You’re soaking in hotsprings enough to make your skin flush pink while staring at a glacier. This isn’t a hallucination. It’s what happens when hotels realize that placing a freestanding tub before floor-to-ceiling windows might just be the ultimate luxury amenity.

Let’s be honest about rooftop bars. We’ve all been there. Waited in line. Paid a cover. Squeezed past people wearing outfits that cost more than your monthly car payment. All for what? The privilege of spending $24 on a gin and tonic while trying to find enough elbow room to take a selfie with a partial cityscape in the background.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a mountain lodge, someone is lowering themselves into warm, bubbling water with absolutely no one blocking their view.

Nature Doesn’t Need a Velvet Rope

Rooftop bars pack as many paying customers as fire codes allow onto prime real estate. That mountain-facing tub? It’s just you, hotsprings and unobstructed natural grandeur. No reservations needed except for the room itself.

You can’t hear conversations at the next table because there isn’t one. The only soundtrack is whatever you choose – perhaps nothing but the distant sound of water or wind. 

And nobody – absolutely nobody – will bump into you while carrying three mojitos back to their friends.

Cocktails vs. Bubbles

Both experiences come with drinks. But one forces you to flag down a server or battle three-deep at the bar. The other lets you place your champagne flute on the tub’s edge while you sink deeper into the water.

One experience costs you $200 for a few hours if you include drinks, tips, and that rideshare you needed because parking was impossible. The other comes included with your room. Sure, the room costs more than a night out, but you’re getting 24 hours of luxury, not just access to a crowded terrace from 9 pm to 2 am.

The economics start making sense.

The Privacy Premium

We’ve collectively decided that exclusivity equals luxury. But somewhere along the way, “exclusive” started meaning “the same crowded experience but with more expensive drinks.”

True exclusivity? Having an entire mountain view to yourself while wearing absolutely nothing.

Try that at a rooftop bar and you’ll get a very different outcome.

You know what’s better than the perfect Instagram post of cityscape lights? Actually experiencing something without worrying about documenting it. When was the last time you enjoyed a luxury moment without reaching for your phone? That bathtub view might just force you into genuine presence.

Why We Still Love Both

Look, rooftop bars have their place. Sometimes you want the energy of a crowd, the people-watching, the chance encounter. There’s something undeniably thrilling about being twenty stories up as a city pulses around you.

But as we evolve in our understanding of what luxury really means, maybe it’s less about being seen and more about seeing something extraordinary.

That glacier isn’t posing. That lake isn’t trying to impress anyone. That mountain range has been there long before social media and will outlast whatever comes after it.

So next time you’re debating between an overpriced urban hotspot or a hotel room with a bathtub positioned to capture something timeless, remember: one experience fits on a small screen. The other fills your field of vision in a way no camera can capture.

Bathtub with a view or natural hotsprings with glacier view.  Ready to experience www.privatehotsprings.com, email to book [email protected]