Retreat, relax, and be revitalised by a visit to one of the UK’s best spas. There's something here for everyone, whether you’re indulging in tailored treatments for face and body, or simply soaking up the heat in a sauna or wallowing in the water.
The Gainsborough Bath Spa, Bath
(Image credit: Gainsborough Bath Spa)
Bath has been at the centre of, well, bathing, since the early Celts and Romans "cottoned onto the health benefits" of the city's springs, which are "infused with a cocktail of minerals including calcium and magnesium", said The Independent. "Bathing experiences" range from "warm balneo pools", a "lavender-scented ice alcove", saunas and a steam room to a "flotation pool where hydro jets are powerful enough to unknot the most clenched tech neck". New spa treatments include a "mud detox from luxe Hungarian skincare brand Omorovicza", which involves a "vigorous scrub with a gloopy balm" plus a full-body mud pack and massage with body oil, leaving you "pie-eyed and ready for the best sleep of your life".
Set on a cliff overlooking Saundersfoot on the Pembrokeshire coast, the views "are pure relaxation before you've even put on a spa bathrobe", said The Times. And the best place to appreciate them is the outdoor hydrotherapy pool, accompanied by a "soundtrack of crashing waves and squawking seagulls". Indoors, massages and facials feature seaweed, "one of the most potent (if sometimes a little pungent) skin softeners around". Here, you can "drift off in the thermal suite", said The Independent, or "wallow in the harbour-facing infinity pool on even the foulest of days".
An award-winning five-star spa hotel, Seaham Hall is "principally a lovely spa with some accommodation attached", said The Times, and combines the "best of contemporary hospitality and heritage", according to Luxury Lifestyle Magazine. Follow the tunnel from the hotel to the Serenity Spa, a "destination in its own right", which includes a 20-metre pool, steam room, sauna and hydrotherapy thermal experiences. Beyond the "many saunas and gleaming teak-floored massage rooms" is the Zen Garden, with "relaxation beds and a bubbling infinity pool".
Its rural location in the heart of the New Forest means SenSpa at Careys Manor "goes beyond a typical pamper break", said Red, by "allowing you to reconnect with nature". The award-winning Thai-inspired spa will "refresh your senses" with a hydrotherapy suite including a hydrotherapy pool, herbal sauna and crystal steam room. Don't miss the experience showers, which "emulate thunderstorms", and health showers, which "target jets of hot and cold water on the muscles", said The Telegraph. The Thai masseuses are remedial therapists who can "highlight musculoskeletal problems as well as provide deep relaxation".
Beneath London's smartest and coolest members' club lies this spa, open to non-members, with a "list of serious treatments", said Condé Nast Traveller, such as osteopathy, lymphatic massage, LED light therapy and cryotherapy facials. Or if you "just want to be sent comatose", try the Akwaterra massage, using heated sandstone pods to "glide up and down the body", reaching "deep into the muscles". And do leave time for "dedicated luxuriating by the dark, brooding" pool on one of the "impossibly chic" loungers. Among the "reliably effective" massages here, said the London Evening Standard, the CBD massage stands out as "exceptional at working out knots and pain points".
When this "grey-stone pile" opened a century ago, it was "hailed as the 'eighth wonder of the world'", said The Times, "and it continues to dazzle to this day". It's a "sublime haven of sybaritic delights", which offers "every conceivable face and body treatment", said The Telegraph, with professional practitioners and therapists delivering complementary and alternative therapies. Saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy vitality pool and "superb relaxation" areas all contribute to the sense of "sheer blissed-out, all-over wellbeing".
This rooftop spa is "a picture of bold and classy design", said The Telegraph, merging "Art Deco elegance with idiosyncratic charm". Leave time for the "pre-treatment pampering", particularly the bubbling vitality pool and underwater seating, and the "wood-clad relaxation room". And "no spa in London can rival the views", overlooking the trees in Hyde Park, with "particularly magnificent vistas" from the sauna, so "if your therapist asks how you'd like the curtains the correct answer is 'open'", said Time Out. After your treatment, head to a "dimly lit relaxation pod", for a "steaming cup of tea and some nibbles", put on a pair of headphones and "let the calming effects of your treatment really sink in".
Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.
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