Arlo NoMad

New York real estate prices being what they are, you can see why a spacious hotel room can easily run you a month’s rent back home. The flip side of this rule is that an affordable room is often laughably small. The Arlo NoMad, however, goes a long way toward solving the equation — through a combination of clever, compact layouts and the plentiful sunlight afforded by the full-length windows of a brand-new hotel building, its rooms manage to feel livable rather than laughable, in spite of their modest square footage.

In practice this means the bed occupies the majority of the room, with a front-row view straight out those big windows, and a bathroom that’s got space for a glass-enclosed rain shower. In size they range from cozy bunk rooms to relatively expansive king rooms, but they top out there. If you’re the penthouse-suite type, then the Arlo might not be for you — but some rooms do come with a terrace that’s as large as the room itself, for when the weather permits some al fresco lounging.

Anyway a hotel like the Arlo isn’t strictly about maximizing the in-room luxury. Here you’ve got plenty to tempt you out of your sleeping quarters, from the Middle Eastern cuisine at Lamalo to the second-floor cocktail bar, BARlo. Meanwhile a second rooftop bar provides an alternative venue, and a 24-hour bodega serves coffee and snacks around the clock. From here you’re close by to Murray Hill, lower Midtown, the Flatiron, and Koreatown — and the rest of Manhattan is only a subway ride away.