THE SPA AT MANDARIN ORIENTAL

Nowhere is an oasis of calm more needed than in one of the world’s busiest cities. From the moment you step inside this five-star hotel’s award-winning spa (mandarin oriental.com), the crowds, congestion and constant car horns 34 floors below feel miles away. Take in uninterrupted views of Central Park and the Hudson River through floorto-ceiling windows in the sprawling space, which has six treatment rooms – with private showers, amethyst crystal steam chambers and gender-specific plunge pools – and an Oriental Tea Lounge to relax in sipping a herbal infusion. As you’d expect from a Mandarin Oriental, the spa menu features a dash of the Far East: Ayurvedic skin and body treatments; therapeutic massages; chakra balancing; acupressure; and a jetlag-busting Oriental Harmony massage that has two therapists working on your body in perfect unison. Guests are encouraged to book a 90-minute appointment then decide on the ideal mix of treatments in a pre-therapy consultation. Who said New York has to be exhausting?