SimplyAbuDhabi XLIX

Budapest is, after all, the City of Baths, and Anantara draws that heritage into its own subterranean sanctuary. The 500-square-metre spa unfolds like a softly lit cave, with a 15-metre relaxation pool and thermal facilities, while treatments unite Anantara’s Thai wellness philosophy with Hungary’s mineral-rich traditions. A couples massage adds an appropriately restorative pause to a stay otherwise filled with visual splendour. Yet the palace’s most famous space deserves the final word. Breakfast beneath the frescoed ceilings and crystal chandeliers of the NewYork Café is less a meal than a Budapest rite of passage. For generations, this was a gathering place for the city’s writers, journalists, and intellectuals; today its marbled columns and gilded decoration retain all the romance of that cultural heyday. It would be easy for so much history and ornament to overwhelm. Instead, the hotel feels remarkably alive. Contemporary rooms provide a quieter counterpoint to the public spaces, while attentive, generous service brings warmth to all that magnificence. The result is something more interesting than simply staying in one of Budapest’s grandest hotels. For a few days, Anantara NewYork Palace lets you become part of the story. Simply Abu Dhabi | 195