- Best for
- Boutique hotels, shopping
- Walk to
- Washington Sq, Little Italy, the Hudson
- Price
- $$$ – $$$$
- Feels like
- Stylish, low-rise
SoHo — South of Houston Street — holds the largest collection of cast-iron buildings in the world, most of them inside a historic district of about 500 buildings. Tribeca, just south, is quieter and more residential, with converted warehouses along wide cobbled streets.
Why stay here
- Design-led hotels in old lofts with high ceilings and big windows.
- Shopping on Broadway, Prince and Spring Streets, plus independent boutiques on the side streets.
- Walking distance to Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Hudson River Park.
Getting around
Canal Street and Prince Street stations connect to Midtown in about 15 minutes. Tribeca’s Chambers Street station has express trains up the West Side.
SoHo vs Tribeca
SoHo is busier, more fashionable and built for shopping. Tribeca is quieter and more residential, with wide streets and converted warehouses. Both are walkable to each other in ten minutes.
Where to eat and drink
- Little Italy and Chinatown are a short walk east — cheap dumplings and old-school red-sauce restaurants.
- Tribeca’s restaurants lean quiet and grown-up; book ahead for dinner.
- The Hudson River Park runs along the west edge: good for a run or sunset walk.
Who should stay here
Design-minded travelers, shoppers, couples and anyone who has done Midtown before. It’s less ideal for families on a budget — rooms here tend to be small.
Reading the Cast-Iron Facades
Cast iron let builders assemble a whole front wall from pieces made in a foundry. Because the parts came from molds, the same column, capital and window head repeats from floor to floor, which gives these buildings their steady rhythm. Look for thin joints between panels, for slender columns standing slightly forward of the glass, and for cornices that project above the sidewalk. The fronts were painted when new, and many have been repainted since, so color tells you little about age.
Most of the district is protected as a historic district, which means exterior changes need approval and the cast-iron fronts are likely to survive another generation. What you see from the street is the public part: ground-floor storefronts, entrance doors and the facades above. Upper floors are largely homes and offices, and interiors are private. Some buildings show later additions at the roofline, a reminder that the district has been rebuilt and adapted many times. Walk a single block on Greene or Wooster and the pattern becomes easy to read.
Walking the District Street by Street
A practical loop starts near the Houston Street end and works south toward Canal Street, with detours onto the side streets where the paving and the building fronts are best seen. Sidewalks are narrow and shared with delivery carts, so keep to one side rather than stopping in the middle. Some side streets are paved with stone blocks that are uneven underfoot, so comfortable shoes matter here. Cross at corners, since traffic turns quickly. Morning light falls on the east-facing fronts, afternoon light on the west.
Broadway, Spring Street, Prince Street and West Broadway carry most of the ground-floor shops, while blocks closer to Lafayette Street and toward Sixth Avenue are quieter and better for looking at buildings. Weekday mornings are calmest; weekends and the holiday shopping weeks are crowded. Shop and gallery hours shift with the season, so check individual listings before planning a route around them. In summer the shade is patchy and in winter the cross streets funnel cold wind. Allow more time than the short blocks suggest.
Keep reading
Tribeca & SoHo: where to stay: questions
Where exactly is SoHo in Manhattan?
SoHo sits in the lower part of Manhattan, roughly between Houston Street to the north, Canal Street to the south, Lafayette Street to the east and Sixth Avenue to the west. Because it lies below 14th Street, its streets are older, named and irregular rather than part of the numbered grid that covers most of the island. Broadway cuts diagonally through the middle.
Why is the neighborhood called SoHo?
The name began as shorthand for South of Houston Street, the northern boundary of the district. Houston Street is pronounced HOW-ston in New York, which surprises many visitors. The label took hold in the middle of the twentieth century, when artists and light manufacturing shared the old loft buildings, and it has stayed in ordinary use ever since.
What defines SoHo's cast-iron architecture?
SoHo holds one of the densest groups of cast-iron buildings anywhere, most of them put up in the mid to late nineteenth century for warehouses, factories and wholesale trade. Cast-iron fronts could be produced from molds, so facades repeat the same columns, arches and wide windows floor after floor. Historic district rules now protect the exteriors.
How does SoHo fit into Manhattan's street grid?
Below 14th Street, Manhattan sets aside the tidy grid of 1811. SoHo's streets are named, not numbered, and several run at odd angles. Broadway crosses the district diagonally. East-west streets such as Spring, Prince, Broome and Grand meet north-south streets such as Greene, Wooster, Mercer and West Broadway, so a short walk changes direction often. A map helps.
Which subway stations serve SoHo?
Several stations sit inside or at the edges of SoHo, including Prince Street, Spring Street, Broadway-Lafayette Street and Canal Street, served by a number of lines. Weekend and overnight service changes are common across the system, so check the current status with the MTA before you travel. Subway service runs around the clock.
When is SoHo quietest for walking?
Weekday mornings are the calmest time to walk SoHo's streets. Weekends and the holiday shopping weeks draw the heaviest foot traffic, especially on Broadway, Spring Street and Prince Street. If you want to look at facades, go early and look up: the upper stories are what make the district distinctive, while most people watch the ground-floor windows.
Are SoHo's shops and galleries open every day?
Most shops open daily, though many keep shorter hours on Sunday, and independent galleries often close on Mondays or open late in the week. Hours change with the season and with leases, so check with individual shops and galleries before you plan a visit around them. The streets themselves are always open.
What can you see in SoHo without paying an entry fee?
Walking the historic district costs nothing. The cast-iron facades, the stone paving on several side streets and the street pattern itself are open to anyone, and window displays can be seen from the sidewalk without going in. Some buildings have lobbies, but upper floors are mostly private homes and offices, so treat the street as the viewing gallery.