Visiting the TWA Hotel in JFK
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TWA Hotel post disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links to products I love!
My mom and I visited the TWA Hotel attached to JFK airport last September, and, y’all, we loved it! We stopped in for a little less than 24 hours on our way into NYC, and we didn’t want to leave! I had been (impatiently) waiting to visit the hotel since a friend sent me a New York Times article about it. So I made sure that the next time I visited NYC, I flew through JFK and spent a night there!
Hotel Website: https://www.twahotel.com
What is TWA?
Trans World Airlines dominated the air from 1930 until 2001. TWA was the Jet Age. It defined that time in history when men wore a jacket for the flight, stewardesses walked the aisles in the most fashionable uniforms, and passengers sipped cold whiskey sours from their seats. Then in 1962, at the height of the Jet Age, the airline finished its iconic, winged Flight Center.
Becoming the TWA Hotel
After the airline dissolved in 2001, the Flight Center sat devastatingly empty until 2005 when parts of it became the JetBlue Airways terminal. Then in 2019, the central structure with those famous wings (and some new construction) re-opened as the TWA Hotel.
When we visited the hotel in September 2019, it was brand spanking new!
Who should visit the TWA Hotel?
So will you like the hotel too? Obviously.
Okay, okay. You would love the hotel if you are a(n):
- history buff
- architecture lover
- Instagrammer
- foodie
- weary traveler in JFK
For the History Buff
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- Antique Car in Front of Hotel
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- Shoe Shine
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- Office Exhibit
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- Hotel Phone Booth
Every part of the hotel screams Jet Age. It really highlights that time in the 50s and 60s when air travel was taking off. Air travel was still glamorous, but was becoming more accessible to the masses. Antiques from this time are scattered throughout the hotel–from cars to rotary phones to old Life magazines in each room. And the Flight Center is a time capsule in itself!
TWA Hotel Exhibits
Exhibits throughout the hotel highlight different aspects of the airline’s history. I love a museum, so I loved these! And these are like the exhibits in one of those really good museums where things aren’t just tagged in glass cases, but are set up as if you’ve really traveled back in time.
You can walk around the rooms and actually touch the artifacts! The cars are loaded down with luggage, sunglasses, and tennis rackets–everything a family in the 60s would need for a fun vacation! Ever wanted to walk through Howard Hughes’ TWA-era office? Now you can!
The hotel website says 2,367 artifacts live in the hotel!
Exhibit of Uniforms through the Years
This was my favorite exhibit! I loved seeing and reading about uniforms from the 1930s to 2000s and watching the style evolution. The biggest designers of the times designed these! There are 642 uniform pieces in the hotel!
For the Architecture Lover
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- Sunken Lounge from Above
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- View of Flight Center from Room
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- Sunken Lounge
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- Tunnel to Terminal 5
The Flight Center itself is an architectural masterpiece. I don’t know much about architecture, but I can see that it’s something special! Famous architect Eero Saarinen designed the structure just before his death in his trademark Neo-Futuristic design. He also designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis! Today he is considered one of the masters of 20th century architecture.
The hotel has examples of his famous furniture as well. The chairs in the Paris Cafe are designed to resemble his famous Tulip Chairs, and the rooms are full of Saarinen-designed furniture!
If you're there for the architecture:
- book a room with a view of the famous Flight Center
- walk across the sweeping staircases above the Flight Center
- take the tunnel to Terminal 5
- visit the exhibit recreating Saarinen’s office space
- have a drink in the Sunken Lounge
For the Instagrammer
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- With Hotel Hostess
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- Inside the Tunnel
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- TWA Hotel Infinity Pool
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- Breakfast at Paris Cafe
All you have to do is search #TWAhotel to see that all the travel bloggers have visited the hotel and that it’s full of Instagram opportunities! When we visited the hotel it was full of people with really nice cameras taking really beautiful photos! I wish I had taken some more time to get some more Insta shots! (It turns out my mom is actually a really good Insta photog!)
What are the top 5 best Instagram spots at the TWA Hotel?
- The tunnel leading to T5
- Connie the airplane (which is now a cocktail lounge!)
- Arrivals & Departures board (with one of the costumed hotel hostesses or hosts)
- Paris Cafe (there’s a pink section!)
- Rooftop infinity pool
And there are so many more! I read that there’s a Twister room there now. That has to be Instagrammable!
For the Foodie
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- Paris Cafe Coffee
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- Sunken Lounge Bar
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- Food Hall
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- Paris Cafe by Jean-Georges
If you love food, you’ll probably have a really good time at the hotel! I know I did!
TWA Hotel Food Hall
The Food Hall is full of grab and go options. When we visited, the booths were filled with tiny versions of local NYC options like Playa Bowls. It looks like those are gone now, which I hate because it was such a fun concept! But there is a Mister Softee in there now which seems super nostalgic!
There’s an Intelligentsia coffee shop in the lobby if you’re a coffee lover!
Paris Cafe and Lisbon Lounge
The Paris Cafe and Lisbon Lounge are operated by Jean-Georges. This famous French chef operates 36 restaurants!
Menus draw from historic TWA in-flight menus, which is so fun! The dishes are modern and focus on local ingredients, but are also nostalgic. Dishes like “Snake River Farms Wagyu Beef Tenderloin” sit next to “Valrhona Chocolate Pudding.”
My mom loved the chocolate pudding! She has a lot of fond memories of my grandma making her pudding on the stove when she was a kid!
Check out the current menus!
TWA Hotel Bars
That airplane to the right, Connie, is a cocktail lounge! So that’s definitely the coolest bar in the hotel! But this hotel has bars galore. There’s a bar in the Sunken Lounge, one at the rooftop pool, one in the Lisbon Cafe, and a weekend champagne bar!
Most of the drinks are nostalgic and reflect the TWA in-flight menus! And they have these adorable, original TWA cocktail stirrers!
Here’s the cocktail menu! Peep retro drinks like martinis, an Old-Fashioned, Manhattans, and a Hot Toddy! I also found some local craft beer, which I loved!
For the Weary Traveler
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- Hotel Room with View of Flight Center
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- Bathroom
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- TWA Hotel Robe in Room
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- TWA Hotel Glasses
I can’t imagine a nicer airport hotel! (But if you know one please leave it in the comments, and I will GO!) The rooms really are plush! Slipping into that robe and pushing the button to close the blinds is magic after a long flight! And you can book the hotel for a day too!
This part of the hotel is new construction. All of the finishes and furniture are modern and trendy, but also reminiscent of that Jet Age look.
Room Details
Of course, they continued bringing in those little details that make the hotel special when designing the rooms. Original TWA logos are on everything, and I love it. Even the pencils have the logo (and are American made!). The artwork above the bed is original airline advertisement posters. You can even find an antique Life magazine in each room! The mini bar is full of martini supplies and Tab sodas!
Gym
The hotel also has an extremely impressive basement gym if you need to get your workout in! (Or you might just want to go down there and look at the giant room full of Peloton bikes like I did!)
Top 5 Things You Can't Miss at the TWA Hotel
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- Connie Propeller
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- Sunken Lounge
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- Tunnel to Terminal 5
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- TWA Hotel Infinity Pool
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- TWA Uniforms
- Connie airplane
- Sunken Lounge
- Rooftop Infinity Pool
- Tunnels to T5
- TWA Uniform Exhibit
Connie is a Lockheed Constellation airplane commissioned for TWA in 1939. The plane even served at Air Force One in the 50s! Today you can see her in the promo material for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!
And this Connie is a cocktail bar! You can visit her original cockpit, and then settle in for drinks!
Peep her menu!
The tunnels leading off of the Flight Center into the new Terminal 5 are truly impressive with their long white walls and red carpeting!
And they’re original to the 1962 structure.
The film Catch Me if You Can made them famous!
These are the place to snap your Insta pic!
Tiny Details You Might Miss but Must See in the TWA Hotel
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- Rotary Dial Phone in Room
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- Retro TWA posters
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- Sunken Lounge Menu
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- Inside Antique Car
1. rotary phone in rooms
2. TWA posters behind beds
3. nostalgic menus
4. retro mini bar
5. artifacts inside cars
First, don’t miss the vintage, retrofitted rotary dial phone in each room (that makes free, unlimited calls!). Second, the posters behind the bed are actual TWA travel advertisement posters by artist David Klein. Third, the nostalgic menus in the bars and restaurants draw on actual TWA in-flight menus from the Jet Age and feature nostalgic items like Manhattans and chocolate pudding. Fourth, the retro minibar is outfitted with everything you need to make a great Jet Age martini and is even stocked with Tab soda! Last, don’t forget to look inside the antique cars! They’re full of all things a family would need for a great vacation–from driving gloves to golf clubs!
Top Tips for Visiting the TWA Hotel
1. mark your car pickup location as the T5 hotel entrance
2. the restaurants and lounges take reservations
3. the pool is open all year
4. explore the hotel for exhibits
5. you can book it for the day
1. Car Pickup
The hotel host (dressed as a pilot, of course!) actually told me tip 1 and saved me a lot of trouble! If you call a car from a ride app, make sure to choose the terminal 5 hotel entrance and not just terminal 5! Write in special instructions if you can! Otherwise, the driver will just go to the regular T5 and cost you a ton of time turning around to get you! Traffic is not friendly at JFK!
2. Reservations
All of the restaurants and lounges (except the Lisbon Lounge) take reservations, and you can make them online! So if you would just hate to miss something during your short time at the hotel, make a reservation ahead of time! Don’t feel like you have to go to both the Paris Cafe and Lisbon Lounge, though, because they serve the same menu and look (pretty much) exactly the same. But if you miss out on the Paris Cafe, the Lisbon Lounge has open seating so head over there!
3. Pool
The rooftop infinity pool is open all year! And it’s heated so it feels like bathwater! It’s beautiful day and night, so visit twice. You can even watch planes take off from up there!
4. Explore (with a map)
Make sure you explore the hotel to find all of the exhibits! Some of them are tucked away, so grab a map from one of the hotel hosts at the Arrival and Departure board! Really. Grab the map! The hotel is big! And even with he map, I still had to ask a host how to get to the gym!
5. Book for the Day
Sure you can book the hotel for the night, but you can also book for the day! If you have a weird layover it would be a magical spot for a nap!
Or if you have some time to kill, the Food Hall has food, drinks, and comfortable seating with CHARGERS!
You may have noticed my white sneakers in all of the pics!
These are my favorite travel shoes right now. They work pretty much all year long and can be worn with dresses, jeans, or leggings! I spent a week in NYC this fall and literally only took these shoes!
They’re leather, so they’re a little more water resistant than other shoes. And I love traveling in closed-toe shoes because someone is always trying to step on your feet getting off the train! This pair even has a foam insert, so they’re comfortable to walk in!
8 Comments
Melissa Qualls · February 23, 2020 at 8:49 pm
Very cool! Will definitely make that a stop on my next NYC visit. Thanks for sharing.
mholifield09 · February 23, 2020 at 9:04 pm
You will love it! It’s definitely worth scheduling some time in to see on your way into the city! Thanks for reading!!
Karen Holifield · February 23, 2020 at 11:49 pm
I’m ready to go back.
mholifield09 · February 26, 2020 at 2:04 am
Me too!!!!
Angelica Holmes · February 24, 2020 at 1:10 pm
Looks like such an awesome experience. I can’t wait to plan a visit to NYC!
mholifield09 · February 26, 2020 at 2:03 am
Yes let’s go!
Hannah Jones · March 2, 2020 at 11:31 am
LOVE THIS! You have the best trips and I am pumped to get insight into how to replicate. Awesome post!
mholifield09 · March 2, 2020 at 6:25 pm
Glad you liked it ☺️
Comments are closed.