Five luxury hotels for rejuvenating wellness retreats

The start of a new year is the perfect time to plan a rejuvenating spa break. While many of us are still subject to travel restrictions due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, there is nothing to stop us from dreaming about where we want to escape to as soon as it is safe to do so.

With wellness set to be a key trend in luxury incentives and events when they return, we expect resorts with a strong focus on health and wellbeing to be very much in vogue. So, to provide you with a little inspiration, we check out five luxurious European hotels from the inVOYAGE community of luxury travel brands that are ideal for getting away from it all…

Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Switzerland

With access to its own thermal spring that flows directly to the complex, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is all about wellness. Nestled amidst the foothills of the Alps in Eastern Switzerland, just an hour’s drive from Zurich, the property boasts a bathing and spa tradition spanning hundreds of years.

The 36.5°C thermal water offers guests unique ways to find relaxation, health, and healing.

Check out the comprehensive spa, encompassing 6,050 square metres, with its historic Helena pool, sports pool, garden pool and an exclusive sauna area. Guests can also enjoy unlimited access to the 7,300-square-metre public Tamina Therme. Spa facilities are complemented by the medical expertise of the renowned Medical Health Center and the Bad Ragaz Clinic.

Evian Resort, France

Another property famed for its thermal baths is the Evian Resort, perched on the shores of Lake Geneva and at the foot of the Alps in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains.

At the very source of Evian mineral water, Evian Thermal Spa offers a wide range of toning, regenerating and relaxing treatments. Evian Resort itself, just five minutes’ walk from the thermal baths, offers two further spas – Spa Evian Source at the five-star Royal Hotel, and Spa Quatre Terres at the four-star Hotel Ermitage, meaning guests are spoilt for choice.

Spa Evian Source offers 1,200 m² facilities devoted to body and mind. Programmes have been created using luxurious products by Biologique Recherche with facilities including treatment rooms, relaxation rooms, pools, hydro-circuit and more.

Spa Quatre Terres, which promotes respect for the environment, is one of only three spas in France certified “Ecological and organic spa – Being – Level 1”. It offers treatments using products by Carita and La Phyto that have been designed to leave the body energised and detoxified.

Kempinski Hotel Barbaros Bay

The spa at Kempinski Hotel Barbaros Bay is open and spacious in design, combining beautiful views of the Aegean Sea with state-of-the-art facilities to create a unique spa experience. This 5,500sqm paradise is home to luxury treatment rooms, an indoor pool and a whirlpool, Hammam (Turkish Bath), sauna and steam rooms. 

The spa offers a range of spa treatments and packages, but we like the sound of the five-day Balancing Spa Journey, designed for guests who want to escape from the daily grind of urban life and take time to relax and refresh.

Combining calming spa treatments and gentle mental and physical exercise in the hotel’s exclusive Six Senses Spa, this special programme is designed to bring the body, mind and soul back into harmony, so guests leave feeling completely rejuvenated.

The Oitavos, Portugal

Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, five-star wellbeing and sporting paradise The Oitavos is located on Portugal's Estoril Coast, just twenty minutes outside Lisbon.

For active guests, sports facilities include a Tennis court, Padel, Squash, Group fitness classes, fitness academy and indoor pool. 

Nature takes pride of place at the Oitavos Spa, where glass walls frame a rugged and untamed landscape and seawater therapies and seaweed treatments take inspiration from the healing powers of the Ocean.

Products designed by the Irish company Voya are based on organic seaweed hand harvested on the picturesque coast of Ireland. Flooded with natural light, the treatment rooms feature large panoramic windows looking out onto the wild terrain outside of palm trees, natural sand dunes, and the ocean beyond.

Facilities include a sauna, Turkish bath and Jacuzzi. There is also a balneotherapy area with salt-water pool, open to the exterior.

Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel

In the great tradition of Rome baths, the award-winning Cavalieri Grand Spa Club at Rome Cavalieri Hotel is a pampering haven set in a tranquil environment overlooking the Eternal City. Comprised of 2,500 square meters and offering a decadent indoor swimming pool as well as two crystal-blue outdoor swimming pools, the Cavalieri Grand Spa Club is centred around a magnificent amethyst Turkish Bath with marble platforms and Roman mosaics. Supplied with wet steam heat, it is a place to stretch out and allow muscles and mind to uncoil. Hot and cold plunge pools, with hydro-massage elements, are on offer for stimulating contrasts, with other facilities including His and Hers separate saunas, a large whirlpool, Caldarium-Frigidarium, Ancient Roman style relaxation area and ten treatment rooms, themed around images of sunset, desert, rainforest and bamboo.

Treatments on offer include a range of massages from around the world, from Shiatsu finger pressure to Ayurvedic healing, from Chakra Stone Massage to Foot Reflexology. All have anti-stress elements, which revitalise, re-energise and relax.