At the moment the Foreign Office has advised against travel abroad. Some of the destinations below are potential candidates for an air bridge agreement but others are not – be sure to check FCO advice before planning a trip anywhere. Also check with the hotels as spa rules vary between different locations.
An insider’s guide to the top spa hotels in Europe, featuring the best for yoga, infinty pools, thalassotherapy, vinotherapy, massage, and medical and anti-ageing treatments, in locations including Spain, UK, Switzerland, Italy, France and Greece.
Italy
The hotel’s T-Spa features a heated indoor infinity pool with five hydro-massage areas and an attached outdoor whirlpool tub. The panoramic relaxation lounge with sunbeds has floor-to-ceiling windows commanding lovely lake views. It offers traditional Hammam treatments, pro-radiance facials and holistic foot and leg massages with hot stones. The private T Spa Suite is especially designed for couples or friends, with its own whirlpool tub, sauna and steam room.
Situated on Lake Garda, Lefay combines Chinese medicine with modern Western therapies to reactivate our internal energy system while saving the environment. Their approach to dieting is to make changes to eating habits that are psychologically as well as nutritionally sustainable. The “light menu” is tasty low-cal Mediterranean fare that takes the strain off the digestive system. Fill your time having anti-cellulite massages, body wraps, doing tai chi and cycling round the lake.
The Four Seasons has the only hotel spa worthy of the name in central Florence. Housed in an ochre-yellow pavilion giving onto an 11-acre park, it has 10 treatment rooms – two of them doubles – and in a nice touch, uses the products of historic (but these days state-of-the-art) body care and beauty lab Officina Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. Signature treatments include a Chianti wine massage, and a full-body treatment based on iris root powder.
The Cavalieri’s huge, opulent Ancient Rome-themed Grand Spa Club covers more than 25,000sqft of indoor and outdoor pools, Turkish baths and saunas, treatment rooms (there are 10, with exclusive La Prairie products used in the more high-end facials and body treatments) and fitness facilities, as well as pilates, yoga rooms and two clay tennis courts. The only downside to this cornucopia of riches is that even hotel guests have to pay for it – €31 (£22) a day for access to the whole Club, €20 (£14) to use the parts of the Club without the outside pools, and €18 (£13) to just use the outside pools – with a whole sun-lounger generously included. Be aware too that locals can also join the club – from 5pm to around 8pm, the gym in particular tends to be full of Romans working out after work.
The Borgo’s lovely spa is basically a whole Tuscan farmhouse in the garden, with exposed stone walls and an exclusive, intimate feel, helped along by the fire which burns in the grate of the warmly elegant reception area on cooler days. There are only two individual treatment rooms, plus an al fresco ‘room’ on the terrace, but in this 15-room hotel there’s rarely a booking bind. They specialise in holistic treatments based on organic ingredients, including several Ayurvedic therapies. Spa manager Tracey Mallallieu is one of Tuscany’s top wellness professionals, and the Borgo has an Italian exclusive (so far) on products by UK firm Heaven Health & Beauty, as used in the spa’s signature ‘Bee Sting Facial’.
From
£
1,044
Fonteverde
San Casciano dei Bagni, Tuscany, Italy
The spa is what most people come for, and it certainly delivers. Many of the treatments revolve around the natural thermal waters, rich in sulphur, calcium and other essential elements, that have been known and appreciated since Etruscan times. They are recommended for a series of ailments, from skin complaints to respiratory problems, but in reality, given the elevated target of this luxury resort, Fonteverde is equally geared towards beauty treatments, indulgent massages, Ayurvedic therapies, fitness and other non-medical spa activities. In cooler weather (and this is very much an all-year resort) it’s a joy just to luxuriate in the main thermal pool, or massage and tone various body zones via the resort’s Bioaquam circuit.
Borgo Egnazia is a Pompeii-style mapping of villas, piazzas and pools on Italy’s Puglian coast. Its Vair Spa, like the hotel, ticks the luxury list of flickering candlelight, trickling water and cocooning silence in a labyrinth of cream and natural textures, beautifully. Guest at Vair (meaning “true” in Apulian) can, of course, have a body massage or manicure, but they can also explore the sound of their voice with a musician, or have a facial that’s more of a psychological journey than a mere pore-cleansing sensation. Either way, the therapists create real connections with guests.
Spreading over 4,000 coolly modernist metres, the Verdura’s standalone wellness centre is probably the top facility in the whole of Sicily, and well up there among Italy’s leading hotel spas. A child-free zone – all except the indoor spa pool, where kids are welcome from 8am to 2pm – it features no less than four outdoor thalassotherapy pools, and has a very distinct approach, following the Kneipp healing and fitness philosophy, which is based on the five pillars of water, plants, exercise, diet and balance. Massages, facials and all the usual treatments are on offer, but the spa, with its hand-picked international staff, specialises in programmes that spread over several days, from detox to slimming to anti-ageing.
Behind this 100-year-old chandeliered Italian splendour, with sumptuous bedrooms and charming multilingual staff is a gleaming white medical wing with cutting-edge health and beauty treatments, including the latest lasers and injectables to less invasive, traceless facelifts and collagen-boosters, while its intense detox programme is superb. A barrage of bioenergetic treatments (measuring and boosting vitality levels), massage, phyto-mud therapy, hydro-aromatherapy sessions and strict dietary retraining that is tough but refreshing if you can go the pace. A daily allowance of 800 calories is turned into four-course, bijou, works of art, that all-in-all is very much a favourite with renowned male and female sport stars to Russian tycoons.
Exploring the galaxy of Adler spa’s indoor and outdoor pools, saunas, steam baths, grottoes, fitness areas, wellness and beauty zones, can take up the best part of a day. Treatments, from massages to facials, are not included in the hotel’s ‘all-inclusive’ room rates, but prices are competitive – more in the city day-spa bracket than the luxury resort category. There’s even a kids’ section on the menu, offering treatments like the ‘pampering spa with milk and chocolate’.
A refreshingly clean-lined exterior set in a traditional, Alpine Bond-style setting. The spa is big and Zen, yet intimate and cosy, a clever, rare balance to strike. The fusion food also works a treat – Bircher for breakfast, dim sum for dinner. Yoga classes precede hot/cold plunge, steam and sauna, while the muscle-weary shouldn’t miss the Alpienne Mountain massage. There are twice-daily, 90-minute mountain walks to feed your soul and visits throughout the year from Loten Dahorstang, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, who teaches divine yoga, chanting mantras and sacred meditations.
The Swiss have arguably the best health-care system in the world and this acclaimed thermal and medical spa sits alongside a historic hotel. It has more or less every medical expert going – get a new set of teeth, a full-on gynaecological screening complete with mammogram and ultrasound, or MOTs for eyes, heart and lungs, and oodles of dietary advice (or “metabolic optimisation”, as they call it here). Even insomniacs are catered for: to improve your kip, experts will rig you up to sensors and note your every nocturnal nuance. Plus, there is also a relationship-restoring, stop-snoring package. Sound familiar?
Encompassing cutting-edge medical treatments drawn from the expertise of the Nescens brand and the Centre for Ageing at the country’s Clinique de Genolier, you can expect results here, from figure shaping through Zeltiq CoolSculpting, to lipo massage, facial tissue regeneration, or help in radically changing your lifestyle for continued results. Beauty products come courtesy of La Prairie and their firming caviar treatments. A sauna, Hamman and hairdresser are on site.
Cheval Blanc
Courchevel, Savoie, France
All-white orchids against calming white walls, the spa mixes serious anti-ageing facials (ask for the Abeille Royale which plumps up wrinkles with youth serum) with restorative massages for aching muscles after a day on the slopes. A contrast of hot and cold sensations are used to reoxygenate the tissue, with a cold glass snowball used to massage the arches of your feet resulting in a new spring in your step. Skilled therapists and champagne by the glass complete the picture.
From
£
1,219
Beautifully designed to make the most of light filtering though the black and white mosaic spaces and over the large indoor pool, the spa is a haven which delivers results. Domaine de Manville’s own products consist of slimming treatments (caffeine and oil of pink peppercorns) and firming treatments (maritime pine, age-defying, stimulating Royal Jelly). You can also work out at in the kinesis technogym, or chose one of the outstanding Ivo Pintanguy treatments, legendary for their lifting and hydrating properties.
Caudalie pioneered the notion of vinotherapy, with treatments combining the anti-ageing properties of polyphenols contained in grapeseeds and the spa’s own natural hot-water spring. Occupying a wooden building inspired by the region’s old tobacco drying sheds, there are 20 treatment rooms, a room for relaxing over tea and beamed indoor pool. Bubble away in a barrel of Grape Marc, before enjoying a crushed cabernet scrub. Other star treatments include the Pulp Friction massage and merlot, honey, wine and vine flower wraps.
With 13 treatment rooms, including two vast suites, and lounge-like reception with retro-style chairs and hotch-potch of floor tiles, the biggest hotel spa in Paris, with Art Deco motifs, is also perhaps the most fun. Its mood feels young and lively. And what could be more apt than the still-family-run Clarins group, which liked to claim it made its name by perfecting the women’s silhouette to feel happy in the new bikini, launched at the Molitor swimming pool in 1946? The wide range of face and body treatments, using plant-perfumed oils, go from anti-age to dilettante and athlete, or even nail varnish and champagne sessions. The star turn is the Beyond the Water treatment devised especially for the Molitor for both men and women, complete with hot and cold foot treatment, aquatic cushions and watery soundtrack.
There’s something undoubtedly regal about the spa at the Shangri-La. As with many Paris spas, you go downstairs to enter, but in fact you reach ground level down the hill in what were once the stables. The big surprise is the soaring perspective of the colonnaded swimming pool, with its glazed day-lit façade and sun loungers along the side, while the spacious, candlelit treatment rooms of the Carita spa are geared for relaxing, complete with shower and hammam. The menu of Carita facials and massages includes the signature Expérience Précieuse, treating you from head to foot, and techniques that go from plant-based scrubs to decidedly high-tech electric probes, LED light therapy and ultrasound.
Lime Wood
New Forest, Hampshire, England
In the sybaritic Herb House Spa – airy, encased in glass and surrounded by greenery – there are private bathrooms with deep copper baths in the changing rooms; sensuous swimming, hydrotherapy and steam pools; a pioneering raw food café, Raw and Cured; a tempting shop, Curated; a mud house, relaxation rooms and state of the art gym leading to a beautiful rooftop garden, all with sylvan views. Spa treatments are by Bamford, Voya, Pai, Tri-Dosha and Aromatherapy Associates.
Designed to reflect the flow of energy through the body, ESPA Life at the Corinthia hotel is a sinuous space where sharp edges are banished. Wave-style corridors hand-cast in resin lend a fluid, futuristic feel; in the relaxation room, sleep pods replace traditional daybeds. Facials are a forte here, and for immediate results an enzyme peel is recommended. Gentle enough to allow for a dinner date afterwards, but effective enough to show results, a deep cleanse and exfoliation is followed by a cooling mask of argan oil and menthol, leaving the complexion noticeably plumped and fresh.
The marble-clad subterranean spa ticks all the luxurious boxes you would expect in Knightsbridge. And now, as well as gold-walled vitality pools, you can enjoy first-class fitness with a Lee Mullins Workshop programme. A framework assessment with merciless fat callipers gives you nowhere to hide: analysing genes, movements, intolerances and metabolic rate to devise a personalised 28-page fitness programme. The ultra-spacious treatment rooms offer phenomenal ESPA, Swiss Perfection and age-defying acupuncture facials, plus an extensive menu of massages, naturopathy, osteopathy and reflexology. The experts here are varied and at the top of their field.
Roman columns and a glass roof dominate the compact and exquisite Spa Village, which comprises three thermal pools, sauna, infrared sauna, steam room and 11 treatment rooms offering a range of massages and Asian-influenced and aquatic therapies. The Romanesque feel is enhanced by replica Roman mosaic (which lies above the preserved remains of the 4th-century original), while guests are encouraged to take the traditional and invigorating “Bath House Circuit” before their treatment, spending around an hour soaking in the three pools of varying temperatures, taking cold showers, rubbing the body with crushed lavender ice and having a sauna.
Combining old school, classic elegance and impressive grandeur with a contemporary, holistic approach, Chewton Glen’s award-winning spa includes Europe’s largest hydrotherapy pool. There’s also a 17m ozone-treated indoor pool lined with blue mosaic tiles and surrounded by Grecian columns and outdoor hot tub (as well as outdoor swimming pool). There are aromatherapy saunas and crystal steam rooms in the changing rooms and treatments on offer include Ananda and Ila.
Dormy House
Broadway, Cotswolds, England
Sprawling over several floors and in its own wing, the Scandinavian-chic House Spa leads directly off the reception lobby, so you are in no doubt that it’s centre stage at this ‘reinvented rustic’ country house hotel. There are gyms for work outs, classes and personal training session, as well as a thermal suite, salt- therapy room, rhassoul mud room, and outdoor hot tub. Treatments are by Temple Spa. Other impressive facilities include the fabulously comfy Greenhouse lounge with bar and floor-to-ceiling windows; a nail parlour lined with bottles of Veuve Clicquot (the idea is that you drink champagne through a straw while receiving a manicure); a 16m infinity pool with mood lighting; and a thermal suite with salt-infusion steam room and lavender sauna.
The Scarlet
Mawgan Porth, England
In the airy, multi-level Scarlet, the air is one of sybaritic relaxation. The womb-like spa specialises in Ayurvedic ‘journeys’, with tented treatment rooms and pods suspended in the dark for ‘deep relaxation’ and an all-glass sea-facing roof for ‘light relaxation’. The reed-fringed, rock-strewn outdoor pool extends from the indoor one, punctuated by two bright scarlet wood-fired hot tubs perched between boulders overlooking the sea.
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Scotland
Possibly the best spa in Scotland; a sublime haven of sybaritic delights with an added health dimension, offering alternative therapies delivered by professional practitioners and therapists. The range of ESPA offerings cover every conceivable face and body treatment. For sheer blissed-out, all-over well-being, indulge in one of the signature treatments. With saunas, steam rooms, a hydrotherapy ‘vitality’ pool and superb relaxation areas, you may never want to leave.
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Austria
Park Igls
Innsbruck, Austria
Few hotel gyms have sheet-glass windows offering panoramic views of snow-covered mountains to motivate you through your workout. This restful apple-and-white Alpine retreat specialises in detox, medical MOTs and musculoskeletal wellbeing and takes fitness super-seriously. Exercise is gentle but fiendishly effective – classes in balance, stability, co-ordination and core stability are key. Meals are modest (500-800 calories per day for detoxers), but nourishing – porridge with maple syrup, scrambled eggs, tasty veg soups, a simple diet designed to cleanse the palate and stimulate sluggish digestion. Add in daily massage, hydrotherapy, detoxifying mud wraps, Nordic walking and mountain air to embrace a more energetic version of yourself.
The Six Senses European debut brims with the wellness and sustainability that this spa hotel group is reputed for, and here adds wine to the mix. With an emphasis on its setting, tastings of Douro Valley wines are just rewards for a day spent meditating among ancient cedars in the surrounding woods. The healthy food from the organic fruit and vegetable garden, the peaceful, muted décor by Clodagh Design, which draws the outside in, the aerobic yoga or yogic sleep all combine to induce a feeling of stillness and contentment.
Vila Vita Parc
Armação de Pera, Algarve, Portugal
Straddling the divide between health and beauty, Vila Vita Parc’s recently renovated spa offers a multitude of treatments including an airy, light-filled, Hypoxi Studio where machines efficiently target stubborn fat. There are specialists in osteopathy, cranio-sacral therapy, reflexology and physiotherapy. Beauticians use Kanebo and La Sultane de Saba products for facials and body treatments. Margaret Dabbs manicures and pedicures are the cherry on the cake.
Conrad Algarve
Quinta do Lago, Algarve, Portugal
Undoubtedly the sleekest spa in the south of Portugal, a visit here guarantees you will leave looking younger, brighter and lighter. This is due to the brilliant Australian Intraceuticals brand, with their oxygen-infused facials, and to the uplifting Aromatherapy Associate oils with which you are massaged by the impressive team of therapists. Outside the treatment rooms lie cabanas, ice fountains, experience showers, infinity pools and a world of natural sunshine.
The spa is undoubtedly the best in Lisbon, with an 18-metre lap pool as its centrepiece. Products are from Sodashi, Swiss Perfection and ESPA; manicures use Spa Ritual’s vegan nail care products. Four treatments rooms offer treatments such as honey and almond scrub, the four-handed “Symphony massage” and facials from Swiss Perfection, which deliver effective anti-ageing treatments. 700 square-metres of fitness facilities at the top of the hotel include pilates studios, resistance training and treadmills alongside the unique, rooftop running track. Excellent opening hours of 6.30am – 10.30 pm.
Amanzoe
Peloponnese, Greece
The very stylish spa offers treatments based on the healing philosophy of Greek medicine (such as facials with a liberal application of local organic honey) and a range of holistic therapies, including Pilates, yoga and aquatic bodywork. The latter, a combination of Watsu (water shiatsu), Alexander Technique, Craniosacral Therapy and sound therapy devised by a genius called Steve Karle, has been known to make grown men weep like babies. The spa also offers a number of excellent wellness retreats led by experts in their field. This is a spa to make Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine, proud.
From
£
2,115
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Germany
This former royal residence’s makeover has tapped into the zeitgeist of the frazzled guest, from rooms decked out in calming tones to de-stressing treatments. Embark on full-body analysis with Hans-Peter Veit, the peppy spa manager, qigong with a former kick-boxing champ, personal training, yoga, first-class physio massages and a hammam with a shipped-in specialist. The 400-calorie menu is not as deprivational as it sounds: beef consommé, Black Forest trout with spinach and potatoes, and apple cake and warm berries. Even the rooms allow you to switch off – literally. One button turns off the electricity; the other blocks out Wi-Fi signal, so you really can get away from it all. Clever.
Mealtimes are muted at Lanserhof Tegernsee: guests must chew each mouthful of their meagre meals 30 to 40 times. A core tenet of the late Dr FX Mayr, intestines expert, the practice claims to regenerate overburdened digestive systems; supplementary medical exams, massages and tailored tests and treatments tackle individual health concerns and needs. An accumulative benefit is that (for most) the weight drops off. It’s hard going at times, but compensation comes through the setting – the Bavarian Alps retreat is encircled by woodland and chocolate-box villages – and the property itself is a surprisingly chic sanctuary, tastefully and soothingly finished in pale woods and calming white. One week (minimum stay) at the Lanserhof Tegernsee, including the basic medical programme from £2,760.
The first – and only – Guerlain Spa in Germany is located on the fifth floor of the hotel, and is almost certainly one of the best in town. Spanning a whopping 1,000 square-metres, this ‘beauty universe’ features no less than eight therapy rooms, a pool shaped like a cloud (of course), sauna, steam room and Vichy shower. There’s also a 24-hour fitness centre. Naturally, there are also lots of lovely Guerlain products for sale.
The Natura Bissé spa at the Urso is everything an urban spa should be, with no fussy nonsense. Wood walls and floors create a cosseting vibe. You need a lot of energy in Madrid so pep yourself up with a citrus scrub or a bitter orange mask. For something really special, try the magnetic mud treatment with diamond dust. Lolling in the seven-metre hydromassage pool feels good after shopping, while the sauna comes in handy for a quick detox the morning after the night before.
It’s all about the volcanoes on Lanzarote, and you can harness a bit of that energy rumbling away underground at the Hesperia’s luxurious spa with a vibration massage with Tibetan bowls, or a lava ritual to get your skin ready for tanning. Try the volcanic stone treatment followed by a slathering in the rich local aloe vera lotion too – followed by a brisk walk along the coast path, breathing in the Atlantic air.
With its clifftop hydrotherapy pool, simply stupendous views of the deep-turquoise sea below, the Talise spa is quite an experience. From the sauna, you gaze at the Tramuntana mountains. Traditional Mallorcan produce such as oranges, almonds and olive oil feature in a lot of the treatments, which use Natura Bissé products. The sports massage with ginger, rosemary and lavender is very popular with the cyclists who base themselves here while tackling the hairpin bends of the Serra Tramuntana.
The Andalusian tiles, arches and columns lend a Moorish look to the Six Senses spa, which opened in July 2015. You can have a treatment using local herbs with sea salt and olive oil in the sensual setting of a canopied cabana, or have a manicure at the outdoor nail bar as you gaze at the Mediterranean. Ice-experience showers zing you back to life in the wet area, where the light filters through woven screens onto limestone tiles. Products are by The Organic Pharmacy and QMS Medicosmetics.
Up on the roof, there are six whirlpool tubs with views of the Mediterranean, where you can bubble away while sipping a refreshing pomada made with the local gin. Downstairs, things get more serious in the sensual U Spa, where the Menorcan wine experience includes a scrub with grape products. Male guests discreetly freshen up their complexions with an algae facial before a sports massage. Ayurvedic treatments include the shirodara ritual, where essential oils are trickled onto the forehead.
The large yet serene Open Spa is a bit of a magnet for high-profile visitors to the island, who are after the very best treatments and facilities. The After Party Detox – with mineral mud treatment and an orange and mimosa oil massage – is unsurprisingly very popular. If it has been a particularly long night, you might want to consider a rejuvenating eye treatment with diamond dust or even submit yourself to the Cinetic Lift Expert technique, which uses microcurrents to tone the skin.
Las Arenas started life as a glamorous spa more than a century ago, when taking the waters was all the rage. The facilities have come on a bit since then, but the spa has lost none of the luxe factor and you can breathe in that healthy sea air as you work your way around the thermal pools. Sisley products are used for treatments, which include a Hanakasumi massage with a cherry blossom and rice powder exfoliation procedure.
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Iceland
The Lava Spa, located underneath the Northern Lights bar, offers extraordinary views overlooking the Icelandic lava fields. Changing rooms lead out into the biting Icelandic air to a shallow, 10-metre hot pool. Guests can also admire outstanding views from within the warmth of a glass-fronted sauna, and then retreat into the tranquillity room after the remedial water works its magic. Treatments, which use local ingredients, are from £57.
Turkey
The beautifully-designed, three-level spa and wellness complex offers sauna and Turkish bath experiences, and includes a full-sized indoor pool as well as a gym crammed with the very latest exercise machines. Oriental treatments include massages with precious stones or bamboo, and there’s also a special ‘gentleman’s menu’.
D-Maris Bay
Marmaris, Turquoise Coast, Turkey
D-Hotel Maris’s ESPA spa is vast and includes a vitality pool, sauna and steam room, adjacent well-equipped gym and multiple relaxation areas. The signature treatment is a sea salt and oil scrub followed by an Aegean sea shell massage, whereby therapists use a heated, smooth and fist-sized seashell to knead the most stubborn tangles of stress into remission.
Contributions from Sophie Benge, Annie Bennett, Mary Bemis, Linda Bird, Kiki Deere, Suzanne Duckett, Fiona Duncan, Natasha Edwards, Anthea Gerrie, Teresa Levonian Cole, Mary Lussiana, Lee Marshall, John O’Ceallaigh, Terry Richardson, Catherine Turner and Tom Yarwood
