Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto

Toronto is a surprisingly global city, and as such it’s no surprise that it counts a Shangri-La among its best hotels. Asia’s luxury hotels, after all, are the envy of the hospitality world. And despite its location in the center of the financial district, the Shangri-La Toronto feels like a place of refuge from the city outside.

It’s chock full of identifiably Asian design elements, to begin with, from towering glass panes and carved wooden screens to palatial guest rooms and cascading waterfalls. Not to mention that suites have names like Zhang Huan and Moongate. There are 202 guest rooms, a quarter of which are suites; standard in-room amenities include heated floors, Nespresso machines, flat-screen TVs in the bathrooms, bath products by L’Occitane and Bulgari, iPod docks, and floor-to-ceiling windows that (thankfully) actually open and close. The look is sleek and minimal, with a practical purpose for everything, and, above all, these accommodations are spacious — even the most standard guest room is bigger than you’d typically expect from a suite.

More floor-to-ceiling windows afford gaping views of the city below from the sprawling, state-of-the-art fifth-floor health club and spa, complete with a 20-meter pool, yoga studio, the Miraj Hammam Spa, and a long row of treadmills that might remind you of a memorable Bill Murray scene from Lost In Translation. The Bar specializes in Prohibition-era cocktails, while Bosk is the hotel’s stylish restaurant. It’s also Asian-inspired, as you might well have suspected, with carved screens and whimsical colored lamps suspended over the minimalist cocktail bar. There’s an extensive wine selection, and an outdoor terrace that’s open in warmer weather. Look out at the city, or to the horizon beyond. This particular Shangri-La might not literally be the sacred place of refuge described in in ancient Tibetan texts, but Canada, huge and largely pristine, is its own kind of paradise.