There is a particular art to a hotel that wants you to slow down, and the Empress has been practising it since 1908. I arrived on the late ferry, frazzled in the way you only get from a day of small delays, and the building did something no amount of scented candles ever manages: it simply lowered my heart rate. You come up from the harbour, the ivy-draped façade fills the whole windscreen, and some old part of your brain decides that nothing here needs rushing. That, to me, is the entire promise of a proper retreat — and it is the thing the Empress does best.

I review wellness stays for a living, which means I have learned to be suspicious of grandeur; a lobby can be breathtaking and the pillows still wrong. Not here. My room was large and quietly comfortable, with a harbour view that I watched change colour twice before I'd even unpacked. A recent guest called this "a classic five-star experience that fully lives up to its reputation," and after one slow evening I understood the sentiment completely.

Tea, treatments and genuinely restful hours

You cannot review the Empress without the tea, so let's begin there. The signature Afternoon Tea is the reason a great many people cross the water at all, and at its best it is exactly the ceremony you hope for — flaky scones, house-made jam, honey from the hotel's own rooftop beehives, all poured beneath the chandeliers with an unhurried grace. I loved it. I will also, in the interest of the honesty this desk is built on, pass along the quieter note some guests strike: with add-ons, the tea can feel expensive for what lands on the tiered stand. Go for the ritual, not the value, and you'll leave happy.

A lobby can be breathtaking and the pillows still wrong. Here, mercifully, the grandeur and the good night's sleep arrive together.

The Willow Stream Spa and the indoor heated pool are where I spent my genuinely restful hours, and they are the reason I'd send a burnt-out traveller here without hesitation. Treatments were assured, the water was properly warm — a test more hotels fail than you'd believe — and the whole wellness wing keeps the calm that the building sets up at the door. Dinner at Q, and a nightcap at the Q Bar, rounded out an evening I didn't want to end.

Living with a 117-year-old

Here is the trade-off, and it's one you should make with open eyes. This is a heritage hotel, and it feels every one of its years — which is mostly a joy and occasionally a compromise. More than one guest noted that the space "feels every bit its historic age," and I'd agree; a few rooms read a touch dated, and the bathrooms can be surprisingly small even in a suite. Service, too, can be inconsistent — warm and faultless on one shift, a little distracted on the next. None of it undid the stay for me. But if you are expecting the crisp uniformity of a new-build tower, you'll be happier somewhere with less soul and more square footage.