Best Cities for Cat Lovers & Adventure Cats: New York City
Since we are a family with Adventure Cats, finding cool places to visit where we can take Sophie and Kylo Ren (and Lucy too!) is one of our favorite things. I’m a dreamer and am always planning hypothetical vacations for us, so I thought it would be fun to share with our readers some of our dream destinations. We will start our Worldwide Dream Tour with the one of the best travel destination in the USA for cat lovers – New York City!
It may come as no surprise to some of you that NYC is listed as a top city for cat lovers. As the “City That Never Sleeps,” there is always something to do in the Big Apple, no matter your interests. If one of your interests happens to be cats or you love to travel with your cat, NYC doesn’t disappoint! With posh pet-friendly hotels, lots of parks, and a multitude of attractions such as cat cafes, you and your feline travel companions are sure to be pleased.
Cat-Friendly Accommodations
Finding a hotel that will allow you to bring your pets isn’t always easy. Many don’t allow pets at all, or if they do, they may charge an exorbitant pet fee. Fret not – there are actually a number of pet-friendly hotels and accommodations in New York City, and as an added bonus, some don’t even charge any extra fees! We’re going to take a look at a couple of the options.
The Kimpton Muse Hotel
Located in Times Square, the Kimpton Muse Hotel is possibly the most extravagantly pet-friendly hotel in NYC. It says right on their website, “At every Kimpton boutique hotel, we invite you to bring your furry, feathery or scaly family member — no matter their size, weight, or breed, all at no extra charge. If your pet fits through the door, we’ll welcome them in.” How cool is that?! Not only are ALL pets welcome (by name upon arrival, I might add) at the Kimpton Muse Hotel, there are also a variety of pet-friendly amenities to take advantage of, including:
- plush pet-bed loaders in your guest room, as well as food and water bowls
- a concierge list of nearby pet-friendly restaurants, parks, groomers and pet boutiques
- door hangers that alert other hotel guests and staff that your pet is in the room
- no limit on number of pets allowed (that means we could bring the whole Adventure Team!)
- a nightly wine reception at which pets are welcome to join the party!
Not only are the pet amenities amazing, the amenities and accommodations for humans look like they’re pretty awesome too. Sounds almost too good to be true!
The Algonquin Hotel
The Algonquin Hotel is one of the top pet-friendly hotels in New York City, and it is a tourist attraction for cat-lovers in and of itself! People flock to the lobby of the Algonquin in hopes of visiting with the Legendary Algonquin Cat. Since the hotel owner adopted a stray cat to serve as the hotel’s house pet back in the 1930s, the hotel has always kept a cat “on staff,” naming it Matilda if a girl and Hamlet if a boy. According to the Algonquin Hotel website, there have been 3 Matildas and 7 Hamlets.
Matilda/Hamlet isn’t the only cat in the hotel who gets the royalty treatment though. Furry guests of the Algonquin can expect to not only stay for free but also receive a welcome kit with a list of services in the area. Their room will also be stocked ahead of time with food and water bowls, a floor mat, litter box, and gloves and waste bags.
Cat-Friendly Attractions
Whether you are a cat-lover traveling without your cat companion or a cat-lover traveling with your adventure cat in tow, there are several attractions in NYC that you won’t want to miss. Here are our top choices:
Meow Parlour
Meow Parlour is NYC’s first ever cat cafe – “a place that combines sweet cats & delicious treats!” At this cat cafe, you can hang out surrounded by free-roaming cats and enjoy a sweet treat for just $6 per half hour. If you are worried about falling in love with any of the cats while you’re there, there’s good news – all of the cats are adoptable! Meow Parlour teamed up with KittyKind, an all-volunteer no-kill cat rescue group, to provide you with your cat cafe company.
They also have a Yoga & Kitties Class. For 20 bucks, you can enjoy 30 minutes of cat playtime, 45 minutes of yoga, and a final 15 minutes of cooling down with kitties. Sounds like my kind of yoga!
If you plan on visiting Meow Parlour while you’re in New York, be sure to make a reservation ahead of time, as it fills up! *Note: You can’t bring your own cat with you to Meow Parlour.
Morningside Park
Not only is Morningside Park a 30-acre park with all kinds of amenities such as ponds, picnic areas, and sports fields, it is also home to a large group of several dozen feral cats. This group of ferals is maintained by a TNR group, the Feral Cat Initiative. This group, as well as some of the locals, help to spay and neuter the cats, erect shelters for them, and feed them. Though most of these cats won’t let you get too close to them, you can still enjoy a nice walk or picnic in the park, while watching the kitties sunbathe, nap, hunt, and play.
Central Park + More
Central Park is probably one of the most iconic parks in the country. Sprawling across 842 acres, there is a TON to see and do there. There’s a carousel, a zoo, multiple gardens, a lake, ponds, a marionette theater, playgrounds, an ice-skating rink (in the winter), various sculptures, tons of open grassy areas, and more. There’s definitely no shortage of activities in Central Park, as you can see.
Central Park also happens to have many pet-friendly sections, so you can bring your adventure cat with you to roll around in the grass and do some bird/squirrel watching. Central Park would also make an awesome backdrop to those model shots you’ve been wanting to get of your cat 😉 You definitely want to be careful and have your cat on a leash at all times though, because there are also lots of dogs hanging out in the park too.
Even though some people may see New York City as a concrete jungle, it actually has a lot parks. Central Park isn’t the only pet-friendly one either, so you and your adventure cat could go park-hopping on your big NYC trip!
I have to say, after putting together this list of cat-friendly accommodations and attractions in New York City, I am itching to get up there for a visit even more. Sophie, Kylo Ren, and Lucy definitely agree!
Have you visited any of these cat-friendly places in NYC? If so, tell us about it in the comments!
Summer says
My human promises me that one day, we’ll travel to New York together!
Tonya Wilhelm says
OMG how fun! My was not socialized (rescue) for fun adventures. I sure wish he was. That cat cafe looks like so much fun!
DearMishu says
That’s such a good info because we in NYC every other month.
Lola The Rescued Cat says
Oh yay!!! You picked our city! Would you believe that Mommy has NEVER been to Morningside Park?? She must go to see the feral community and find out more about them. Thanks for showing the world some great places where we live.
Tamago says
I’d love to visit those hotels! How fun it’s gonna be to stay there with kitties and attend wine reception together 🙂
Caren Gittleman says
Well…you should have gone to Cat Camp this weekend……..it’s in NYC 😉
Brian Frum says
Dang, that sure is a lot of nice places!
Ellen Pilch says
I would love to stay at the Kimpton Muse, I wish one of my cats liked travel. We stayed at The Algonquin in 2015, Matilda snubbed me even though I brought her a crocheted toy. I also went to The Meow Parlour, I got too frustrated having to “share” the cats with the other people there. It is a great idea though.
Kitties Blue says
I don’t think we have any adventure cats here if it involves more than spending the day on the catio. I just tried to put the harness on Cooper Murphy (thinking he could be a BlogPaws companion.) He just about flipped out and had none of it. As soon as he could get away from me, he sprinted upstairs. This is going to be a terrific series. Love to all with extra special loving and kisses for Sampy from Astrid. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy
Annie says
I always thought it would be neat to stay at the Algonquin and see Matilda. I got a chuckle from Ellen’s comment. I’d also like to go to the Meow Parlour. We’re just about two hours or a little less from NYC by train. It is so fun (but can be expensive to stay over night.) The kitties here are homebodies but I still enjoyed this post. I’ve stayed in hotels with my cats, mainly the ones that were before these but with Annie too, but it was due to moving across country. I’ve stayed in Residence Inn in two different states and Super 8. I totally love that the Algonquin supplies a litter box and litter and even gloves! I used a disposable litter box. They are really small. Morningside Park sounds lovely. I didn’t know about it. How nice that the ferals are well cared for. Central Park is wonderful. I think your crew would love it.
mommakatandherbearcat says
This is a really cool guide! Now I want to plan a visit …. though I doubt Bear Cat would want to tag along.
Hindy Pearson says
What a great post!! Loved reading about how welcoming the city really is. None of my cats could have coped with a casual trip like that, the only time they traveled was when we moved countries and they were in crates on planes. I do think The Kimpton Muse Hotel sounds great. A far cry from the budget “pet friendly” (and I use that term loosely) hotel we recently stayed in with our dogs on our drive down to Spain.
The Island Cats says
The mom has been to NYC but none of us have made the adventure.
Tenacious Little Terrier says
That Kimpton hotel sounds fancy! Cat cafes are fun. I went to the one here in Portland and enjoyed it.
The Daily Pip says
I love New York and had no idea it was so cat friendly. The Kimpton Muse Hotel sounds super fancy and maybe if I win the lottery Rosie and I can take a vacation there! I’m also glad to learn about the feral project at Prospect Park!
meowmeowmans says
Well, if you come to NYC, let us know, because we live about 45 minutes away, and I work there M-F! 🙂
Cathy Armato says
Great post! I’m a native New Yorker so I’ve been to most of these places – I live up the street from Central Park West and spent a lot of time there. It’s a fabulous place to take your pets, and it’s huge so you’ll never run out of new areas to hand out in. There are a couple of cat cafe’s I plan to visit in the next couple of months and of course I’ll be blogging about it. Kimpton hotels are super pet friendly and they are nice hotels, a step up from the more common pet friendly hotels. Thanks for sharing this, I’m pinning it to my Pet Travel board!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Joely Smith says
The hotels sound fantastic! I am so in love with the idea of cat cafes though. I am going to see if there are any even semi-local to where I live. Doubt I will be making it to NYC anytime soon but if I ever do, I will check these places out!
Talent Hounds says
I love NY too and can drive down in 8+ hours. I thought of taking Kilo the Pug but he still has quite a few issues so not sure he would enjoy traveling or be a good guest. I have stayed at the Algonquin and loved it. The Kimpton looks amazing- had no idea they were that pet-friendly. Purina used The W for their summit 2 years ago- very luxurious and several guests brought their dogs. The Hotel Pennsylvania has been the official hotel for Westminster and is also pet-friendly, convenient and a little more reasonably priced. The cat cafe is great. We have one near me in Toronto now. I’d be nervous having a cat out in any of the parks with all the dogs.
Karen says
Very cool! I’ve only been to NYC once and would really like to go back, this confirms that! Thanks for sharing this, I pinned on both my Pinterest accounts, too!
Sarcastic Dog says
I love NYC and had no idea that there were so many awesome pet-friendly attractions and accommodations. I’ve never heard of the Kimpton Hotels but there is one in Denver so I might have to check it out!
Sweet Purrfections says
I admire so much the fact that you’ve trained your cats to travel with you. I wish I had done this with Truffle and Brulee. NYC sounds like a great place to visit with your fur children.
Beth Patterson says
I love seeing the dogs in NYC, but I didn’t realize there were cat-friendly places to visit as well. Those hotels sound like a pet lovers dream!
Pipo/Minko/MrJackFreckles says
Thanks for that virtual visit! Maybe some day…meanwhile we can dream:)
Three Chatty Cats says
I wish my cats liked traveling, but they don’t. You’re lucky to have cats that do!
Barb Nellie's Mommy says
Thanks so very much for your kind words on the passing of Nellie. I know she would have loved the places you suggest in New York. That girl loved to travel.
Love Barb (Nellie’s Mommy)