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London Hotel Spas
London Hotel Spas
If you want to get away from it all, a hotel spa is the best way to escape the city without actually leaving it. Float away in a roof top pool, breathe deeply in an aromatic steam room and de-stress with a deep tissue massage. You'll find it all at the hotel spas below, all of which have something unique to offer.
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Landmark Hotel London (The)
222 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 6JQThe spa in the basement of The Landmark hotel is small but spoiling with luxury E'SPA treatments and the use of the 15-metre swimming pool. The hotel originally opened as The Great Central Hotel in 1899 as one of the great Victorian railway hotels - the back entrance is directly linked to Marylebone Station and there is even a covered wrought-iron walkway to get you there dry if it is raining. Now this large, traditional five-star hotel boasts a state of the art spa with two relaxation areas, a range of E'SPA massages, scrubs, wraps and facials, and a small but well-equipped gym overlooking the pool. After a work out in the pool you can relax in the warm whirlpool where the underwater bubbles will massage away any tension. Special treatments on offer include Jet Lag Reviver - for the weary traveller - and Prenatal treatment for mums-to-be while massage and body care therapies include full-body, neck and shoulder relief, hot stone, deep tissue and reflexology. The use of the spa is £15 per day for hotel guests and use of the gym, pool and heat facilities is complimentary when you book a treatment. Non residents can sign up for day or annual membership (at £30 a day, this is good value). Alternatively, day spa packages are available - the 'Soothe' option offers an hour-long treatment, a Bento Box lunch, a day of pool side relaxation and steaming, plus a gift to take home for £125. At £295, 'Indulge' is the most expensive package. But, if you really want to spoil yourself the hotel will arrange for a chauffeur to pick you up and take you home - with your own bathrobe.
The Spa at Mandarin Oriental
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LAThe vitality plunge pool, amethyst crystal steam room and zen colour therapy relaxation area are all part of the experience at The Spa at the Mandarin Oriental. No plain old relaxation area here - the 'aen' part means you get to chill out under lights that change colour so improving your mood - it's the perfect quiet spot to relax between therapies while sipping on a freshly squeezed juice or perfectly chilled water. The spa offers a full menu of treatments, including maintenance services like waxing and eyelash-tinting as well as more indulgent massages and facials all performed using E'SPA products. There's an Eastern influence with treatments focusing on holistic principles where your whole lifestyle - not just your skincare routine - is taken into account. The Mandarin Oriental has a worldwide reputation for five star elegance and this is the only place in the UK where you can sample how that translates into a spa. Utter Bliss.
The Dorchester Spa
Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, W1K 1QAConsistently voted the top hotel spa in the UK (and who are we to disagree with the exacting standards of Conde Nast Traveller readers), The Dorchester Spa really is something special. A £3.2 million expansion of The Dorchester hotel in 2009 saw the spa undergo a makeover by Fox Linton Associates with 1930s touches - like the chrome doorway that gives you your first impression - and a centrepiece chandelier made of 75,000 South Pacific pearls. The Spa features nine tranquil, sound-proof treatment rooms including two double suites, a manicure and pedicure suite and relaxation room, a hairdressing salon and gentlemen's barber as well as a fitness studio. Unusually, and uniquely, for a spa there's also an informal 'Spatisserie' dining room where you can enjoy a light lunch, afternoon tea with (gasp) cakes, biscuits and pastries - a radical departure from the purify-and-purge philosophy of most spas. You can even indulge in a glass of pink fizz, or a Spa Kiss cocktail with elderflower and English sparkling Nytimber. Treatments cover the full range of face and body treatments with four 'expert partners' to choose from including signature facials by Vaishaly - whose Marylebone salon is frequently by celebs like Elle Macpherson and Sophie Dahl - Carol Joy London, European skincare brand Kerstin Florian, and acclaimed British brand, Aromatherapy Associates.
May Fair Spa
May Fair Hotel, Stratton Street, W1J 8LTThe subterranean spa within the luxury May Fair Hotel offers a compact gym, herbal sauna and a good size aromatic steam room as well as treatment rooms with soothing day spa packages called things like the Jasmine Ritual of Relaxation, and the Frangipani and Lotus Flower Ceremony. Sensibly, the sauna and steam room are on a separate corridor away from the treatment rooms which keeps the noise down while you're drifting off to la-la land. Make the most of the spa facilities - and maximise relaxation time - by arriving an hour before your treatment to steam, sweat, pad around in a towelling robe and chill out in the dimly lit relaxation room with its six heated ceramic loungers. If you're a hotel guest, and you're having a treatment at the spa these facilities are included in the treatment price (otherwise you have to pay extra to use the sauna, steam room, and relaxation room but you get free use of the 24-hour gym). If you've got time, opt for a day spa package - the Jetlag Reviver is ideal for time zone travellers - or check out the spa treatment menu for shorter specialist treatments. Facials, for example, range from relaxing Pevonia treatments to the more invasive micro-dermabrasion, oxygen therapy, and the CACI "non surgical face lift". The May Fair Spa also offers a good range of treatments for men as well as some more unusual options like the Moroccan Steam Cleansing Ritual - enjoy alone or with a friend - when you'll be guided to the Rassul chamber, or hammam room, to apply your own scrub, clay, shea butter and organic oil.
Aman Spa
The Connaught, Carlos Place, W1K 2ALThe luxury Aman Spa in the basement of the marvellous Mayfair hotel, The Connaught, is the first and only UK spa from the world renowned Aman Resorts. This is five star pampering at its most indulgent. The Connaught is a grand old building which recently emerged from a dazzling £70m-plus refurbishment which included the grand unveiling of the sparkling new spa on 25th November 2009. The spa in the hotel's new West Wing has been kitted out with a sleek Asian inspired interior and Thai silks and spa users have the pool and exercise room at their disposal too. The overall effect is a feeling of being in a unique cocoon. Reassuringly expensive - Aman resorts are famed across the globe for their celebrity clientele - a simple treatment list includes a holistic facial, Oriental oil massage and Chakra balancing treatment. For the ultimate extravagance, there's the Aman Spa Experience - a little pricey at £280 but for that you get two and a half hours of unadulterated bliss. But the real attraction is the way they make guests feel like they're queen for a day - and this is down to the therapists who are not only skilled in beauty techniques but in treating you like royalty too.
The Berkeley Health Club & Spa
The Berkeley, Wilton Place, SW1X 7RLThe Health Club & Spa at The Berkeley hotel could be the only hotel spa in London to feature a roof top pool, and what a roof top it is - with its seventh floor location boasting wonderful views across Knightsbridge and Hyde Park. In keeping with the discrete atmosphere of this five star hotel, the spa is a haven of relaxing massages and indulgent beauty treatments where everything is perfectly pitched to make you leave feeling like a (well groomed) princess. Mums to be will be tempted by the Blooming Beautfil day spa package which includes a Mama Mio Mini Kit so you can continue the relaxation treatment at home. There are also Perfect Retreat packages 'for him' and 'for her' offering two hours of treatments that are sure to de-stress the parts other day spas cannot reach. The advantage of booking in for more than one treatment is that you can make a day of it, take lunch by the roof top pool, and afterwards stretch out on a sun lounger and make believe you're a million miles from the city. That's what we call a high flying spa experience.
London Marriott Hotel County Hall Spa
Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7PBFancy detoxing in the building where the Greater London Council used to run the city? The Spa at the London Marriott County Hall hotel occupies the fifth and sixth floors of the landmark riverside building, in the shadow of the London Eye, replacing heated debates with hot air of a different kind. Feel the detoxing benefits of the single-sex saunas, steam room and jacuzzi in the main spa area on the fifth floor, located alongside a well equipped gym. Head upstairs and you'll find an impressively full sized (25 metre) swimming pool - possibly London's biggest hotel pool - a rare find in any city hotel let alone in such a historic and centrally located hotel - it's just over the river from the Houses of Parliament. Warm stone therapy, Carita facials, aromatic massage and exfoliating mud masks are just some of the treatments to choose from. Better still, book in for a spa package like the Ultimate Escape and you get three and a half hours of top-to-toe treatments including Decleor prescription facial, followed by an enveloping body wrap - where you're cocooned in a heated blanket - and finishing with a deluxe pedicure. A useful insider's spa tip: if you're going from the spa (on the fifth floor) to the pool one level up, don't forget to ask at the spa area reception for the security code to access the pool.
K Spa at K West Hotel
K West Hotel & Spa, Richmond Way, London, W14 0AXBook in for some freeze-thaw action at the K Spa at the K West Hotel & Spa, an oasis of cooling calm in a stylishly modernised former BBC office block in Shepherd's Bush. The basement spa is the first in London to feature a 'Snow Paradise' - the place to come when you want to cool off... in the -15ºC powder snow. Brr. For the full effect follow the freezing experience with a stint in the steam room, sanarium or sauna; the hot-cold contrast is said to stimulate the body's circulation and improve the immune system. In the wet area the glass paneled Hydrotherapy Pool, which can comfortably seat eight to ten people, provides the main focus of the room where you can relax under the twinkling star lights in between treatments. Alternatively, there is a dedicated RelaKs Zone where you can rehydrate and chill out (though perhaps not to -15ºC). Some of the more unusual treatments are the Sun Meadow room - using light therapy to combat S.A.D sydrome - and a dry flotation bed. But whether you're intent on relaxation or in search of some re-energising the treatments are many and varied from a quick fix manicure to a K Spa Escape day package which includes a candlelight massage and spa lunch.
So SPA Sofitel St James
6 Waterloo Place, SW1Y 4ANOpened in July 2009, So SPA by Sofitel is a stunning relaxation space - all marble and modern design - housed within the Sofitel St James hotel where a 'spa butler' ensures your every need is catered for. Located in a landmark listed building (a former bank) in St James, one of the most prestigious locations in London, the hotel is a lesson in understated elegance with design features accentuated by a French accent. There's even a large topiary French poodle overlooking the garden. The spa consists of five treatment rooms spread out over three floors with a Turkish steam bath (or hamam) featuring a central heated marble treatment bed, and a relaxation room on the mezzanine level. Cinq Mondes and Carita are the luxury products used in the spa treatments which are presented as gastronomic treat with a menu of starters, mains and desserts. So you can indulge in a 30 minute hamman to start, an anti-ageing Pro-Lift Firming Rejuvenation facial for main course, followed by a martini and manicure for dessert. A fun way to round off your deliciously pampering day at the So SPA.
Agua at Sanderson
Sanderson, 50 Berners Street, W1T3NGWalking into the clean white space that is the Agua Spa at the Sanderson is instantly calming, relaxing and heavenly. There are 14 private treatment rooms, a steam room and a gym with state-of-the-art equipment, free weights area and cardio theatre. Private relaxation suites and a central relaxation lounge complete what must be one of the most luxurious ways to be laid back while in the heart of the city. Arriving at least 15 minutes before your appointment will help you make the most of it and avoid any pre-spa stress. Treatments include Aromatherapy Associates or Eve Lom facials and massages range from Reiki and reflexology to reviving; there's even a mother-to-be option if you're expecting. The spa is strictly for use by members and hotel residents but if you want to visit for the day a £15 day membership fee is charged in addition to treatment costs.
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