Our selection of Lower East Side rooftop venues

RT93 sits on the crest of the Wyndham Garden Hotel, between Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The cocktails are reasonably priced, averaging $18 for a signature cocktail and $14 for a classic. With the bi-level bar’s stunning views of the northern skyline, we expected the prices to push us off the roof but we were pleasantly surprised.

The Lower East Side rooftop comprises a year-round indoor bar with floor-to-ceiling windows and a seasonal open-air rooftop, both areas decked out in a swanky, contemporary design. Would we stay there drinking all night? Probably not. But it’s one for the sunset hour plus one more when all the city lights come on.

Dutch hotel developer CitizenM has outdone itself with its Bowery location. Perched atop the twentieth floor is the CloudM bar with floor-to-ceiling windows and an outdoor deck good for basking in the panoramic views of the Lower East Side and the Manhattan skyline.

It’s like any other Lower East Side rooftop bar with its sweeping views and floor-to-ceiling windows, differentiated only by CitizenM’s distinctive taste in eclectic, post-modern, pop art-heavy decor. At the end of the day, CitizenM doesn’t have to try hard, it has the hospitality and the panoramic views down pat.

Located within the Hotel Indigo on Orchard Street in the upper part of the LES, Mr. Purple is yet another swanky hotel with a Lower East Side rooftop bar, complete with the requisite floor-to-ceiling windows (because honestly, above ten floors solid walls are a waste), cabana-style deck furniture, fairy lights, and panoramic views of Manhattan.

You’re looking at about $20 on average for a cocktail, so like all rooftop bars, the view makes the price of entry worth it, but it’s not the kind of place you’re going to spend all day or all night drinking in – unless you have the cash to splash in which case get under that disco ball and party like it’s 1999 because the ‘90s are back in fashion.

Probably one of the LES top private event spaces, the smaller 750 square foot eastern terrace is ideal for intimate gatherings, and the larger 5,000 square foot terrace located on the west side is outfitted with its own swimming pool and bar.

James De Lancey was a loyalist and all-round bootlicker whose lands were seized after the Revolutionary War, lands that eventually became the Lower East Side. Now there’s a street and a multi-story nightclub and rooftop lounge bearing the name – a lot can happen in 260 years.

If you like nightclubs, House music, 2000s R&B, and bottle service then The Delancey is for you. The deck area is palm-decorated, a sun-trap in the middle of the day, with a decent view, and what the place lacks in panoramic views it makes up for by being a welcome respite from the heat on a summer’s day.

If you’re looking for a nightclub for your next event, The Delancey hosts private parties and events across its three distinct levels.

Another rooftop bar that’s not the highest but still offers all the pleasures of being above the crowd in the warmer half of the year. Hotel Chantelle is a nightclub on Ludlow Street that’s luring in Instagrammers with its prolific use of floral decoration and palm fronds. Table service, dining reservations, views of Downtown, and enough flowers that, when suitably drunk, you might mistake yourself for being in a glasshouse or the IRL version of an influencer’s social feed.

Hotel Chantelle regularly plays host to private and semi-private events, parties, brand launches, and more, so if you’re looking for an Instagram-worthy events space, this might do the trick.