Barkley's Baths: Tub To-Dos for 2021
TLF partner Barkley Hickox is the office bath enthusiast and aficionado. Barkley’s Baths focuses on her favorite tubs around the globe.
While the only unexpected upside to 2020 was a lot of time to “relax” (if downtime forced by a global shut down can be called relaxing), an evening dip in your apartment tub doesn’t have quite the same appeal as a hotel soak. There are no new lotions and potions to discover, the towels are only as fluffy as they’ve ever been, and the real world is just beyond the bathroom door.
In 2021, I hope to be making up for lost time - visiting properties and destinations all over the globe, both new and well-loved. And after a long, glorious day of exploring, I plan to be in one of these tubs, washing away the memories of a year that was tough for all of us in anticipation of a clean start.
Travelers who have trekked into the Rwandan jungle to come face-to-face with the mountain gorillas always come back stunned at their feeling of profound recognition at just how much these gentle giants feel familiar. While living full-time in the lush, misty rainforest of Volcanoes National Park occasionally sounds like a better option than the urban jungle of Manhattan, Singita Kwitonda’s black stone baths are a primate-free zone, so I guess that’s a point for humans.
The interiors of the recently-refurbed Rosewood Little Dix Bay are a perfect combination of rough-hewn island meets cobalt-and-white classic, but it’s the setting on Virgin Gorda that’s the ultimate wow. Just two miles down the island from the hotel, you’ll find The Baths, a geological anomaly filled with granite boulders, tidal pools, and impossible grottoes. (Plus, the hotel baths themselves, with their cheerful blue mosaics and neighboring outdoor stone showers, are the perfect way to rinse off any stubborn salt.)
Closer to home, the long-anticipated Aman New York is slated to begin welcoming guests in 2021. Count me among the brand’s dedicated fans, who flock to perfectly-calibrated properties from southern Utah to sultry Sri Lanka. After years of perfecting their zen vibes in remote resort destinations, Aman Tokyo changed the urban hotel game upon opening in 2014, and I can’t wait to consider the merits of the forthcoming outpost on 57th Street and Fifth while ensconced in a sleek and stunning tub.
When mid-century modern architecture meets Matisse’s palette on an island with a history of pirates and shipwrecks, all developed by the brains behind the Seychelles’ North Island, the escapist fantasy level is going to be off the charts. Time + Tide’s Miavana, on a private island just off Madagascar, is the new frontier of far-flung, and I’m hoping to be happily marooned in an oceanfront bath, with a view over the ever-changing hues of the Emerald Sea.
While I’m leaning into this dream of sailing the high seas, I’ll go ahead and do it aboard the Satori yacht, thankyouverymuch. At 41.5 meters, with custom North sails and teak and mahogany decking, the Satori was inspired by the glamour of the 1920s and 30s, so groups of up to 10 can sip bubbles from the 250-bottle cellar and dine on meals prepared by the Michelin-trained chef team. I hope everyone can handle this tough life without me, though, because I’ll be taking up residence in the free-standing walnut tub in the master bath.
Cheval Blanc will be opening their fifth gorgeous maison this spring, floating between the Louvre and Ile de la Cite in the City of Lights. If the bath situation at hotels un, deux, trois, and quatre are anything to go by, I can’t wait to cinq beneath signature-scented bubbles and survey the Seine, as the ne pas déranger sign becomes a permanent fixture on my door. Interiors are still a closely-guarded secret, but I may have gotten a peek inside during construction, and I can’t wait to return to this new haven in the center of one of my favorite cities.