The UK wellness scene has pulled up its bootstraps significantly in recent years. The easy clichés have given way to something far more interesting – spas that feel rooted, confident and genuinely restorative. Everywhere from the Cotswolds to the Highlands, country hotels are investing in serious architecture and credible therapists, doing away with the fluff and focusing on a specific sense of place.
There are cold water dips in natural pools, steam rooms lined with local stone, garden herbs turned into oils, seaweed for scrubs gathered from the beach. There might be a fire crackling in the relaxation room, a pot of honey from the estate’s hives, a walk waiting just beyond the doors. These are places that value understatement over spectacle, craft over concept. It is less about promising a journey of transformation and more about really delivering that feeling of a weekend off. What follows is a guide to 25 of the best of them.
How we review
Every hotel in this curated list has been visited by one of our expert reviewers, who are usually hosted on a complimentary basis. They stay for a minimum of one night, test at least one meal and trial other experiences that the hotel might have to offer (in this instance, the spa). We will earn a commission if you book via the links below, but this never affects our rating.
At a glance, the best spa hotels in the UK
The Roaring Twenties have been revived for Surrey’s elite at this bucolic hotel just 20 miles outside of London. The stirring hilly views, Italianate gardens and expansive grounds may steal the show for some, but the spa is one of the finest in the country. The striking floral stained glass roof at the entrance to the treatment rooms (each with their own mini garden) and thermal suites sets the nature-themed tone and changes colour depending on the light. An indoor and outdoor pool almost mirror each other, separated by floor-to-ceiling windows. The former is surrounded by wicker loungers and the latter has a whimsical checked floor. Seriously special treatments blend Eastern and Western techniques for a mind and body reboot.Cowley Manor brings a party vibe to the Cotswolds. Now owned by the Experimental cocktail and hotel group, the country pile offers the brand’s trademark flamboyant drinks, fine food, and boldly furnished, spacious rooms. One of the hotel’s biggest attributes is the spa, strikingly designed and set into a hill. It has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a steam room, sauna and gym, and offers an extensive range of treatments based on products from Monuskin, a vegan brand from nearby Cheltenham. Cowley Manor’s grounds are also its great glory. There are 55 acres of superb parkland to explore or simply gaze at.The spa here is one of the best in Scotland – a sublime haven of sybaritic delights with an added health dimension, offering complementary and alternative therapies delivered by professional practitioners and therapists. Offerings cover every conceivable face and body treatment. For sheer blissed-out, all-over wellbeing, indulge in one of the signature treatments, or consider a wellness retreat. With saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy ‘vitality’ pool and superb relaxation areas, and the Beauty Lodge, you may never venture outdoors, though with so much to see and do in the grounds, you would be remiss not to venture out and explore.This much-loved country hotel manages to nail that tricky formula of being supremely family-friendly and simultaneously grown-up. It’s the sort of place where people of all ages can decamp to a luxurious, yet unfussy weekend break with a bells-and-whistles spa at its heart. And it really is the spa that is central to its success with a large indoor pool (plus separate children’s pool), sauna, steam room, three relaxation rooms and lovely treatment rooms. The standout element has to be the lavender-lined outdoor hot tub with a real fireplace; the scent of the flowers and gentle smoke is incredibly soothing. In 2024 they also transformed a cavernous barn into a slick café and wellness centre expanding the spa offering.Louma, set in glorious countryside, is an exceptional, mould-breaking, retreat-like farm hotel surrounded by vineyards and its own 100-acres of farmland. This is a place where it’s possible to truly relax and unwind: there are indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna, a well-equipped gym, bespoke massages, yoga, Pilates and craniosacral treatments located in the Wellness Barn, all beautifully complemented by activities such as vineyard and farm tours or horse riding. Rates are for two nights’ minimum stay and come full board. Before your stay, someone from the guest relations team will contact you to arrange your custom itinerary.This is a Cornish classic for adults seeking utter restoration in a spectacular setting. With its clifftop hot tubs, natural outdoor pool, sauna cabin with beach-view portholes, indoor pool and steam room, the spa is what you really come here for. The indoor-outdoor merging of spaces, including panoramic bi-fold doors from the relaxation lounge for fine weather, is uniquely excellent and makes spending long stretches of time here a particular pleasure. Massages, which are wonderful, give you the option to choose from three different oils depending on what effect you want to achieve.Coworth Park, a few furlongs from Ascot, is the archetype of the English country-house hotel and just a 52-minute train from London Waterloo. The statement spa building, which is burrowed into the earth and gives off Scandi vibes with its turf-covered roof, underwent an extensive redesign in 2025. Upstairs are eight spacious treatment rooms, a relaxation lounge and a small cafe; downstairs is a large heated swimming pool, gym, steam room and sauna. The 60-minute Relax and Rejuvenate treatment (with heated massage table) is heavenly.There are country-house hotels, and then there’s Cliveden. The National Trust property’s spa is set around its listed, heated outdoor swimming pool (where the infamous Profumo Affair started), edged by lawn and surrounded by loungers and two hot tubs. Inside, there’s a columned pool lined with off-white loungers, seven treatment rooms (where Oskia facials and body therapies take place) and an orangery-style space to unwind in. Once the day’s visitors have departed, you’ll have the vast tree-lined parterre at the rear of the house all to yourself. It feels like the true meaning of peaceful.The Romanesque Spa Village – the only spa with access to the city’s thermal waters – is The Gainsborough’s unique selling point, and it’s quite something. There are three pools filled with thermal water in which to wallow, the largest set under a glass-roofed atrium, as well as saunas and a steam room. A wide range of massages and treatments are on offer; some, such as a mud detox, use the Hungarian skin care brand Omorovicza. Other perks include the hotel’s central location (Thermae Bath Spa is right across the street if you really want to make a weekend of it) and the extremely comfy bedrooms.Named The Bothy, the spa at this impressive hotel really completes the luxury experience. Even in here you can enjoy the extensive grounds; from the outdoor hot tub or through the glass walls on the infinity (chlorine-free) pool and sauna. There is also a steam room, and six treatment rooms offering predictably fabulous massages, facials and other therapies (from £150 per hour). As well as classes such as yoga and Pilates, a range of outdoor “movement” experiences available at extra charge includes wild swimming, breathwork and meditation and forest bathing, which gets you acquainted with the hotel’s most beautiful trees, a warming herbal tea in hand. Very wholesome.One of New York’s most celebrated design studios has worked magic on a historic building on the edge of the Cotswolds to create one of the most luxurious country retreats in Europe, with spa to match. You can do Pilates in the Clubhouse and then easily spend half a day in the huge, gleaming white Roman-and Inigo Jones-inspired Eynsham Baths, which have a thermal circuit, hay sauna, steam room and hammam, ice buckets to tip over yourself and cold plunge pools, 10 treatment rooms and a bar. Also expect the most lavish and futuristic gym you’ve ever seen. If you want to join the club area to access it in the Manor House, you’re looking at £500 and then £3,650 a year; for hotel guests it’s £95.The Newt is where you go for a refined weekend in the West Country. The gardens are a joy and the interiors are a beautiful juxtaposition of modern and old. Rough-hewn walls and beamed ceilings lend a rustic feel to the spa, and along with the usual steam room and sauna, there’s a salt infusion chamber and a terrific indoor-outdoor pool. Treatment-wise, expect warm candle massages, rasul mud rituals and facials and the line-up of wellbeing classes includes forest bathing, breathwork and meditation. The hotel has just launched four new spa day packages available to members and hotel guests.In postcard-pretty Southrop, this profoundly peaceful spot is a delight for spa-lovers. Facilities are first-class, from the Meadow Spa to the heated springwater swimming pool, tennis court and topiary-filled garden. But for a truly restful hub, the Botanical Bothy is where you want to be. The blissful rituals performed in this dedicated space incorporate guided breathwork, body brushing, head massages and a herbal soak in one of the private garden’s outdoor tubs (with a nearby fireplace), sending guests into a state of trance-like relaxation.Wellness is taken seriously at this rambling Georgian estate near the market town of Richmond, especially in the rustic Forest Spa. With only 16 people allowed in at once (booking required), there’s no worrying about jostling for loungers or spots in the outdoor whirlpool, icy indoor plunge pool, sauna (panoramic with parkland views), steam room, and experience showers. The outdoor pool is striking, with plumes of steam drifting towards the evergreens, catching the sun along the way. The oat-toned relaxation area is worthy of an interior design shoot, with squishy seating surrounding a log-burning stove, and tables for lunch. Several outdoor cabins ensure total tranquillity; treatments are by Aromatherapy Associates and VOYA.The smart seaside village of Sandsend finally has a hotel worth its Salt(moore). Rolltop baths, a restaurant in collaboration with Michelin-starred chef, Tommy Banks, and a spa with a level of luxury not often seen in North Yorkshire. The spa or “Sanctuary at Saltmoore” is clearly aiming to be a destination in its own right. It’s a light-filled space, with a medium-sized pool flanked by a salt-lined sauna, steam room, hot tub, cold-water plunge and a handful of loungers draped with striped towels. The six treatment rooms, bone-broth serving wellness café and cryotherapy chamber (more exhilarating than a dip in the North Sea) flesh out the offering. A promised family pool next to the Beach House will expand the facilities further.This hotel was Soho House’s first rural outpost and developed the blueprint for fashionable country escapes aimed at hip city folk. For a real treat head to the spa for a mud bath treatment and soak, cocktail in hand, in a private tub with windows that open onto the walled garden. You will also find a steam room and saunas in the spa area, an indoor and outdoor pool and seriously good massages. Elsewhere there are tennis courts, a football pitch, a gym, bikes to borrow, and the Cowshed Spa, housed in a former (you guessed it) cow shed, delivering its signature treatments and backing onto a pretty walled kitchen garden.With a fine-dining restaurant, a range of country pursuits, a nine-hole golf course, a cookery school and more, you won’t be bored at this ivy-cloaked baronial pile. If that all sounds too much like hard work, there’s a sleek and airy spa in which to enjoy some quality downtime. Here, enticements include an indoor pool and thermal experience, plus a freshwater outdoor pool and sauna set in a spa garden. Spa treatments use organic Bamford products, and the signature facial is outrageously good. Expect to leave with a fully unclenched jaw and a proper glow.Set in 300 acres of rambling grounds, not too far from London, The Grove makes for an attractive country escape. People quietly flock here for its award-winning spa; there’s a striking black-mosaic pool set beneath vaulted ceilings, a choice of treatments from Natura Bissé and Bamford, and a light-filled cafe serving nourishing light bites, juices and smoothies. There’s also a well-equipped gym, a golf course and two all-weather tennis courts.Home to lakes, wild woodland and forgotten follies entangled in greenery, grounds at the Tawny are the stuff of holistic dreams. Rooms are spread across boathouses, treehouses and shepherd’s huts, so you can wake up to the views. Ways to find zen here include swimming a few lazy lengths in the heated outdoor pool, which benefits from sweeping valley views, forest bathing, private yoga sessions in the grounds and Gaia treatment journeys in a sweet thatched cottage.This stylishly informal hotel, which has shaken up the Lake District’s country-house hotel scene, is in a plum position on Ullswater. The not-so-subtle intent of this place is to get you out and about and particularly in the water. Open-water swimming (free wetsuits and floats), stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking are offered, if that all sounds too much like hard work, try the spa with its hot tub and 20-metre indoor pool. Or book a sauna session – in a shepherd’s hut-style affair with panoramic lake views – with a cold-water plunge pool.From its Palladian good looks and elegant bedrooms, to the swish spa and Michelin-starred dining, Grantley Hall fires on five-star cylinders that make every guest feel important. The vast Three Graces Spa features a colonnaded lap pool, an indoor-outdoor hydrotherapy pool and a new Nordic spa garden with ice baths and an outdoor sauna. The treatment menu meanwhile spans holistic massages with sound healing and marma point therapy, to results-driven Natura Bissé facialsFormerly Barnsley House and now The Pig in the Cotswolds, this glorious hotel is set in a handsome manor house that was once home to the seminal garden designer Rosemary Verey. From the exterior, the property is a classic Cotswold manor house, with honey-coloured stonework, gables and mullion windows. Step through the front door and you’re in a rustic-chic haven with a go-slow mood. Tucked away in the garden dell, the Fieldhouse spa offers a line-up of six restorative therapies featuring natural skincare brand Tribe517, and along with a sauna and steam room, there’s an open-air hydrotherapy pool to soak in pre and post-treatment.Picture a hip hybrid of Welsh farm and Japanese forest retreat, where you can get up close and personal with nature (albeit in a beautiful bell tent, dome or cabin). In 2024 the farm opened its first spa amongst the trees to day visitors and guests. Expect a cedar barrel sauna, wood-fired hot tub, cold plunge barrel and spa lounge room as well as an indoor spa space where treatments can be added. A woodland relaxation area tops off a rather magical nature-inspired spa experience. There’s also complimentary herbal tea, showers and locker access (toiletries included). Begin or round-off the day with a cold water dip in the river Teifi or the sea.It’s hard to say whether this is a spa with suites or suites with a spa; either way, it’s a class act. The rustic-look retreat soothes from the moment you step through the door. Flooded with light, it overlooks an enchanting walled garden (with wood-clad bath huts). Inside, a log burner keeps things cosy while you sink into pale sofas sipping a glass of sherry, champagne or a fresh smoothie. There’s no swimming pool here but with a salt steam room and a lavender sauna as a warming prelude to the well-thought-out treatments, you won’t miss it.Opened in 1898, this one of the oldest and most majestic spa hotels in Ireland. As if the turreted Scottish Baronial-style building wasn’t impressive enough, it’s got a world-famous golf course on one side, mountains on the other, the sea in front, and a lovely old-school charm within. The staff are professional, but friendly and relaxed. The spa is predictably excellent, with massages from £90 for 50 minutes, while the 20-metre pool, giant hot tub and sauna have glass walls for a fabulous view of the sea and mountains. Beside it is a well-equipped gym, with a tennis court outside.
Contributions by Emma Beaumont, Rachel Cranshaw, Fiona Duncan, Charlotte Eggleston-Johnstone, Hattie Garlick, Geoff Hill, Harriet Jones, Emma Love, Fred Mawer, Linda Macdonald, Harriet O’Brien, Mark C. O’Flaherty, Natalie Paris, Helen Pickles, Oliver Smith, Penny Walker
About our expert
Former Condé Nast Traveller editor Issy von Simson spent years seeking out the most intriguing far-flung travel stories for the magazine and collating the annual spa guide, but these days her focus is closer to home. A Londoner through and through, with regular jaunts to Somerset, she works as a journalist and consultant, specialising in hotels, wellness and family capers with her four children in tow.
Issy von Simson is Telegraph Travel’s spa expert
Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.