If you want a good-value, perfect base for exploring Manhattan, this is it

The hotel

Moxy Lower East Side, NYC

Moxy Lower East Side NYC.

Check-in

“This is Where the Magic Happens” reads the pink neon sign near the reception desk. Ain’t that the truth. The fourth, and most recent, Moxy to open in Manhattan doubles down on the brand’s design and style trademarks – funky, quirky, whimsical and aimed at the young and young-at-heart. Just to the right of the 303-room hotel’s entrance are two spiral staircases that take you down to on-site restaurant Sake No Hana. Inside to the left is the door to piano lounge Silver Lining. And to the right is The Fix, the open-plan all-day cafe, nighttime bar, co-working space and general hangout. It’s all in keeping with the brand’s MO to get guests out of their rooms and mingling.

The look

Interior fitout is unique and funky.

The hotel occupies an impressive box of black steel, concrete and glass right on the former skid row – and now achingly hip – Bowery. Even before you take the elevator to your room, you’ll be playing a game of spot-the-quirk, taking photos and posting them to Instagram. Numerous unique touches from interior designers Michaelis Boyd and Rockwell Group include a statue of a hula-hooping bear, a hanging birdcage seat, a vintage Ms Pacman machine, a shuffleboard table, and lolly dispensers from Lower East Side institution Economy Candy.

The room

A King City View Room, compact but not cramped.

The property has 10 room types – as well as the Factory Loft suite, just in case you’re feeling like king/queen of the world and want a 50-square metre haven with its own terrace. My King City View Room is compact but not cramped and, as with all Moxy hotels, it uses clever space-saving hacks including a fold-away desk, storage hutches under the bed and pegs for hanging clothes. A large flatscreen TV includes complimentary streaming apps. The bathroom has a rain shower, terrazzo floors, a lava stone sink, MUK bath products and a mirror framed with bulbs, making you feel as if you’re backstage and about to go on. The on-site 24/7 fitness centre has a range of Pelotons and state-of-the-art equipment.

Food + drink

The crowning glory… The Highlight Room rooftop bar.

There are five food and beverage destinations, so good luck dragging yourself outside. The Fix has complimentary filter coffee, juices, muffins, yoghurt and fruit every morning, and there’s also a small cafe with espresso machine, baked goods and sandwiches. As the sun sets, the same space becomes an atmospheric and buzzy cocktail bar.

Sake No Hana… there’s no shortage of bar or dining options at the Moxy.

Downstairs, modern Japanese restaurant Sake No Hana is a huge space decorated with big kimono-like tapestries and hot air balloon-style light fittings. Food is next level, with shareable dishes including chili crunch edamame, black truffle steak tartare, and inventive sushi and teppanyaki dishes. Silver Lining is a speakeasy-style piano lounge inspired by Andy Warhol’s Factory from the ’60s, thus the mural that includes Edie Sedgewick and the famous banana design for the first Velvet Underground album. Settle into blue velvet upholstered chairs, order the Warhol Margarita, and enjoy the solo pianists and combos who keep the room humming.

The hotel’s crowning glory, The Highlight Room rooftop bar festooned with explosions of hanging plants, has magnificent views of the Empire State Building uptown and the Freedom Tower downtown. In the basement, reached in true Lower East Side style by an alleyway, is subterranean nightclub Loosie’s, with mirror balls on the ceiling and lights synched to the DJ’s music.

Out + about

Katz’s Delicatessen, a Lower East Side institution, is a near neighbour.Credit: Getty Images

If you had to choose the ideal base for exploring downtown Manhattan, your pin would land dead on the Moxy. Lower East Side favourites such as Katz’s Delicatessen, the Tenement Museum and the buzzy nightlife of Orchard and Ludlow Streets are in the ’hood, while the hip cafes, galleries and boutiques of NoLiTa and SoHo are just to the west, Chinatown is an easy walk downtown, and the East Village is a 15-minute stroll, just north of Houston Street.

The verdict

If ever a hotel reflected the buzz, energy and street style of the Lower East Side, then this is it.

The essentials

From $US199 a night. There are 30 accessible rooms, including those for wheelchair access and the hearing impaired. Moxy Lower East Side, 145 Bowery, New York. Phone [phone]. See moxylowereastside.com

Our score out of five

★★★★½

Highlight

The dining experience at Sake No Hana is so good that you should consider making a booking even if you’re not staying at the hotel.

Lowlight

There is a $US32 destination fee each night, the benefits of which were only fully explained on my second day at the hotel – ask for details at check-in to make use of them. They include daily credits for laundry, for food and beverage at The Fix, and a CitiBike pass.

The writer stayed as a guest of Moxy Lower East Side.