City Stays

Soulful Stays in the World’s Most Inspiring Cities

It’s an intangible thing. A mood you slip into like silk. The perfect city break simply makes life feel brighter and fuller. Embracing the unique joy of being a temporary visitor in a new place brings a welcome change of pace and perspective. These three addresses in Bangkok, London, and Shanghai offer a balance of discovery and downtime as unforgettable as the cities outside, leaving your cup full to carry back home with you.

Bohemian Bangkok – The Siam

Thailand’s colourful capital is where travellers go to remind themselves that truly living means tasting, touching, and experiencing. Bangkok’s quiet temples, famously diverse dining, and burst of art and culture spark a sensory reset that’s hard to replicate elsewhere. Here, tuk-tuks move audaciously through the streets, open air markets emit invigorating scents of lime or chilli mixed with smoky char, and the beautifully choreographed chaos of riverboats on the Chao Phraya have an unexpected meditative quality.

Leaving behind the exhilarating whirlwind of sound, flavour and heat, The Siam sprawls over three acres of the water’s edge to offer a quieter side to Bangkok’s Old Town. Nostalgia-driven yet confident and contemporary, the monochrome icon welcomes you with space, serenity, and attention to detail that you’ll take in all at once, and then again later, more slowly, noticing more design touches the further you move through the gallery-like hotel.

With large, plant-filled villas and suites bathed in natural light, a stay here blends stylish comfort with deeply personalised experiences. Try the chef’s tasting menu at Chon, set in a Thai teak wood house. Retreat to the leafy gardens with a good book, or unwind with a dedicated jazz listening session in the vinyl room. Discover Muay Thai boxing with a master, or return home with traditional Sak Yant tattoo art as a meaningful and lifelong souvenir.

London Calling – Hotel Café Royal

London consistently comes out on top in most World’s Best City reports, and for good reason. The British capital’s characterful blend of wit, grit, and stiff upper lip draws a year-round captive audience. Its exciting food scene and layers of art, royal history, and architecture, place the city on destination wish lists of families, foodies, and culture seekers from all over the globe.

Few places embody London’s spirit of contrasts and reinvention like Hotel Café Royal. Radiating grandeur from the moment you step in from Regent Street, the immense glass chandelier, marble flooring and gilded dining room – frequented by Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf before its Bowie and Bardot heyday – are quite the foil for the hotel’s minimalist rooms and suites.

From the cocooning effect of Akasha – a subterranean sanctuary earning Hotel Café Royal the Timeout title of Best Hotel Spa in London 2025 – to the two Michelin-starred modern French cuisine by London-born Alex Dilling, a stay here is a blissful pause from the outside world. Yet, once you’re ready to explore, you’ll find iconic landmarks, wonderfully accessible galleries and museums, Royal Parks, and Theatreland right on your doorstep.

Sophisticated Shanghai – The Middle House

China’s largest city blends its beguiling past with soaring skyscrapers, tradition with technology. This seamless duality gives Shanghai a cinematic edge that cosmopolitan travellers find magnetic. Spotlessly clean and well connected, the cultural powerhouse is a heady mix of world-renowned shopping, contemporary art exhibitions, parks hosting mesmerising groups practising Tai Chi in perfect unison, and iconic nightlife.

With effortless poise, The Middle House in the city’s Jing-An district at once embraces and diffuses the city’s restless energy. Creative and individual at its core, its name offers a nod to the hotel’s central Dazhongli setting while its design echoes the city’s signature capacity to fuse Chinese tradition with modern minimalism. The hotel’s pleasing blend of clean lines and curves, quirky photography, and tactile furniture you’ll want to either sink into or run your hand along, inspires an intimate boutique feel despite its large proportions.

After a day eating, shopping, and exploring, ground yourself with a visit to Mi Xun Spa, hidden beneath the hotel’s layers of sleek rooms and discreet public spaces. Take a dip in the 33-metre-long pool or enjoy a hot stone massage before retreating to your serene studio, whose floor-to-ceilng windows look out to a city that never sleeps – although the muted colour palette and luxury down bedding ensure that you will.