Top 10 Baths With a View

Confession – this bath is in the spa but it might just be my favourite tub in Europe. With views of the Val D’Orcia for as far as the eye can see, you’ll be forgiven for missing that hike you were musing on doing later in the day. Time it right and you might catch a touring classical orchestra rehearsing for their evening performance in the hotel’s church. To accompany this outdoor bathe with a good Tuscan wine would be a cliché, and one we fully encourage you to partake in.

For me, the holiday feeling that is more universally relatable than any other is that of the beautiful hours between coming in from a day in the sun and heading to dinner. What better place to wash off the suncream, enjoy a drink – maybe some music too – than the tub at Six Senses Zil Pasyon. Relax, drink in hand, as the sun sets over the turquoise waters and beyond. And yes, that is a swing in the bathroom!

From the Oriental Pearl Tower to a 128-story skyscraper, Shanghai’s skyline is amongst the most impressive in the world when it comes alive each night in blinking technicolour lights. The best perch for this futuristic view is the bathtub on the 26th floor of the Shanghai Edition Hotel. Fill the tub, add some Le Labo bath salts and a G&T, and watch as the sun dips below the buildings – but sunset is just the beginning. Enjoy the colourful neon light show across (and on) the river and the buzz as millions of people head to rooftop terraces and dumpling dens around the city.

You won’t find waking up a struggle here. The misty sheets of cloud create an even more impressive view down Gangtey Valley, visible from the bath and admittedly also from your bed. By day, villagers might welcome you to join in a game of archery, and the black-necked cranes will no doubt put on a display in the valley. Hot stone massages, log burners and this spectacular bathtub will await you on your return.

Nowhere quite captures East Africa’s romantic safari era like Mara Expedition Camp, a colonial-style bush camp situated on the Ntiakitiak River in the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The camp draws on designs of Africa’s original explorers, creating the perfect blend of adventure and luxury with spacious canvas tents accompanied with huge brass basins and showers. After a day on safari following the annual wildebeest migration or tracking the elusive leopard, soak up the wilderness in style in your copper bath tin with a glass of bubbly in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other – bliss!

The world of travel is full of epic bathtubs, but for atmosphere and a rustic sense of opulence the claw-foot tub at Ranch at Rock Creek is my favourite. When you’ve spent the morning on horseback, playing cowboy in the Wild West; and the afternoon wading through the cold waters of Rock Creek, casting a fly for wild cutthroat trout, nothing feels better than a good soak (experienced best with bubbles of the alcoholic variety…)

Nihi’s long stretch of white sandy beach is lined with lush jungle, and offers a spectacular surf, top equestrian facilities for sunset rides, and in my opinion the best view to enjoy from your golden bathtub. Whether you’ve filled your day with activities or with treatments at the remote clifftop spa, it’s the perfect spot to wind down and enjoy the light sea breeze before dinnertime.

The merits of an exceptional bathtub in a city hotel are boundless – your feet are sore from exploring the sights and mind is weary from absorbing its history and culture. Your well-deserved bath at the end of a day at the Shangri La has the ultimate trump card – a birds eye view of the city below. Revisit the sights and watch locals going about their daily life from 32 floors up, surrounded by soapy bubbles. What better aid for any potential vertigo.

Your day started early with a morning heli hike, where your breakfast was set up overlooking Mount Aspiring National Park, and you made it back to the lodge just in time for lunch. Your horses were already chomping at the bit for their afternoon ride, splashing through rivers and weaving through thick woodland tracks at high speed. And after all of that activity, I can’t think of anything better than soaking up the steam in this copper bathtub with views of the Matapuku Valley before dinner.