I’m soaking my weary limbs in a warm salt bath surrounded by flickering candlelight and tall rustic archways. After a particularly stressful Monday, I am immediately transported to the Arab bath houses I once visited in Granada. Next, it’s time for some cold therapy in the plunge pool, set to 10C, before a detox session in the steam room.
If you’re in need of some respite after weeks of anxiety-inducing football matches, it would be hard to find a more comforting sanctuary than the new Aire Ancient Baths. Set in an 18th-century neoclassical building steps away from Covent Garden, the serene subterranean spa is a labyrinth of turquoise pools framed by Roman-style arches and brickwork. Aire opened its first thermal bath house in Seville 20 years ago and has since opened seven more spas, including in a former textile factory in New York’s Tribeca, a warehouse in Barcelona and a brewery in Copenhagen. This is the first in the UK.
The wellness ritual, inspired by Roman bathing, is designed to soothe body and mind by exposure to different water temperatures. I spent two hours alternating between the seven thermal baths, which include the tepidarium (36C), caldarium or hot water bath (40C) and frigidarium (14C and 10C), as zen-inducing tunes play from under the water. After the vaporium (steam room) and then the balneum (jet pool), it was time to finish with a body scrub and float in the flotarium, a salt bath.
Guests can rehydrate in the relaxation area with water or herbal teas and I’m sure I spotted one couple enjoying a post-dip glass of fizz. Instead, I headed upstairs to the treatment rooms for a 30-minute massage. Feeling flush? Unwind in a bath of rioja here — an antioxidant-rich wine ritual which uses tempranillo grapes. Though, at £450 a head, these must be some of the finest in Spain. Still, the three-hour treatment includes a private 30-minute dunk, as well as a 15-minute cranial massage, followed by a 60-minute full-body massage.
Be warned: eagle-eyed staff proactively enforce the no phones rule. Rightly so, this is an oasis of calm to unplug and unwind in.
