Raising the spa

11 min read

Travel Well

There was a time when the word ‘spa’ meant a Jacuzzi set to turbo mode. But it’s 2023, self-care is a verb and the industry has responded in kind. From mud baths in Yorkshire to celeb facials in the New Forest, consider this your guide to getting pampered on home soil

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Await your light therapy in a cabana

01 Leicester Sq, London

What: Subterranean self-care

Where: The Londoner, London

Who: Georgie Lane- Godfrey, features and membership director

Go: Rooms from £400pn. Spa experiences from £370 for a half-day; thelondoner.com

The low-down

Set in the south-west corner of Leicester Square, a stone’s throw from both Theatreland and M&M’s World, The Londoner is about as central London as central London gets. The hotel is swanky; it’s a self-described ‘super boutique hotel’, it regularly rolls out the red carpet for events and if your sightseeing vibe is more celebspotting than big red bus tour, the hotel bar is a tourist attraction in its own right. However, it’s the subterranean wellness floor that sets this slice of London real estate apart from its SW1 neighbours – and where the location comes into its own. The Londoner is the capital’s first ‘iceberg hotel’ – it has eight floors above ground and eight floors below ( geddit?) with the wellness floor on minus four. It means mere moments after leaving the good people of Leicester Square to their breakfasting, busking and boozing, you’re transported to another world entirely.

Top treatments

The Retreat experience begins with the sunken pool: decorated with pillars, it could be mistaken for a Roman bath – if a Roman bath also had poolside cabanas where you can order your very own LED lighttherapy machine to sooth your skin while you acclimatise. Cabanas are bookable for two, four and eight hours, and with the pool adultsonly for most of the day (with the exception of 10.30am to 12pm and 3.30pm to 5pm), you could spend the day doing little else. But the carefully curated treatment menu is well worth a browse, too. Facials come courtesy of the Hungarian luxury skincare brand Omorovicza and the country provides the backdrop to much of the menu, from traditional Hungarian facial massage techniques to mineralrich mud from Hungary ’s Lake Hévíz. Meanwhile, the massage menu reads like a wellness wish list, with packages that promise to enhance your energy levels or calm your cortisol, depending on where you find yourself. But what elevates The Retreat’s offering from your average spa is the addition of its medical arm; headed up by osteopath Dhirindar Bhullar, body realignment services include physiotherapy and medical acupuncture.

Best of the rest

Can’t spare the time for a spa day? All of the treatments on the Quick Fix menu a

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