Need a holiday but can’t afford the time? Take a weekend off in one of Hong Kong’s fabulous hotels. By HK staff.

Four Seasons Hotel 

8 Finance St., Central, 3196-8888, www.fourseasons.com.

Why go? Open for only a matter of months, this 45-storey slice of Zen has already found a place among Hong Kong’s fast and furious. From the expansive harbor panorama view to the spacious bathroom to the enormous wall-mounted plasma TV that lords it over an imperial bed, there’s nothing small about this place. In the age of the bijou boutique hotel, the Four Seasons is refreshingly BIG.  

Why leave the room? There’s an open-air pool on the sixth floor, and each changing room features the largest “vitality pools” imaginable as well as rasul treatments, saunas and steam rooms.

Pamper me. The Urban Spa offers couple rooms, each with a Jacuzzi, multi-jet power shower and a fantastic harbor view. Have dinner at one of the city’s hottest tables at Le Caprice and then off to bed, to do what most couples do on a romantic getaway – watch TV.

Price: The Urban Spa Escape (including a one-night stay, breakfast and spa treatments) in a deluxe harbor-view room is $4,100 for one, $6,200 for two.

InterContinental Hong Kong 

18 Salisbury Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 2721-1211, www.hongkong-ic.intercontinental.com.

Why go? For all 7,000 square feet of the new Presidential Suite, at the paltry sum of $87,000 for five bedrooms (plus 13 percent). If you can already hear your checkbook crying quietly in a corner, try the newly remodeled Contemporary Junior Suite ($6,500 a night) instead. The bathroom has a Jacuzzi and a steam room, and is so big you could play racquetball in it. There’s a 37” plasma TV and an iPod docking station for the techno-literate.

Why leave the room? Join the Club InterContinental and you get free use of the business center and complimentary breakfast and afternoon cocktails. Pick at finger food, drink coffee, read newspapers, sip champagne and watch mindless, work-harried peons scuttle to and fro in the lobby below.

Pamper me. Included as part of the deal are access to the well-appointed gym and the outdoor infinity pool, which makes you feel like you might drop straight into the harbor. And when someone’s bringing up fresh fruit and tea every half-hour – or so it seems – it’s hard to complain.

Price: Suites range from $6,500 to $13,000. Joining the Club InterContinental costs an additional $700.  

The Chuan Residences at the Langham Place Hotel

555 Shanghai St., Mongkok, 3552-3050, www.langhamhotels.com.

Why go? Forty floors up in palatial Chinese surroundings, soak in your own private infinity pool as it pulsates with mood-controlled laser-beam lighting. Oh, yes. The Journey package starts with limo transfer from home or airport and a private check-in for those discreet encounters. A traditional Chinese medicine consultant then reveals which of the five elements is out of balance in you, and from that moment on, the incense you smell, the essential oils used in your therapy and even the tea you drink will work to redress the balance.

Why leave the room? For a three-hour spa therapy of your choice in the Spirit Suite, full access to the Langham Hotel Club including breakfast and cocktails, and the Chuan Spa Health and Wellbeing facilities: there’s a gorgeous (and rare) heated rooftop swimming pool where you can work on your tan by day and schmooze with booze under the stars by night.

Pamper me. With the Journey package, a tailor-made spa-inspired four-course dinner is served in the privacy of your Chuan Residence. The Infinity bath, an overflowing tub that combines a gentle whirlpool function with the concept of chromatherapy, which uses light and color to soothe or energize. Pulsating bubbles surround you amid Star Wars beams of alternating colored light. The Infinity Suite includes your own private steam room.

Price: The Chuan Journey Package ranges from $7,199 to $8,399 for three classes of double rooms while the less extravagant Elements Package ranges from $2,699 to$3,899 and offers less expensive single rooms.  

The Peninsula

Salisbury Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 2920-2888, www.peninsula.com.

Why go? The “Suite Experience” at The Peninsula gives you a choice of the best suites, ranging from the Superior (944 square feet, $5,600 a night) to the Grand Deluxe Harbour View on the corner (1,422 square feet for a whopping $15,000 a night).

Why leave the room? The Suite Experience also comes with unlimited access to the mini-bars (two to a room), breakfast for two and a set dinner for two at any Peninsula restaurant, excluding alcoholic drinks. Considering the fistfuls of dosh we had to fork out at the end, you’d think that they could spare a bottle of wine with dinner.

Pamper me. There’s free access to the health club and the giant Roman-style swimming pool, complete with Ionic columns. A complimentary Rolls-Royce transfer from the airport to hotel and the in-room telescope for a little stargazing. Hang on – stars in Hong Kong?

Price: Suites available for $5,600, $7,500, $9,000, $13,000 and $15,000 a night (with 10 percent service charge, three percent tax).

Ooh La La!

Pui O Beach, Lantau Island, 2546-3543, www.oohlala-hk.com.

Why go? Convinced the big Buddha, Disneyland and the airport are all Lantau has to offer? Try Ooh La La!, the restaurant/bar/bed and breakfast on Pui O Beach. There are private B&B rooms on the beach overlooking the South China Sea – no buildings, cars or people in sight. It’s more like Thailand than Hong Kong. Ooh La La! is becoming a popular spot for weddings, and some local celebs have even said their vows with their toes in Ooh La La's sand.

Why leave the room? The big Buddha, Disneyland and the airport. Oh, and beach combing, sunbathing and building sandcastles right outside your bedroom. There’s a hammock outside the front door, drinks are served beachside so you can stand in the ocean, piña colada in one hand, belle or beau in the other, and watch the sun go down as cheesy romantic music plays in the background.

Pamper me. Um, it’s Lantau. Not many spas here, but there is an unrivalled view of the sunset, obscured only by the herd of water buffaloes that wanders along the beach every night.

Price: $700 a night, including B&B room (with private terrace and hammock), breakfast and two complimentary drinks a person. An entire weekend for two shouldn’t cost more than $2,000.

The Landmark Mandarin Oriental

15 Queen’s Road Central, Central, 2132-0188, www.mandarinoriental.com.

Why go? To experience the only time you will ever voluntarily use the phrase “state-of-the-art” to describe anything. The quietly elegant rooms would be considered suites in any other part of town, with LCD televisions (yes, plural) wall mounted in the sitting area as well as in front of the fluffy duvet-adorned king-sized bed. Twitch in humbled awe when you get to the massive round bathroom, complete with circular bathtub, rainforest shower and his ’n’ hers sinks.

Why leave the room? The super-modern, super-elegant Oriental Spa has such things as underwater massage jets; heated, ergonomically shaped sofas; and mint-scented steam rooms. Or perhaps you’d like to get wasted on hip, ultra-tasty saketinis at the MO Bar hotspot in the lobby?

Pamper me. Book three hours in the Oriental Spa’s Sanctuary Suite. It’s got its own “vitality pool” with massage jets, steam room, showers and massage tables for treatments at the accomplished hands of your friendly therapist. It also smells really good. Try the couple’s yoga to learn about breathing techniques you can do together to minimize stress and fatigue.

Price: The “Ticket to Romance” Package prices start at $3,200 and includes one night’s stay, one DVD (ostensibly a romantic film, but feel free to choose otherwise), champagne, roses and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Lush.

The Residential Spa Experience at Plateau, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

1 Harbour Rd., Wan Chai, 2588-1234, hongkong.grand.hyatt.com.

Why go? Plateau is an unusual, self-contained haven within the confines of the Grand Hyatt hotel proper. Situated on the 11th floor, it features a 14-room spa at its heart, three of them residential. Should you care to venture out, the 80,000-square-foot area also contains a swimming pool, the pool-house Plateau Grill, fitness studios and a jogging path all set within lush gardens. Its location on the waterfront next to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai makes it a perfect inner-city oasis for the
time-starved and stressed-out. 

Why leave the room? Exactly. This is the whole point of the Plateau experience. The consistent drawback of a spa treatment is the sense of foreboding you feel as you approach the end of your treatment. Instead, cocoon yourself inside this oasis of calm, let your spa therapist leave you in peace and drift into a blissful sleep.

Pamper me. Couples should go for the decadent Indulge Package, which includes one overnight stay in a Plateau suite plus four signature treatments to be shared between you. Or make like a mermaid/merman behind the whopping eternity bath’s floor-to-ceiling glass wall, which sits facing a giant mirror. The view resembles a sensual worm farm, and the lack of gravity is sensationally flattering.

Price: Indulge Package, $7,500 plus 13 percent tax.