The Burrow
The Burrow
After a crazy year in 2022, we’re all looking forward to a well-earned vacation, to relax and recuperate away from the stresses of work and day to day life.
From 5-star luxury resorts to yoga by the beach, or a week of spa treatments and pampering, there are lots of ways that you can enjoy a relaxing getaway, but where are the most relaxing cities in the world?
We’ve analysed 30 destinations from around the world on factors such as the availability of spas, yoga and meditation studios, green spaces, as well as the local climate, to reveal the most relaxing cities to visit in 2022.
To ensure that you can travel with true peace of mind, make sure that you check all the local COVID regulations at your destination and get your travel insurance sorted before you travel.
Relaxation score /10
While the home of some of the world’s biggest theme parks might not immediately strike you as a relaxing destination, Orlando had not only the highest concentration of spas on our list but also the same when it came to yoga and meditation studios too. Orlando is located in Central Florida, so as well as the theme parks that we all know about, it’s also home to a number of lakes and nature reserves, and not too far from beaches on either side of the state too.
Relaxation score /10
Second is the capital of New Zealand, Wellington, a diverse and youth-driven city that is known for its coffee scene, famously having more coffee shops per capita than New York City. It also has lots of green spaces for residents to wind down in. Wellington also scored highly for its climate, as one of the driest cities on our list.
Relaxation score /10
Miami takes third place, primarily due to being one of the warmest cities on our list, with a tropical average temperature of 24.3°C, perfect for relaxing on the city’s famous beaches. Miami also had a high number of spas, with 19.7 per 100,000 people.
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A day at the spa is a great way to let all of your worries wash away and relax, and it’s Orlando that has the most spas per 100,000 people on our list. The International Drive area in particular is home to a number of resort spas, as is the Walt Disney World Resort itself.
If you want to exercise your mind and body while on vacation, then it’s good to know that there are plenty of places for you to practice yoga or meditation. Once again, it's Orlando that has the most yoga studios crammed within the city, with 78 for every 100,000 people.
If relaxation for you means connecting with nature and relaxing in a park or nature reserve, then Wellington was the city with the most per 100,000 people, at 34.3. One of the most popular of these is Zealandia, a protected natural area, the world’s first fenced urban ecosanctuary, where just under a square mile of forest is being restored, right in Wellington itself.
When you’re on holiday, you want to be properly looked after, so there’s no better way to ensure that your break is as relaxing as possible than by spending it in the lap of luxury and booking a five-star hotel. Sydney had the highest percentage of five-star establishments, with just over 6% of its hotels earning the rating.
Warm weather is another must when it comes to choosing a relaxing destination for your break, and it was Singapore that topped the charts in this regard, with the annual temperature averaging out at 26.8°C. While the temperature doesn’t vary too much in the city-state, it’s best to avoid the wetter monsoon season from November to February.
Something that’s certainly sure to ruin the relaxing holiday vibe is a downpour of rain, so it’s best to avoid anywhere that’s known for its rainfall. The city on our list that recorded the lowest average monthly precipitation was Munich, Germany, with 29.2 mm.
We looked at 30 popular city destinations around the world, ranking them on the following factors, giving each a score out of ten on each factor, before taking an average across all six factors.
Note that for factors calculated per 100,000 people, population figures were taken from City Population. As the definitions used for cities vary slightly between different countries, we took the population for ‘urban areas’ or the closest alternative definition (specifically major cities, major urban cities, and autonomous communities and major cities).
The number of spas & wellness centres listed on Tripadvisor as of the 17th of November, per 100,000 people.
The number of yoga & meditation studios listed on Yelp as of the 3rd of November, per 100,000 people.
The number of nature & parks attractions listed on Tripadvisor as of the 3rd of November, per 100,000 people.
The number of 5-star hotels listed on Tripadvisor, as a percentage of the total number of hotels listed for the city.
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