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So I'm going to invoke first-comers advantage to give the most easy and obvious recommendation possible in this category (at least in my opinion).
It may not have been the first, and I suppose not everyone will agree it's the best, but you can't really talk about this genre without talking about ARIA, currently coming back in a "Curtain Call" OVA production as a 10-year anniversary project.
ARIA was originally a manga (first called AQUA) by Kozue Amano that was adapted into 3 anime productions (4 cours in total) and multiple OVAs. The story takes place in the early 24th century, and follows Akari Mizunashi, who migrates from Earth to the terraformed planet of Mars, now known as Aqua. She arrives in Neo-Venezia, a city on Aqua modelled after current-era Venice, to begin training as a gondolier -- navigating the water streets by gondola to guide tourists and help them appreciate the sites and sounds of the city. Each story centers around Akari and her fellow gondoliers as they learn to appreciate the little things in life and the beauty of the world around them. Additionally, each episode or story is more-or-less self-contained, with a minor sense of continuity and progression that accelerates a bit towards the end of the story (where it arguably transitions a bit more towards a broader drama).
As I alluded to above, this franchise is basically the poster-child for the "iyashikei" ("healing") genre with its beautiful, relaxing setting, pure-hearted, heart-warming characters, and a touching/moving "moral of the story" after each story/episode. The anime also adds a beautiful, enchanting and unique soundtrack that perfectly accentuates the world of Neo-Venezia, along with memorable opening/ending themes. If you want to take your mind off the stress of life and escape to an idyllic world where you can believe a bit in the good of humanity and the beauty in simply being alive, this is that sort of story. While many of the stories center around Akari and her friends dealing with a simple request or situation and making a discovery in the process, there are also some stories that take a bit of a turn to the abstract and supernatural, hinting at a mysterious layer to the world that most people never notice. This too contributes to the sort of "dream world" flavour of the story.
The manga for this work is excellent (the art in particular is astonishing and beautiful -- I own all the art books), but for various reasons has never actually been fully published in English from beginning to end. The anime was all released on DVD with English subtitles by RightStuf/Nozomi, in a release obviously packed with lots of love and care by the team involved. And, as mentioned above, with the 10th anniversary celebrations underway and the arrival of the new OVA episodes (the first one just began airing in Japanese theatres), it's quite possible another English release may occur in the future after the Blu-Ray Boxes release in Japan. Either way, I expect there will be more opportunities to experience the show again in the next year, and it can't come more highly recommended for fans of this genre/style of story.
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