnight guests again.

The good news is that you can still enjoy the neighbourhood. The corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South remains one of the city's great spots for a walk, and the park itself is at its most photogenic in the colder months.

Choosing a New York neighbourhood instead

New York has hundreds of hotels, so a closure at one landmark leaves plenty of choice. Where you stay shapes your trip more than which hotel you pick:

• Midtown puts you near Central Park, Broadway and Fifth Avenue shopping. It's busy, but it makes a short trip efficient.
• The Upper East and Upper West Sides are quieter, residential and close to the park and the big museums.
• Lower Manhattan and SoHo suit travellers who want restaurants, galleries and walkable streets.
• Brooklyn often offers more space and a local feel, a short subway ride from Manhattan.

Tips for a New York trip from Canada

Go for a long weekend. New York is a short flight from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, which makes it one of the easiest city breaks for Canadians. Three or four nights is enough to see the highlights without rushing.

Pick your season. The holidays bring the lights on Fifth Avenue and the tree at Rockefeller Center, along with big crowds. January and February are colder and quieter, and hotels are often easier to find.

Use transit. The subway reaches almost everywhere, and it's usually faster than a taxi in Manhattan traffic.

Book flight and hotel together. Planning both at once makes it easier to line up dates and compare total trip costs. Browse our New York deals, compare New York hotels by neighbourhood, or look up flights to New York from your city.

Classic New York experiences that remain

The Plaza closing doesn't change the rest of the classic New York checklist. You can still skate in Central Park in winter, take in a Broadway show, walk the High Line or ride the Staten Island Ferry for free views of the harbour. Pick two or three big sights per day, cluster them by neighbourhood and leave time for long meals. New York rewards slow wandering as much as it does a packed itinerary.

A landmark worth waiting for

Closing a hotel for years is a big step, but it shows how much work goes into keeping a landmark standing. When The Plaza reopens, its marble should look much as it did when the hotel opened in 1907. Until then, New York has no shortage of places to stay.