I worked out at all 34 Equinox locations in New York City. Here's how they all compare. (2024)

Equinox has 29 locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan that are accessible with their $260 a month "all access" membership.

Compared with other popular gym chains in New York City, only New York Sports Clubs has more total locations (49) in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. While Crunch and Planet Fitness have an abundance of locations in Brooklyn and Queens, Equinox has focused on Manhattan locations.

Equinox's core amenities include cardio equipment, strength equipment, Kiehl's products in the locker rooms, a steam room, showers, a cycling studio, and a group fitness studio. Some base-level gyms have other features like boxing rooms, barre rooms, heated yoga rooms, and pools.

Downtown Manhattan has a lot of fancy new locations geared toward young wealth.

Nearly all of the Equinox locations in Downtown Manhattan had a unique feel, seemingly catering to the younger crowd that lives and works below 40th street.

Bond Street: A spacious playground for NoHo bros.

Built in the 2016 Equinox boom, the year the company built or acquired five different locations in New York City, the Bond Street location is large, spacious, has tons of natural light, and has a strong aesthetic centered around its red brick interior.

Its three functional fitness floors had ample room for stretching and all the necessary equipment without feeling cramped. Each time I visited, it didn't feel crowded, but there was also a ton of space if needed — Yelp reviewers testify that the after-work rush can get crazy.

When I visited, the crowd tended to be a mix of fitness obsessives in the late 20s to early 30s, and fashionable women in their 40s and 50s.

In my heated yoga class, nearly everyone left all their clothes on — a far cry from other Bikram-style classes I've taken at studios where practitioners show up nearly naked. This probably had less to do with the location and more to do with the nature of Equinox classes, where everyone is a dabbler.

The locker rooms felt like huge dungeons in the basem*nt — in a chic way — but the steam room was notably small, and the on/off button on the digital scale was physically punched out somehow.

"Queer Eye's" Antoni Porowski, who was a sponsored brand ambassador, and Anderson Cooper have been photographed here multiple times.

Bond Street gets 7.5/10 for a spacious and open design and good light.

Brookfield Place: A nicer mall gym.

Equinox's Brookfield Place location was appropriately part of the development of the luxury mall on the west side of the World Trade Center. You actually have to walk through the mall to enter the Equinox, but that can be a benefit because it connects directly to the subway.

The first floor of the space feels like a West Elm showroom with a Juice Press inside, and serves as a great place to relax or do some work, along with other similar spaces upstairs.

The gym itself is on the top floor, and has an interesting layout. After walking up a twisting staircase, the gym splays out through what is essentially a wide hallway. At the end of the cardio and stretching tunnel, from which a group fitness, yoga, and spin studio crop off of, is a more traditionally square free weight floor that overlooks the Hudson River and New Jersey.

The views are nice, but at peak times the floors becomes oppressively crowded.

Brookfield Place has a stray towel problem.

The locker rooms at Brookfield Place weren't small, but there was a clutter issue. Each time I went, there were tons of towels on the ground. The gym had someone cleaning them up, but it seemed like they couldn't keep up with the situation.

This almost seems like a local habit that has formed among members at this particular gym.

Brookfield Place gets a 4/10 for a cramped feeling and experience.

Flatiron: a lot of equipment, but kind of cramped.

Equinox Flatiron packs a lot into a small space and places a priority on creating room for classes and equipment. The result is minimal space to chill and a cramped locker room.

The front includes a full juice press with cafe seating, where anyone can come in and grab something to drink. This is similar to a lot of other Equinox locations, but in Flatiron, home to New York's own brand of startup hustle and grind, it's turned into a full-on workspace.

When I arrived, the cafe area was also playing host to around 10 high schoolers on their lunch break. I didn't mind, but the openness might bother those who are looking for a more serene gym experience.

Likewise, the gym itself also appeared to be constantly well trafficked. I visited at multiple times of the day and it seemed like it was always bustling.

The gym didn't feel overly cramped because of the space given to the equipment, but the locker rooms felt like they were overflowing, and when I left, there was a line nearly 12 people long waiting at the complimentary coat check.

Flatiron gets a 5/10 for a large gym floor but cramped locker room.

Gramercy: One of the nicest of Equinox's corporate convenience locations.

As you begin to move above 14th Street towards Midtown, Equinox's locations take on a decidedly more corporate, cookie-cutter feel, and the economy seems to shift from prioritizing luxury and character to convenience for the bankers and finance crowd that packs into the area every day.

The Gramercy location, on 24th Street and Park Avenue, is appropriately a middle ground between these two aesthetics.

The three functional floors don't feel like anything special, but they maintained a crisp design and weren't overly crowded. The locker rooms were surprisingly spacious and featured freestanding black marble sinks and mirrors. There were also multiple large spaces for hanging out or working.

The yoga room had a conspicuous lack of windows, which felt a bit claustrophobic and detracted from the vibe I prefer.

Compared to other locations catering to the Midtown crowd, though, the Gramercy location came off as pretty nice if you're looking for a convenient, nice location.

Alone I wouldn't say a membership to this gym would be worth nearly $200 per month, but taken together with other gyms, this location could be a good fit if you work in the area.

Gramercy gets a 5/10 for a fairly average experience that was on brand, but with minimal crowding.

Greenwich Ave.: Feels like an old YMCA, for better or for worse.

Equinox's West Village location feels like a time machine to what the neighborhood might have felt like before it became a hub for the rich and famous.

Opening in 2001, the large complex includes ample natural light and a basem*nt pool, but feels more like a community center than a pleasure palace.

Part of that is because of the decor, which clearly hasn't been updated with the rest of the brand's aesthetic. I didn't mind simply for novelty's sake, but that's a matter of taste.

The locker rooms were moderately clean, with a few towels lying around, and slightly more water on the floors given the pool, but the state wasn't egregious.

The other reason it could be compared to a community center is because more than almost any other Equinox location that I visited, there seemed to be a sense of community at this location. Each time I've visited, I've noticed friends greeting each other like old pals. There was even a gift exchange in the locker room the last time I visited.

The crowd ranged between college-aged students and older West Village holdout, among a thriving community of gay men who clearly hold court at the location.

The staff was friendly, but somewhat uninformed, not being able to tell me about the swim classes that were available in the pool. But one staff member gave me a free t-shirt when I forgot to bring a change of clothes during my pre-work workout. That's good service!

Greenwich Ave. gets a 7/10 for a friendly vibe and pool, despite the slightly outdated facilities.

High Line: Beautiful with a weird layout

The entrance of Equinox Highline doesn't feel glamorous, falling under the elevated park and looking onto 10th Avenue, but once inside, the location is striking.

Spacious with sharp lines, green space, wood, and concrete — Equinox Highline is on brand for the area and the company.

Early morning yoga overlooking the Highline is a super cool and unique experience. I'd imagine I wouldn't feel the same once the attraction is flooded with tourists taking pictures of you in tree pose, but it's still a fun novelty.

The class I took was full of chiseled Chelsea regulars who the yoga instructor knew by name. As they competed for the best handstand in the front, I stayed in child's pose in the back.

The gyms weight floor is a bit less glamorous, put on the basem*nt level and mostly lit with artificial light. One member griped about the fact that you actually need to walk across the weight floor to access the locker rooms, which is true, and potentially annoying if you're just trying to make it to a yoga class.

The locker rooms themselves feel spacious, and the steam room is literally designed as a large glass cube with what's basically a pedestal in the center. Notably, the lockers at this location didn't have built-in locks, which was surprising considering how new it felt inside. It was actually built in 2007.

High Line gets a 7.5/10 for a beautiful and interesting space.

Orchard St.: A bespoke space that could use some tidying up.

The Orchard Street Equinox in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is a capstone in the rapid gentrification of what was once considered the center of New York City's counter-culture.

The gym occupies the first few floors of the new luxury condo development 196 Orchard, where the average sale price has come to nearly $2.4 million per unit, according to StreetEasy. The association lends an air of luxury to the condos themselves and vice versa, and were surely key in the gym's development.

The gym itself is big, beautiful, and clearly designed to provide a luxury gym experience, with plenty of floor room, high ceilings, and unique art in the lobby.

The crowd was generally young, with an interesting mix of bros who frequent the Lower East Side these days, and creatives who Equinox might try to attract with the location. I spotted two prominent digital journalists who were there on my first visit.