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The best spa hotels in the UK, reviewed and loved by Good Housekeeping
For perfect pampering on home soil, look no further than Britain's best spa hotels
If you’re looking for your next spa escape on home soil, we’ve found the best spa hotels to head to here in the UK.The GH team has been sampling the finest spa hotels in the country, from English country manors to five-star boutique hotels and city getaways.
There are indulgent spa hotels all over the country, whether you’re looking for one amid the honey-coloured villages of the Cotswolds, the rugged coastline of Northern Ireland or on the splendid setting on a loch in Scotland.
In London, the subterranean Agua Spa at Sea Containers has its own line of products, the ingredients for which change with the seasons. The serene all-white space is oblivious to the hectic city outside, despite being right on the South Bank. It’s also where to head for facials by therapists trained by renowned skincare specialist Alexandra Soveral and brightening quick-fixes by Natura Bissé.
Some of the UK’s best spa hotels have every bell and whistle imaginable, such as the fabulous Grantley Hall in North Yorkshire, where you’ll find a cryotherapy cubicle, ice baths, a snow room, as well as the regular saunas, swimming pools and steam rooms.
Over in Scotland, treatments at the Gleneagles estate in Perthshire make use of the wild heather and herbs that grow on the estate’s doorstep.
And whether you choose to spa solo, with a partner, friends, or even the Good Housekeeping family (we have dedicated spa getaways at Ragdale Hall for GH readers, with four new dates for 2025), there's a UK spa for you in our roundup. Thanks to our exclusive partnership with Ragdale Hall Spa, you can also save up to 35% on a spa break, with two treatments and a Clarins gift included.
Here are some of our favourite spa hotels in the UK…
Ragdale Hall Spa, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Ragdale Hall Spa is unquestionably the spa magnet of the Midlands, drawing guests back time and again for a fix of rest and relaxation. This irresistible attraction is partly down to the exceptionally warm, friendly attitude of its staff, many of whom have worked here for decades. GH is among the top UK spa hotel's repeat customers, and we’re welcomed back like beloved family members.
Ragdale is also known for its top-notch facilities and exceptional treatments, which all take a balanced, holistic approach to wellbeing. You won't go hungry here, either, thanks to the delicious, hearty meals and impressive wine list. There's also a beautiful Art Deco-style cocktail bar for socialising over drinks.
Numerous extensions to the original spa building have seen a huge state-of-the-art thermal area added, with multiple saunas, steam rooms and heated relaxation zones (our favourite is the silent, candlelit pool), plus a pool on the rooftop. Exercise fans are kept happy too: there's a large gym, a packed programme of classes and two tennis courts.
Meanwhile, spa lovers are spoilt for choice with a treatment menu that offers Ragdale’s own therapies, plus options from Clarins, Elemis, Medik8, Sea Magik and more.
Our favourite is the Elemis Sole Delight Foot Treatment, upgraded with an LED Light Energiser facial mask. It’s an hour of heavenly relaxation, combining a foot massage, pedicure, mini facial treatment and head massage, which leaves you feeling pampered from top to (very pretty) toe. Words Gaby Huddart
Good Housekeeping has an exclusive Ragdale offer of up to 35% off a two-night break.
You can also join one of our two-night reader events to meet the team, and relax and mingle with like-minded spa lovers.
Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire
This grand manor is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, which means spa holidays can be combined with wonderful walks, including down to Fountains Abbey to see its magnificent water garden. The Three Graces Spa at Grantley Hall is in the new wing (the rest of the hotel is in a 17th-century building), which was designed to resemble a Roman villa.
There’s a heated indoor-outdoor pool, treatment rooms for Ila facials and massages, and hi-tech equipment such as a snow room, an underwater treadmill and a cryotherapy cubicle, as well as regular fitness classes and resident trainers.
Sea Containers, London
The all-white Agua Spa at London’s riverside Sea Containers hotel is a temple of calm right in the centre of the city. The signature Bodywork treatment uses bespoke Hedgerow products, made using homegrown herbs and ingredients that change with the seasons (the summer blend is camomile, lemongrass and elderflower).
Excellent therapists such as Ilaria are masters of the art of draping, tucking and wrapping – it feels especially pampering when hot towels are introduced, such as the warm camomile compress that commences the treatment. There’s no pool, but the spa has a Tom Dixon-designed relaxation space, a gym, a mud room and a glamour bar for breathable manicures and pedicures.
Four Seasons Hampshire
The expansive Dogmersfield estate in Hampshire is home to a Georgian manor, which houses the Four Seasons hotel and its superb spa, set in the former stables. It has an indoor pool in a conservatory, a smaller outdoor pool, and various steam and shower experiences. Treatments, which change with the seasons, range from regular facials and massages, to sessions with the hypnotist in residence. The spa has a café for light lunches and juices, or you can hold out for a more indulgent meal at the hotel’s Wild Carrot restaurant.
The great outdoors will assist with your wellbeing journey, too – the 500-acre grounds are home to a lake, an equestrian centre and some ponies to befriend.
Gleneagles, Perthshire
Gleneagles has lots to shout about, from the only restaurant in Scotland with two Michelin stars, to a championship golf course and acres of grounds – so it’s inevitable that it has a super spa, too.
The renowned aesthetics brand Dr Barbara Sturm has a clinic here for restorative facials, or guests can book in for treatments by Tata Harper and Grown Alchemist. There's a heated pool with an outdoor area for refreshing dips. And ingredients such as heather and herbs grown on the estate are put to good use in the treatments.
Thyme, Cotswolds
The Cotswolds has lots of lovely spa hotels, and Thyme is among its finest. The Meadow Spa focuses on botanicals: treatments use essential oils created by the hotel’s sister brand Bertioli.
The Botanical Bothy (pictured) is a space designed to instil a sense of calm, with resin walls, the sound of water, a fireplace and bath tubs for herbal soaks, along with a private veranda and garden to relax in post-treatment. The spa retreat, in the village of Southrop, also has an outdoor pool, a cookery school and meadows to stroll through.
Lucknam Park, Wiltshire
Just outside of Bath in Wiltshire, Lucknam Park is a stately spa hotel with 500 acres of private parkland. A lime- and beech-lined avenue leads to the Palladian mansion, and you’ll find the spa within the walled gardens.
The treatment list includes hot-stone massages and facials by luxury brand 111SKIN, and there’s an indoor-outdoor pool to enjoy before or after. The spa has a relaxed brasserie – but it’s definitely worth saving space for a decadent dinner at the hotel’s acclaimed Restaurant Hywel Jones come evening. And to continue your wellbeing journey, head in to town to take the waters in the city’s famous Roman baths.
South Lodge, West Sussex
As well as beautiful grounds, a terrace and three restaurants, South Lodge, near Horsham in West Sussex, is home to an excellent spa, which has a steam room, indoor and outdoor pools, an outdoor Jacuzzi, a beauty bar, a fitness studio and spin room, and a hydrotherapy pool. Some of the suites even have hot tubs on their balconies.
After your spa experience, you can pay a visit to the UK’s biggest single-stemmed rhododendron, planted 120 years ago in these very grounds, which are also home to walled gardens.
St Michaels Resort, Cornwall
The extensive spa facilities at St Michaels Resort in Cornwall include a deck with a barrel sauna and cedar hot tub, experience showers, a hydrotherapy pool with no fewer than 21 massage stations, and a steam room infused with sea salt.
Most spa-day packages include a two-hour hydrothermal experience and lunch or dinner at the hotel’s Brasserie on the Bay. You’ll be able to book treatments such as a rhassoul-mud ritual in a private Moroccan steam chamber, a hot-stone massage, or an intensely cleansing scrub by Elemis, which smoothes and nourishes your skin.
Lakeside Hotel & Spa, Cumbria
For an Aveda spa with a beautiful backdrop, head to Lakeside Hotel on the southern shores of Windermere and enjoy the view from the fire-pit by the outdoor sitting area (without having to get changed out of your robe). You’ll be able to start your spa day with a coffee (or more virtuous juice) by the lake and a bracing stroll through the gardens, followed by your choice of treatment. The spa’s 17-metre pool has huge windows framing the fells opposite.
Come dusk, enjoy cocktails on the terrace overlooking the lake or dine on classic British dishes in the conservatory restaurant.
The Gainsborough, Bath
Fittingly for a hotel in the Roman town of Bath, which is well known for its healing thermal waters, The Gainsborough is home to a superb spa of its own. The hotel, formed from the town’s signature golden stone, is set across a series of listed buildings and in the heart of the Unesco World Heritage Site – which means easy access to the mineral-rich waters.
The spa village has a colonnaded pool and a thermal circuit of baths, ice rooms, saunas and steam rooms; you’ll also be able to book Elemis facials, bamboo massages and fragrant scrubs. Once you’ve changed out of your robe, enjoy an elegant afternoon tea in the Canvas Room.
Pennyhill Park, Surrey
The spa may be the main attraction of this stately 18th-century manor, but there’s also a Michelin-starred restaurant to look forward to come evening. Back to Pennyhill Park's spa though: there are no fewer than eight pools, an outdoor hot tub, thermal cabins and experience showers, and treatments tailored to you.
It also features a nail salon, a gym and a bar overlooking one of the pools. If you’re hoping to expend a little more energy than the average spa day allows, you can play croquet, tennis and follow the jogging trail in the grounds.
For something to get your melatonin levels rising, try Pennyhill's sleep retreat. While a one-night retreat is a tricky ask, this one deftly calmed our instinct to toss and turn in an unfamiliar bed. It centres around the Tranquillity Pro-Sleep Spa Ceremony, which is less massage, more gentle stroking to calm jangling nerves and fizzing brains. The 80-minute ritual is completed with a booster facial and an invitation to lie down in the dark (again) in the Sensory Room with its heated gel beds.
The sleepy theme continues in your room, with a Comfort Zone pamper pack featuring the same fragrance used in the treatment. Maybe it’s the olfactory association, maybe it’s Pennyhill’s remarkable stillness at night, or maybe it’s the glass of excellent English wine sipped at dinner, but we drifted off quickly... Additional words Lynne Hyland
Monkey Island Estate, Berkshire
For something a little different, head to Monkey Island Estate near Bray in Berkshire and its floating spa, on a barge in the Thames. Treatments pay homage to the band of Augustinian monks that settled at Bray Lock in the 12th century – some rituals commence with the drinking of ‘long-life elixirs’, blends of as many as 150 herbs.
The seven-acre riverine estate has a hunting lodge that has hosted illustrious guests over the years – including Edward Elgar, who composed a symphony from one of the huts along the banks of the Thames.
Coworth Park, Berkshire
The main house at this Berkshire outpost of the Dorchester Collection may have been built in the late 18th century, but the spa is decidedly space-age. The treatment menu at Coworth Park's stellar spa includes offerings by luxury brands Valmont, Germaine de Capuccini and Ishga.
For when you’re ready for a little more action, the estate spans a huge 240 acres, with polo fields and stables, and wildflower meadows, too. Or you can keep things nice and cosy indoors, with drinks by the fireplace in winter.
Ockenden Manor, West Sussex
Close to the South Downs National Park, Ockendon Manor in West Sussex is where to head for spa days with a scenic backdrop. It’s also a place to learn the art of forest bathing, meditation and floatation, courtesy of the spa’s Isopod floatation tank.
In contrast to the main hotel, the spa is in a more modern building near the 19th-century walled garden. Facilities include an indoor-outdoor pool, a rainforest shower fed by the on-site spring and eight treatment rooms. You’ll be able to enjoy the views of Cuckfield Park through a vast glass wall as you swim.
Carbis Bay, Cornwall
Surrounded by acres of beautiful Cornish coastline, with a golden Blue Flag beach on its doorstep, Carbis Bay offers an improved sense of wellbeing before you’ve even set foot in the spa. But things only get better once you make your way there, where the sea-facing outdoor pool should be your first port of call. Of course, a glass of champagne can be delivered to you on request.
On the treatment menu are rituals by the star brands Bamford and Voya. Naturally, many take the sea as their inspiration – book in for a seaweed wrap or the indulgent two-hour Drift Away programme. You’ll be able to soak up the sea views from the balcony or relax by the fire in the lounge after your treatment.
Cliveden, Berkshire
Near the village of Taplow in the Berkshire countryside, Cliveden needs no introduction. The hallowed manor house is a National Trust property, open to day guests and the lucky few who get to spend the night. Along with a certain scandalous swimming pool, the spa is home to treatment rooms where you can enjoy glow-bestowing facials by brilliant British brand Oskia; we recommend adding some Theraface light therapy to your treatment for extra radiance. It also hosts regular pop-ups and brand partnerships – currently in situ is the acclaimed facialist Teresa Tarmey.
It’s an excellent UK spa hotel if you’re coming from London, since the manor is within easy reach of the capital – even more so now there’s a nearby stop on the Elizabeth line.
Chewton Glen, Hampshire
An unashamedly upmarket country-house hotel, Chewton Glen boasts immaculate, picture-postcard grounds, sumptuous lounges and bars to relax in, and bedrooms that are all about sophistication and comfort combined. Then, of course, there’s the spa, with a swish swimming pool surrounded by oversized loungers, hydrotherapy pool with numerous water jets and warm plinth beds, nail studio and treatment rooms.
Most face and body treatments are offered as 60-, 75- or 90-minute options, and therapists do a proper consultation before going hands-on to ensure they provide the optimum experience for each guest. Words Gaby Huddart
Cameron House, West Dunbartonshire
Located on the shores of Loch Lomond, Cameron House has a rich history (including once being a bear park) and has welcomed high-profile guests including Winston Churchill, Clint Eastwood and Barack Obama. Cameron Spa is situated a short drive away, by the golf course (make use of the hotel’s hourly shuttle). Set over three floors, it has steam rooms, saunas and bubbly hydro pools, plus a compact rooftop pool and a cafe with a small but excellent menu.
If you’re visiting on a romantic break, don’t miss the couples’ Rasul Mud Chamber experience – slathering yourself in a detoxifying mud mask before sweating it off in the steam room feels far more luxe than it sounds, and your skin will be left unbelievably soft as a result. Words Laura Mulley
Whatley Manor, Cotswolds
Whatley Manor is one of the finest hotels in the Cotswolds, with a Michelin-starred restaurant, an organic kitchen garden and gorgeous grounds, which span immaculate terraces and lawns. The restaurant is also the proud owner of a Michelin Green Star, awarded for its sustainability efforts. For something a little more laidback, head to Grey’s, the hotel’s second eatery.
At the manor’s Aquarias Spa, you’ll be able to indulge in treatments by the acclaimed Parisian skincare line Sothys or the homegrown British brand Gaia. There are sunloungers surrounding the outdoor pool for a siesta after your treatment, or you can keep warm on a heated stone recliner. The spa’s facilities also include salt showers, a thermal suite and a hydrotherapy pool. If you want to continue the spa theme, make the short drive into Bath to take the waters on a visit to the Roman thermae. The grand country house hotel is also within easy reach of the market town of Malmesbury.
More spa ideas:
- The best spa hotels in Edinburgh
- The best spa hotels in Hampshire
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