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 has not really been known for these kinds of things, but suddenly luxury hotels with fabulous spas are popping up in Nice right and left!   So I set off to find the best spa day in Nice…

Most Luxurious Total Experience

The brand new spa complex at the iconic Hotel Le Negresco is the most over the top …but you only live once!  Your spa experience starts with an hour in the  pool/sauna/hammam/sensorial showers.  A basic 1-hour full-body massage is 210€ and includes the hour of pre-massage spa time.  I’m using the basic massage for comparison, but if you have the means they offer a panoply of imaginative treatments including a hot sand massage or a water massage.

Before or after, be sure to tour the hotel (the most eccentric hotel in Nice!), and definitely have a post-massage cocktail in their fabulous Hemmingway-like clubby bar.  You can bookend your experience with a breakfast or lunch in the trippy La Rotonde carousel-themed restaurant.  37 Promenade des Anglais,  tram stop Alsace-Lorraine.

If you go in summer (and can afford it…) I would highly recommend prolonging your spa day with a beach day at the Negresco’s private beach, the most pampering beach experience in Nice.

Or, completely for free, cross the street and right next door is the Villa Massena, surrounded by elaborately tended lavish French gardens and plenty of benches for peaceful post-massage contemplation.

Best Spa-Day Deal

Just up the Prom from the Negresco, and tucked into a corner of The Westminster, Nice’s other pink hotel, 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 looking 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.  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 120€ (like a body scrub or a wrap and and then a facial or massage, 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 105€ + 35€ for the spa time, so a total of 140€ which is still the best price in town.

They also have a ‘Sea Spa and Lunch’ package at 185€ 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 spa+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, and Bocca Mar Beach to the left, so you can prolong your spa morning with a relaxing beach afternoon.

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

Most Spiritual Spa Day

The new 5-star Hotel du Couvent is an actual ancient convent, and an oasis of tranquility right in the heart of the Old Town. They’ve taken pains to stay true to the essence of this special place, and you can feel it.

Treat yourself to a day in this unique spot, voted 27th best hotel in the world this year.  First have a peaceful coffee in the orange grove and visit their own bakery and herb shop (where they make their own teas and massage oils).  Then head to the spa to do the traditional bath circuit in their mini Roman bath complex for 90-minutes before your massage (1-hour, 190€).  Make the most of your post-massage serenity with a walking meditation through their terraced garden paths above the hotel, followed by a peaceful garden lunch.   Tram stop Cathedrale.

The Maison Albar Group has just opened the 5-star Le Victoria with a luxury spa, which has all the bells and whistles including indoor pool complex, but in a very intimate boutique hotel atmosphere.  A 1-hour massage is 210€ and includes 1-hour of spa access, plus the added bonus in summer: a spa treatment gives you access to their gorgeous rooftop outdoor pool deck (normally only for hotel guests), which is a fabulous way to spend the rest of the day!  6 avenue de Suède, tram stop Massena.

Modern Luxury (but missing a crucial element)

The Anantara Spa, in the 5-star Anantara Plaza Hotel is a spacious  luxury spa with a thousand thoughtful touches from exotic flower herb teas (mine was blue!), to custom infused massage oils from the perfume capital of Grasse, to letting the guest determine the lighting scheme in the treatment rooms.

Any treatment of an hour or more (basic 1-hour massage 195€) gives you access to the hammam/steam room/relaxation room… but one surprising missing element is the lack of a pool/jacuzzi/whirlpool/hot tub, which to me, is kind of key for a spa day.

The best things about this spa is taking the elevator to the top floor afterwards, for a relaxing light lunch or even just a glass of rosé at the Anantara’s gorgeous rooftop bar/restaurant, with one of the best views in Nice.  12 Avenue de Verdun, tram stop Massena.

Also Rans

In the middle of town, the Boscolo Exedra Spa is located under the gleaming white Italian-style hotel of the same name.  They have just done a full remodel of the spa, whose best feature is an 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, but you have to keep traversing a brightly lit hallway to get from showers and treatment rooms to the pool, which is kind of jarring and disrupts your vibe, and for lunch upstairs, if you are seated on the terrace, the traffic noise from the boulevard kind of kills the post-massage buzz.  12 Boulevard Victor Hugo, tram stop Jean Medecin.