Best Spa Day in Nice
I love massages and spa days. In my previous life as a globe-trotting meeting planner, one of the perks was getting to try out spas and massages all over the world.
On the French Riviera there are two very famous (and expensive) spas, Monaco’s Thermes Marins Monte-Carlo on one end, and the majestic Spa Terre Blanche Provence on the other.
But what about Nice? Nice is not really known for these kinds of things, so I set off to find the best spa day in Nice.
The Best Facilities, Ambiance, Prices, and Overall Best Spa-Day Deal
Tucked into a corner of Nice’s oldest hotel The Westminster, the entry to Le Spa 27 is so unassuming and non-descript that I really didn’t expect much going in. Boy was I wrong! The inner sanctum is like entering another realm, with a relaxation room back-lit through a Himalayan salt wall that relaxed me just to look at it.
Plunge into the counter-current pool with massage jets and shoulder-pummeling waterfalls, then dip into the glowing churning whirlpool/jacuzzi, punctuated with trips into the steam room and sauna… Everything you could want and all with the ambience of a candlelit grotto. This impeccably designed spa is the only one with sauna and steam room right off the pool, so you don’t have to traverse a brightly lit hallway to get from one to the other, but can stay ensconced in your blue lagoon cocoon.
To maintain maximum zenitude they only allow 6 people at any one time, staggered at 15 minute intervals, so you feel like you practically have the place to yourself. Everything is sparkling clean.
Spa 27 offers a ‘Tailor-Made Body Ritual’ package that includes one hour in the spa (pool, jacuzzi, steam, sauna) then your choice of two different 30-minute treatments back-to-back for just 99€ (like a body scrub or a wrap and and then a facial, for instance), which is the winner for the best price for a day at the spa.
Or if you prefer a classic 1-hour full-body massage after an hour of steaming and splashing in the spa, the a la carte price is 95€ + 30€ so a total of 125€ which is still the best price in town.
They also have a ‘Sea Spa and Lunch Ritual’ package at 175€ that combines 90-minutes of spa facilities, followed by a 1-hour massage, then, after a basking a bit in the relaxation room and changing, you ride the interior elevator up to the hotel lobby for a 3-course lunch at the Le Duc restaurant which looks out onto the sea.
…But better yet: just take the spa+2 treatments or 1-hour massage, and then when you’re ready to emerge from this fabulous blue-hued oasis, simply cross the Promenade des Anglais to a beach bar where you will fit right in with your somewhat disheveled/no make-up/post-spa bliss, and can savor a light lunch or glass of chilled rosé while being lulled by the soothing sound of the waves… ahhh…! Blue Beach is directly across the street to the right, but if you walk a couple of minutes to the the left to Bocca Mar Beach you can follow up your Best Spa Deal in Nice with the Best Beach Deal in Nice. Prolong your spa morning with a relaxing beach afternoon as Bocca Mar has a good restaurant and the best deal on sun beds (20€ parasol included).
Here is the complete Le Spa 27 brochure in pdf, and you can book a reservation by email at spa@westminster-nice.com or call +33 4 92 14 86 19 and ask for Claire. If you book, please tell them Best of Nice sent you. 27 Promenade des Anglais
The Newest and most High-Tech Spa in Nice
The Anantara Spa, located in Nice’s newest 5-star Anantara Plaza Hotel is a spacious new luxury spa with a state-of-the-art work-out room, 5-star locker room amenities, and a thousand thoughtful touches from exotic flower herb teas (mine was blue!) and savory snacks, to letting the guest determine the lighting scheme in the treatment rooms.
The treatment rooms all include are impeccably appointed; for instance instead of the standard towels, the massage tables are covered with the fluffiest duvets I’ve ever seen. They offer a host of innovative pampering treatments using special infused oils custom-made for the spa near the perfume capital of Grasse. And the massage tables
One surprising missing element however is the lack of a pool/jacuzzi/whirlpool/hot tub, which to me, is kind of key for a spa day.
Any treatment of an hour or more gets you free access to the full spa facilities, so the cost of access to the hammam/steam room/relaxation room followed by a 1-hour massage is 140-150€.
Finish off your spa experience by taking the elevator to the top floor for a relaxing light lunch or even just a leisurely glass of rosé at the Anantara’s gorgeous rooftop bar/restaurant, with one of the best views in Nice.
Here is the complete Anantara Spa brochure in pdf, to book call +33 4 93 16 75 71, or email spa.plazanice@anantara-hotels.com 12 Avenue de Verdun, tram stop Massena.
Honorable Mention
In the middle of town, the Boscolo Exedra Spa is located under the gleaming white Italian-style hotel of the same name. They have a very nice indoor pool that features a dramatic fountain-like water jet for shoulders, plus some underwater massage jets at the far end of the pool. This is a very servable spa, however their steam room and sauna are under renovation so not available until summer 2024. They don’t really offer a spa day package per se, but an hour massage is 125€, which entitles you to an hour in the spa facilities for an additional 30€, so the comparative package price is 155€, which actually makes it the most expensive..
For lunch, there is the Exedra bar just upstairs, but if you are seated outside, the traffic noise from the boulevard kind of kills the post-massage buzz.
Here is the complete Boscolo Spa brochure in pdf. 12 Boulevard Victor Hugo, tram stop Jean Medecin.
New Spas on the Horizon…
The next spa to open in Nice will be the hotly anticipated spa complex at the iconic Hotel Le Negresco in January 2024… followed later in the year by the luxury spa in the new 5-star Hotel du Couvent being built in an ancient convent in the Old Town. The old Boscolo B4 is being completely restructured by the Maison Albar group to reemerge in 2025 as the 5-star Le Victoria also with a luxury spa, and beyond that a new hotel in being built near the Liberation Market which will include a 3-floor spa complex. Watch this space!
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Photo credits: all photos by Best of Nice