United States · New York
Where to Stay in New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is the seventh-largest city in New York, an inner suburb of Westchester County about 17 miles from Midtown Manhattan.
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Where to stay in New Rochelle
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Iona College and the water at Starin's Glen Island pull a stay in opposite directions, and New Rochelle is wide enough that the choice matters. The city covers real ground. About thirty-four square kilometres of Westchester County belong to it, so walking between one end and the other is not a plan.
Its charter dates from 1899. The Thomas Paine Cottage and the Thomas Paine Monument both stand within the city. Iona College fills its own quarter.
Anyone coming for Midtown Manhattan will want a bed near the routes into New York City, since about 17 miles separate the two and that distance is the whole point of an inner suburb. Others come for water. Starin's Glen Island gives the shore end of New Rochelle its draw, and a stay there trades the commute for the view.
Iona College keeps term-time traffic on its own streets. New York City sits at one end of every route out, and Westchester County at the other. Between the two, the older blocks around the First Presbyterian Church and Lewis Pintard House hold the middle ground. Westchester County surrounds all of it.
About New Rochelle
What is New Rochelle known for?
Iona College sits in New Rochelle, and the Thomas Paine Cottage keeps the plainest survivor of the city's older years within the same municipal bounds. Starin's Glen Island lies offshore. The Thomas Paine Monument shares the city with it.
Midtown Manhattan is about 17 miles off, which is what makes New Rochelle an inner suburb rather than a town of its own. Only six cities in the state are larger.
What are the main landmarks in New Rochelle?
Two sites carry Thomas Paine's name. The Thomas Paine Cottage is the building of the pair, and the Thomas Paine Monument is the memorial, both of them held inside a city otherwise given over to suburban blocks. Starin's Glen Island holds the water side.
Older congregations account for the rest of the list, and Iona College adds the campus buildings.
What is the history of New Rochelle?
New Rochelle took its charter in 1899. Buildings older than that survive inside the city, among them the Thomas Paine Cottage and the First Presbyterian Church and Lewis Pintard House, which stand from a period well before the charter. Thomas Paine is commemorated twice.
The Thomas Paine Monument was raised to him, and the cottage that carries his name remains the older of the two sites. Starin's Glen Island belonged to the same shoreline the city grew along. United States census counts have followed it ever since. Iona College settled here, and the college has shaped the city's calendar ever since.
New York City reached outward across the century that followed the charter, and about 17 miles was close enough to make New Rochelle an inner suburb rather than an independent city on the Westchester County shore. The census confirms the scale. By 2020 it ranked seventh-largest among the state's cities and twenty-second among all its municipalities.
The city grew from the older core outward, and the blocks around the First Presbyterian Church and Lewis Pintard House still mark where that core stood. Midtown Manhattan stays the reference point.
Where is New Rochelle?
New Rochelle spreads along the shore. About thirty-four square kilometres of Westchester County make up the city, enough ground to hold the Iona College campus, the older streets and the water at Starin's Glen Island without crowding any of them. Midtown Manhattan lies about 17 miles off.
New York City's built-up area runs right up to it, and Westchester County carries on past its far side.
What is the climate of New Rochelle?
The water off Starin's Glen Island keeps the edge of New Rochelle a little steadier than the inland parts of Westchester County through both extremes of the year. Winters turn cold here. Warm months fall in the middle of the year, the northern hemisphere pattern that governs the whole county.
Starin's Glen Island suits the warm half of the calendar.
How do you get to New Rochelle?
The run from Midtown Manhattan covers about 17 miles, which puts New Rochelle inside the daily reach of New York City rather than out among the county towns. Westchester County roads do the rest. Approaches from the county meet the city at its landward side, and the shore stops them at Starin's Glen Island.
Iona College draws its own arrivals through the year. The city has been an inner suburb since long before the 2020 census counted it seventh-largest.
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Updated August 2026