Mandarin Oriental, New York. Credit: Mandarin Oriental, New York
Plenty of hotel rooms offer spectacular views, whether it’s over a body of water or a dazzling cityscape. But when you choose to indulge in a relaxing soak — one of the more underappreciated joys of a luxurious getaway — you often lose that picture-perfect sight behind a tile wall.
These five properties have solved that age-old dilemma, providing sumptuous bathrooms with incredible views. From the Caribbean Sea to the African Sahara, here’s where to take a soak with a stunning vista.
Mandarin Oriental, New York
Time Warner Center, just off the southwest corner of Central Park, boasts some impressive tenants: Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star restaurants Masa and Per Se and, on floors 35 through 54, this Five-Star Asian-inspired retreat.
No matter which accommodation you choose, every bathroom in the 244-room hotel has marble floors and a wall-mounted flat-screen, as well as Atelier Cologne or Fresh bath products. In the west-facing Hudson River View rooms, though, the deep tubs look out onto the surrounding cityscape and the Big Apple’s iconic river.
For a relaxing soak with bird’s-eye view over New York City’s green heart and lung, book one of the Central Park-facing rooms with bathtub vistas (not all have them), like the ultra-luxe Oriental Suite. Toss in a handful of bath salts and prepare for a blissful journey that’s easy on the eyes.
Jade Mountain Resort. Credit: Jade Mountain Resort
Jade Mountain Resort
The view from the bathtub at this Four-Star St. Lucia resort is so pristinely beautiful, it almost looks like a painting. From the deep tubs (and infinity pools) of the 29 rooms here, you can gaze out onto the volcanic Pitons, a bio-diverse UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The accommodations at Jade Mountain Resort are called “sanctuaries,” and all feature one wall open to the outside, framing a postcard-worthy scene of the azure Caribbean Sea and the island’s lush green mountains.
For a bathtub snack with your panoramic show, munch on some of the resort’s own chocolate, produced onsite with beans from the more than 2,000 cocoa trees that grow on several tracts owned by the hotel.
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The Peninsula Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s oldest hotel opened its doors in 1928, when Kowloon was the last stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway and when ocean liners docked directly across from the property.
Today, this storied Five-Star stay is a couple of blocks in from Victoria Harbour, but from the Harbour View rooms, you can still watch the traditional red-sailed junk boats plying the waters. The bathtubs in most of these accommodations look out onto the bustling inlet and the skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island that make up part of its iconic cityscape. A soothing soak is most impressive at night, when the towers are lit in a rainbow of colors.
Gangtey Lodge Bhutan. Credit: Ken Spence Photography
Gangtey Lodge Bhutan
There are just 12 rooms at this upscale, homey lodging overlooking the stunning Gangtey Valley and Gangtey Goenpa monastery. The rooms, called Farm House Suites, have heated, hand-cut stone floors; deep, free-standing soaking tubs; and enticing fireplaces next to which you can cozy up after a relaxing bath.
The tubs overlook the verdant valley below, a beautiful patchwork of varying shades of green that are framed by handsome wooden windows.
Angama Mara. Credit: Angama Mara
Angama Mara
Film buffs will recognize this rustic-chic lodge in the Maasai Mara from the 1985 Academy Awards Best Picture winner, Out of Africa. The 30 tented suites here sit at the edge of the Oloololo escarpment, nearly 1,000 feet above the Great Rift Valley.
Each of the suites has a 36-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling glass front through which the colossal Mara can be seen from both bed and bath. Every morning, you’ll be treated to an amazing sight as colorful hot air balloons dance across the valley.
The deep, galvanized tubs were inspired by the bath scene from the aforementioned award-winning movie and by the original tub of the book’s author, Kurt Luedtke, on display at Nairobi’s Karen Blixen Museum. The bathrooms are kitted out with natural, eco-friendly Africology products and woven screens by Cape Town designer John Vogel.
