If there’s one thing that can improve any holiday ten-fold, it’s a ridiculously OTT spa experience. Sure, maybe you can’t drop the dollars needed to stay in the lush 5 star resorts and instead have to make do with a more humble hotel experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have one splurge on a 90 minute massage on a luxury resort’s paradise-level grounds.
Resort spas are almost always off the chain, and honestly? We underutilise them. Often if you go and have a spa experience at one of these magical places, you’re given free reign over the rest of the spa facilities – think an endless day of sauna, steam room, and floating in an infinity pool on the edge of the ocean. Surely that’s worth a couple of hundred bucks, right?
We’ve rounded up some of the most majestic spas worldwide – try and maintain your composure on the train, yeah?
The spa at the Six Senses on the tiny island of Félicité, part of the very beaut Seychelles, doesn’t even look real. Built amongst the incredible rock formations, it flows across five private villas, each with a different theme reflecting the natural surrounds of the spa itself.
TRY: The Ocean Journey Treatment is 120 minutes of aromatherapy, acupressure and reflexology using hot and cold massage techniques involving crystal balls.
The hype with this spa/resort is the thermal water you can float around in. There’s a huge pool that is the focus on the resort’s outdoor area – the above waterfall is part of that and yes, you can swim in it. According to their site, the water filters for forty years through nearby Mount Amiata, entering their thermal pool at 37.5C – the same temp as the amniotic fluid you floated around in at birth. 50% gross concept,100% relaxing.
TRY: The Saturnia Amber Massage uses ancient fossil resin amber, which reportedly have detoxifying and draining properties. You’ll be massaged with Baltic amber balls to stimulate circulation and reduce stress.
Don’t think all the outrageous spa experiences are limited to o/s destinations. Our very own Kangaroo Island down south is home to a particularly swish resort and spa. Perched smack bang in the middle of rugged bushland, Southern Ocean Lodge is peak relaxation and nature escape, and the spa boasts a coastal view stretching to the Antarctic.
TRY: The Ligurian Honey and Almond Wrap is exactly what you think it is – being completely wrapped in honey. The Kangaroo Island honey used is meant to help provide nourishment and encourage clearer, blemish-free skin.
If you’re heading to Miami anytime soon, absolutely hit up the Faena Hotel, home to Tierra Santa Healing House. These guys take their atmosphere very seriously, so you’ll absolutely want to get a treatment and then lounge around their facilities feeling like the rich wife/husband of a celebrity who spends all their hours practicing self-healing and yoga.
TRY: The Tree Of Life Vibrations Treatment involves a heated bed, a warmed singing bowl, and sacred oils. Just try and tell me that doesn’t sound like heaven on Earth.
The Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort, where you’ll find the Anantara Spa in Oman, is one of those places where every view is ridiculously spectacular. Built into the Saiq Plateau, a huge rocky canyon edge, it’s all sheer drops and skyline for days. Spa-wise, the focus in ancient wellness cultures with a mix of Arabian treatments and Thai – a nod to the Anantara’s Thai heritage.
TRY: If you want to really go all-in on the Anantara Spa experience, go for the Charme D’Orient Turkish Hammam Ritual. It involves steaming your skin in their traditional hammam, followed by something called a ‘foam massage’. Whatever that is, it sounds lush.
This Bodrum based resort overlooks a lush valley with it’s own private beaches, so naturally all of the spa rooms have these insane balconies with tree-top views. There’s an open-air massage room, ‘ice fountains’, and vitality pools on offer, plus all guests can sip herbal tea afterward in the Tea Lounge, which overlooks the ocean and tbh we would probably pay just to do that.
TRY: The Oriental Harmony Treatment involves two masseuses werking your muscles. Peak luxury achieved.
Set within an actual pineapple garden, Spa Botanico at the Ritz-Carlton in Dorado Beach literally looks like the garden of Eden. Like the name suggests, they look to plants for their treatments, with massage oils infused with local botanical blends and bamboo for working tired muscles.
TRY: Um, when there’s something called the ‘Hammock Massage’ on the spa menu, you get it.
Another Aussie special, the One & Only Wolgan Valley spa is all about utilising it’s 7,000 acre conservation reserve setting to create max tranquility. Super luxe Australian skincare range, Sodashi, is used for treatments, and afterward you can have a dip in the Japanese-style soaking tub.
TRY: Who doesn’t love to balance their chakras, honestly. The Chakra Balancing Treatment combines massage, essential oil blends and healing crystals to get you all re-balanced and feeling fresh.
This gold-tiled ‘energy pool’ is the hero feature of the spa within the St. Regis Lhasa Resort, 12,000 feet above sea level and home to sweeping mountainous views. The spa itself looks out onto Potala Palace, and focuses on traditional Tibetan treatments and methods.
TRY: the Himalayan Snow Rose Treatment is semi-insane – you’ll get an iced smoothing scrub before a glacier water hydrating wrap. It aims to restore skins radiance and fight environmental aggressors.
Inspired to get your own lush side-hustle off the ground? Enter our current comp c/o Set for Life, and you could with $5k to give it legs – plus you’ll score a luxe weekender in Sydney and lunch with epic boss lady of Gritty Pretty, Eleanor Pendleton. Enter here:
Image: Tierra Santa Healing House.
