As the new year is a time for resolutions to be kinder to ourselves, a soothing trip to top spa hotels will top many members’ agendas when travel restrictions lift in the coming months. Europe’s coastlines, hills, and glades offer many types of wellness experience, ranging from beach holidays to country retreats. To help you choose, we’ve profiled the best in England and beyond – become a member to book and take advantage of our exclusive benefits.
The Best European Spa Breaks
Cliveden House, Berkshire, England
Best for: a range of reinvigorating treatments amid stately grandeur
This mid-19th-century Italianate mansion, set in 376 acres of formal gardens and woodlands, has seen much history, from the beginning of the Profumo affair to hosting Meghan Markle on the night before she became the Duchess of Sussex. Moving with the times, the Thames-side estate’s Cliveden Spa opened in 2017, offering Skinesis facials, Oskia skincare, warm oil massages, luxury manicures, and more amid the tumbling roses and lavender of the walled garden. Pamper yourself with a spa day or spend the night to soak up the house’s history.
Domaine des Etangs, Massignac, France
Best for: well-being treatments in the gentle heart of nature
Enjoy a massage in the forest, while absorbing nature’s oxygen shower, amid this round-towered château’s 2,500 acres of Charente woodlands, grasslands, and manmade lakes in rural central France. This spa hotel is a perfect balance of rusticity and contemporary style, with rooms in small métairie farmhouses and the spa in a former walnut-oil mill with wooden machinery on display. The range of wellbeing experiences includes thermal baths, beauty treatments, and massages from the revitalizing ‘hummingbird’ to the deep ‘down to earth’.
Amanzoe, Porto Heli, Greece
Best for: holistic spa treatments mixed with a beach holiday
Discover the wild countryside of mainland Greece on the beach-fringed Peloponnese peninsula, where this five-star Aman resort occupies a hilltop overlooking the olive groves and a private beach. Accommodation is a choice of beach cabanas, standalone pavilions, and one- to nine-bedroom villas fit for the pleasure-seeking Dionysus himself, all with private terraces and plunge pools, Aegean views, columns, and classical architectural motifs. Jump in a speedboat from the beach club to the islands of Hydra and Spetses or unwind with an olive oil and beeswax massage, part of the signature Anatripsis Spa Journey, at the Hippocrates-inspired, 2,850-sq-m spa.
VILA VITA Parc Resort and Spa, Algarve, Portugal
Best for: a comprehensive package of fitness, well-being, beauty and sea views
At this pleasure garden of terracotta-roofed villas, fountains, pools, and palm trees atop the Algarve cliffs, the Sisley spa offers well-being therapies and beauty treatments incorporating the French skincare brand’s products. It’s part of a holistic wellness package that also includes the Delfim Health Club, nutrition consultations, and Portugal’s only HYPOXI body-shaping studio. Accommodation ranges from chic, sea-inspired rooms and suites with ocean-view terraces to spacious whitewashed villas with private pools, while facilities include a beach club, private yacht, and numerous restaurants and bars.
La Réserve Genève Hotel, Spa and Villa, Geneva, Switzerland
Best for: anti-ageing treatments in a slick Swiss retreat
Whether you’re aiming to free yourself from stress, recapture your dynamism, trim and tone your body, or slow the effects of time, La Réserve’s Spa Nescens offers scientifically developed synergies between treatments, nutrition, and physical activity. The signature better-ageing body massage targets all muscle and energy routes, incorporating lymph drainage to release blockages and ease tension. The lakeside hotel, designed to be a holiday lodge in a world without worries, has a range of rooms, suites, and a glass-fronted villa amid a 10-acre landscaped park.
Become a member to get in touch with our lifestyle managers for information and advance bookings at the most exciting new spa hotel openings worldwide.
Fairmont Windsor Park, Surrey
The Fairmont spa hotel will offer pampering getaways to compete with the many options around London, courtesy of its 2,500-sq-m spa. Curated by leading industry experts as part of a multi-million-pound redevelopment, the spa will have an indoor lap pool and outdoor vitality pool, treatment rooms, a salt room, hammam, and Japanese foot spa with views over the courtyard and firepit.
One&Only Portonovi, Montenegro
The Chenot Espace spa offers a rejuvenating care specialist’s scientific approach to wellness at One&Only’s luxurious new Adriatic spa hotel. Blending Chinese medicine and Western technology, the Chenot Method mixes life-changing detoxifying programmes and next-generation skincare, including hibiscus-based Biolight antioxidants.
REVĪVŌ Wellness Resort Château de Fiac, France
REVĪVŌ has converted a French castle near Toulouse and Carcassonne into a haven for physical, mental and emotional health, with fitness and spa facilities offering hydro, art and equi-coaching therapies. The resort has a restorative salt cave, potager garden and farm, all set in a four-hectare estate next to the picturesque village of Fiac. Guests will even receive a soap to take away and use beyond the break.
Use our guide to the best boutique hotels in the UK to plan the ultimate staycation.
