9 spa hotels for the ultimate new year boost
New year, new wellness routine: and what better way to begin than booking into a next-level spa? At these health-boosting hotels, top-tier treatments and what-day-is-it-again massages await
Is there anything in life dreamier than a spa break? Well, yes, actually: a spa break with top-of-the-line treatments, backed by gasp-inducing views, in a hotel whose very raison d’être is to make sure you have the most luxuriously serene stay possible. With this in mind, we bring you nine of the very best…
The city spa reaching new heights
Four Seasons Hotel Madrid, Spain
Spread across a huge triangular block of the Spanish capital, this grand dame caused much excitement when it opened in 2020, its ornate facade preserved and handsomely restored. But its crown jewel is the spa, the biggest wellness space in the city, which spans four floors of the hotel. There is everything from fitness studios and Pilates to the only 111SKIN facials in Spain, via sound healing and lymphatic drainage—all topped off by a serene rooftop pool and secret sun-trap terrace.
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Five-star facials, super-yacht style
Le Bristol Paris, France
This much-loved palace hotel is home to the loveliest swimming pool in all of Paris, with its yacht-like wooden deck and views of the 8th arrondissement’s zinc rooftops. Not to be outdone, the results-driven La Prairie facials are administered in treatment rooms overlooking flourishing flower-filled gardens. And occasionally, you’ll find the resident Birman cat Socrate stalking the thickly carpeted corridors.
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A new take on the Scandi sauna
Grand Hôtel Stockholm, Sweden
For all the grandeur of the hotel—the chandeliers and columns, oil paintings and old-fashioned elegance—the spa is suddenly, unexpectedly very much present day. The 21st-century take on traditional Swedish wellness culture is a clean-lined cave of briskly chilly baths and warmer ones too, a delicious pine-scented sauna, experience showers, and treatment rooms for customizable scrubs and massages.
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High design meets futuristic fitness
Ananti at Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea
Design is never less than ambitious at the Ananti: from the showstopping rooftop swimming pool, set under a red-brick pergola, to the bold, unexpected and wildly generous double-height bedrooms and sweeping staircases. Curves and arches repeat over and again. The supersize fitness studio is just as arresting (expect yoga areas, full weight racks, water features, and Smith machines), while the spa is made up of architectural sauna spaces and changing rooms almost too beautiful to use.
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Pampering as a precise art
Dolder Grand, Zurich, Switzerland
Sir Norman Foster’s renovation of the 125-year-old hotel above Lake Zurich evolved it into an urban resort that channels classic Swiss glamour, yet has contemporary clout. Wellness is taken seriously: The 40,000 sq ft spa taps into everything from high-spec pampering to aesthetic dermatology, via an encyclopedic offering of Asian healing practices, Japanese-inflected treatments, and caviar facials.
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The spa getting back to nature
The Lake House on Canandaigua, Upstate New York
A cleansing steam in a barrel sauna at the lake’s edge, gazing out over the water? That’s meditative at any time, but particularly in late summer when the hydrangeas still splash the sauna garden with color. This instant modern-classic stay, opened in 2020 and once a roadside motel, also offers a heated lakefront pool, hot tub, and massages with custom-blended herbal tinctures and herbal-infused oils.
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A cool subterranean cocoon
The Londoner, London, England
When this hotel opened in the middle of London’s bustling West End, it pushed boundaries in all directions—including underground. There are 16 brilliantly contemporary Yabu Pushelberg-designed stories, but half of those are subterranean. The Retreat, all the way down on -4, is a feel-good cocoon with high-tech gym, superfood bar, a barber and hairdresser, plus excellent treatments. Kick back post-massage in one of the cabanas by the swimming pool.
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The place for eco-conscious calm
1 Hotel South Beach, Miami
A go-slow option rather than one of Miami’s party-central hangouts, the 1 Hotel philosophy is eco-conscious and considered. That filters through to the wellness offering, with sunset meditation sessions, organic skincare products from Bamford and a menu of mind, body and spirit-nurturing treatments. There’s also a SoulCycle spinning studio for those wanting to step up the pace.
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A healing hideout in the metropolis
Hotel Chinzanso, Tokyo, Japan 
Tucked away within 12 acres of historically significant botanical gardens, the Hotel Chinzanso is a charmingly old-school escape from Tokyo’s fast pace. Here, among the camellias, cherry blossoms, and pagodas, is a spa with a natural hot-spring onsen, more than 40 treatments on the menu, and a dedicated Guerlain room for French anti-ageing wizardry. The place to take a minute away from the world’s largest megacity.
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Issy von Simson
Writer
Issy von Simson is a travel writer and consultant, and the former editor of Condé Nast Traveller magazine. She is co-author of Secret Stays, a guest editor of Mandarin Oriental magazine, a columnist for Gloobles and contributor to Travel+Leisure, The Telegraph and The Times.
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