If you’re plotting out a luxurious city break in one of the world’s thrilling, can’t-sit-still metropolises, you might be tempted to go-go-go with the flow, packing the itinerary like a rush-hour Metro carriage. But with some lateral thinking, we’ve found activities that don’t ask too much of you and cosmopolitan stays with lots of lounging opportunities for a chill-out city break.
Aman Tokyo
Japan
Lazy tourists will adore Aman Tokyo — set on the 33rd to 38th floors of the central Otemachi Tower, it brings sightseeing to you. Look out of your window wall (each room has a cushioned nook against the glass) to find the Imperial Palace and its expansive gardens, Tokyo Bay or Chiyoda’s skyscraper-studded panorama, and Mount Fuji on the horizon. The Aman’s billed as a ‘vertical resort’, but you can also enjoy the spectacle while reclining in your onsen or floating in the spa pool, or as you level up your dining game at the chef’s cypress-wood omakase counter.
Broaden your horizontals: While set in the sky, the spa’s ‘grounding rituals’ will bring you down to earth using sandalwood, rose quartz and Peruvian black mud. The Imperial Gardens make picnics look as restful as a nihonga painting — and they wear Japan’s seasonal colours. Hire a rowboat in spring or autumn to glide along under clouds of sakura blossoms or fiery momiji leaves.
Soho House Istanbul
Turkey
This Turkish outpost of Soho House treats you as tenderly as the grilled iskender beef laid on a flatbread on the house menu. Formerly Palazzo Corpi, the home of a Genoese merchant, and the US embassy, these days it’s less businesslike, dressed in velvets and kilim rugs, with original frescoes — and new-guard artwork from local creatives — to gaze lovingly at. Repose in a barber’s chair or plush cinema seat, lounge on the rooftop that overlooks the local-in-feel Beyoğlu neighbourhood, and — when in Türkiye — flop down in the hammam for some vigorous scented scrubbing.
Broaden your horizontals: Take the ups (climbing Galata Tower, piling up meze plates at rooftop Duble Meze Bar, getting high off Mandabatmaz’s super-strength coffee), with the downs (dancing to D’n’B at Pixie Underground, having a knock-out time in the hotel’s boxing ring), before regaining equilibrium back in your soft Soho House bed. And if you’re feeling roused for yet more exploration, be inspired by our weekend-break guide to Istanbul and our lowdown on where to eat in the city.
Villa Dahlia
Stockholm, Sweden
Set in a building that was once home to writers Astrid Lindgren and August Strindberg, Villa Dahlia was founded by the family behind the Diplomat Collection hotel group and is inspired by their summer hideaway. So, while it’s set in central Stockholm, it conjures up images of blooming beds with its botanical prints, leafy views of neighbouring Tegnérlunden Park and fragrant, Nordic-style wellness area. Slip between the covers and fill them with dreams of gentle adventure: lazing on the rooftop, Italian-leaning meals and gentle games of boules and ping-pong.
Broaden your horizontals: Be inspired by the hotel’s collection of Flemish and Italian masters — and rotating exhibitions of modern talents — with a circuit of galleries such as Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Galleri Glas and Carling Dalenson. Follow up with a soothing spell on Battusflotten’s sauna raft, then cosy up on a bench along the Monteliusvägen walkway to admire the city’s night lights.
Château Royal Berlin
Germany
They say heavy is the head that wears the crown, but at Berlin stay Château Royal, guests can give theirs a break on the softest of pillows and receive the royal treatment (we like the Tower Suite for its Sleeping Beauty-esque seclusion, bath tub and sunset-facing windows). Rouse yourself to see work by the suite of 93 artists who contributed to the hotel’s cultured look, tuck into homemade pastas in the Mediterranean eatery and arrange a tasting of small-batch Burgundies. Then plot out the city’s timeline (oh, guten tag, Reichstag dome and Brandenburg Gate horses) along its horizon from the rooftop, before you assume an equally horizontal position to sleep.
Broaden your horizontals: When it comes to easygoing mind-expansion, the hotel is perfectly placed: the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and Jewish Memorial are within a 15-minute walk to the west, and just beyond are the Tiergarten’s sculpture park, zoo, boating lake and beer garden. To touch grass with trendsetters, head south to airfield-turned-alfresco-hangout, Tempelhof.
Izza Marrakech
Morocco
If your Marrakech style harks back to the city’s most bohemian era of reclining on plump cushions and looking decorous in a kaftan à la Talitha Getty, then Seventies-evoking stay Izza Marrakech will knock you sideways. Its seven riads — with pools for soaking in, a hammam and a museum-worthy art collection — has zellige in throwback sage, cream and mustard, carved woods, and leather and cane-backed furnishings. Restaurant Noujoum is inspired by designer Bill Willis (who worked with the Gettys) and feels authentically insouciant — especially at brunch when the pastry chef works their magic on msemmen flatbreads and baghrir pancakes.
Broaden your horizontals: To the north of Izza, you can lollop through palms on camelback to a relaxed afternoon mint tea amid the dunes; to the south is Marrakech proper, for souk-searching, museum-hopping and some reclining time in a cabana or on a couch atop Nobu or El Fenn’s roof terraces.
Broaden your horizontals further with our pick of the flat-out best stays for wellness, stay-on-the-sunlounger paradises, and action-packed hideaways