We tried some of the top spa experiences in the country — here's what's worth the splurge
The Bellevue spa at the Montenotte Hotel, Cork. Artslife Spa Feature.
The Europe
Everything shifts the moment you step inside The Europe. The floor-to-ceiling wall of windows, undisturbed views of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and Lough Léin.
But it’s more than that. It’s the welcome. One that only a five-star in Kerry can pull off. It’s like home, just… extravagant.
We’re here for The Europe’s wellness experience. It’s every inch as magnificent as the rest of the hotel (chandeliers even hang above the swimming pool).
An indoor and outdoor vitality pool, thermal suites with a salt water pool, lifestyle showers, ice fountain, sauna, steam room and relaxation areas. The gym is state-of-the-art, with a studio to host classes.
The adjoining Riva restaurant — with healthy brunch, lunch and snacks — means you could lounge for an entire day on this floor alone. You can even dine in your robe and slippers.
For a spa treatment, we opt for the 60-minute LED + Nano-Dermabrasion Active Nutrients Facial (€160). It promises to restore radiance, and refresh the skin.
An invigorating, nutrient-rich treatment, the aim is to brighten dull, lethargic complexions. It all comes down to one word: glow.
Concentrating on the face, neck, décolleté and scalp, the treatment begins with a cleanse and exfoliation with Nano Dermabrasion.
Then, for the main event.
First skin is analysed with a Skin Vision Lamp. Then the Light Salon Enzymatic Mask is secured.
LED, light-emitting diode, has been around for more than three decades. These lights, typically red and near-infrared, are absorbed by your skin cells during treatment. Different LED wavelengths — blue, red and infrared — target a variety of skincare concerns all at once, including acne, fine lines, uneven skin tone.
The therapist, in her honest-to-goodness, five star Kerry way, warns that this may cause claustrophobia. And she’s right.
My first instinct is to rip it off, but as I settle in to the red light, begin to find it relaxing.
The scalp arm and hand massage help, I’m sure. There’s a facial massage to end, and I float to the relaxation room.
The next morning, there’s sunrise yoga, my skin still aglow from the treatment.
Wineport Lodge
It is location, location, location at Wineport Lodge. Before you even set foot in reception, the water takes centre stage. Every seat in the restaurant is positioned to soak up the stunning view, and careful planning ensures each room has the same lake vista. A sunset from those balconies is a little piece of heaven. There’s nothing else like it in Ireland.
On the banks of Lough Ree in Athlone, surrounded by water and native woodland, it’s the perfect place, the hotel rightly says itself, to do everything and nothing.
As we are here for the spa, the addition of Voya in the renovated bathrooms is a strong first impression.
The spa treatment — a 55-minute full body Swedish massage (€130) — is all you’d expect and more in the cedar-clad cabins. Downstairs, the new infinity plunge pool, with its view stretching out across the lake, is breathtaking.
But the real showstopper for a spa visit to Wineport is the floating hot tub pontoon with the new adjoining lakeside sauna.
They are safely secured but the tubs ebb and flow with the water. The hot tub booking includes a chilled glass of prosecco, to sip as you float under open skies, a gentle breeze on your face. You can choose to swim in the lake, or enjoy the heat of the Nordic-designed sauna. Alternate between thesaunaand hot tub for the full thermal cycle — boosting circulation, easing tension, and elevating your mood.
Wineport has the full package. This is the hotel, after all, that played host to RTÉ’s The Restaurant TV show. As you’d expect,the food, served up at a table with another panoramic lake view, is flawless.
There are unique touches here that show how the owners are thinking outside the box. Kash, the vivacious restaurant and beverage manager, takes us in a tour of the boat docked on the lake. It turns out it’s a floating suite, with rooms to sleep six. You can sleep here, with bubbles on arrival. Like we said, it’s like nothing else Ireland has to offer.
- Vicke Maye
The Bellevue Spa at The Montenotte
The Montenotte Hotel has long been one of Cork’s most distinctive destinations — an urban resort perched above the city with panoramic views, a rich history, and an eye always on art and design.
That forward-looking spirit is captured in its Woodland Suite Experience, the first of its kind in Ireland. Tucked into the leafy edges of the estate, these suites offer a luxurious escape that feels worlds away from the bustle of Cork city below. Think high-end interiors wrapped in nature, where harmony and calm are the defining features.
It’s not just me who’s impressed — the Woodland Suites and River Suites recently scooped the European AHEAD award in the lodges and cabins category.
But it’s the Bellevue Spa we’re here for today, the hotel’s serene wellness hideaway located in the original stately home of one of Cork’s merchant princes. With blush-pink panelling, botanical furnishings and soft lighting, the spa is luxurious without being intimidating: a cocoon where time slows the moment you enter.
I opt for the Five Element Aroma Massage (€135), a treatment that lasts an hour but honestly, feels powerful enough to reset an entire week. It begins with a face and body profile — a short but surprisingly accurate consultation that reveals your dominant element (wood, fire, earth, metal or water) and helps the therapist choose the most beneficial blend for you. It feels bespoke and deeply considered.
My therapist guides me through a grounding ritual of breathing infused essential oils while Tibetan singing bowls resonated softly in the background. From there, the massage unfolds in seamless choreography: a blend of eastern and western techniques, warm steam towels and heated stones, all flowing together with admirable skill.
The oils feel like they add another layer of comfort, leaving me suspended in that blissful space between wakefulness and sleep.
An hour later, I emerge with muscles unknotted, skin softly scented, and a mind calmed (as much as it can be anyway).
But I’m not quite ready to leave. Instead, I pad into the salt room, where Himalayan salt panels glow softly and the air is dense with minerals. Sitting there in stillness, I feel the treatment’s effects deepen — a rare sense of clarity, quiet and ease, hard to believe I’m only minutes from the city.
Whether you’re staying in one of the Montenotte’s Woodland Suites or in the hotel, exploring the city, or simply carving out time for yourself, Bellevue Spa offers more than pampering. It could be the reset you didn’t know you needed.
Carton House Spa & Wellness
There is something about arriving at Carton House Spa & Wellness that makes your shoulders drop before you’ve even checked in. Set within a stunning 18th-century mill on the grounds of the historic estate, the spa is an epicentre of calm — a place where light, scent and sound are carefully layered to ease you out of the everyday.
As soon as you step inside, the sensory journey begins. The air carries the spa’s bespoke fragrance of cinnamon, cedarwood and clary sage. Natural textures of limestone and wood echo the landscape beyond the walled estate, while the play of light and shadow, the gentle sound of water and energy-cleansing music combine to create an atmosphere that feels not of this world. Even the smallest details — seasonal floral arrangements, herbal-infused water or a cup of their tea blend — signal I’m lucky enough to be in a space totally devoted to restoration.
Carton House is a destination in its own right — a breathtaking, five-star Palladian mansion set on 1,100 acres of sweeping Kildare parkland. There’s an immediate sense of space and escape. The spa feels like a natural extension of that ethos, it’s expansive yet intimate, steeped in history but dedicated to modern wellbeing.
Treatments here range from classic healing rituals to restorative bodywork and advanced therapies. The spa partners with Susanne Kaufmann, the Austrian brand renowned for its plant-based skincare, Margaret Dabbs, celebrated for luxurious hand and foot treatments, and Seabody, a pioneering Irish brand harnessing the regenerative power of ocean algae.
I’m here to experience the hour-long Seabody Connect Full Body Massage (€155). Inspired by the rhythms of the sea, this restorative treatment is designed to help disconnect from daily stresses (I can certainly sign up for that). My therapist explains that the flowing, purposeful movements mimic the ebb and flow of the tide, easing tension and calming the nervous system.
There’s a steady, unhurried rhythm that immediately settles me. At times, it feels like being rocked by waves — a subtle but powerful rhythm that works at both physical and emotional levels. By the end, my muscles feel looser, my body lighter, and most strikingly, my mind is grounded. A miracle indeed.
The after-treatment offering is one of the best I’ve experienced.
As I stretch out in the gorgeous relaxation area, glass of prosecco in hand, a squirrel suddenly appears in the woodland area outside the window. I raise my glass to it and smile. I like letting time slow, feeling part of nature. Here, the design of the spa encourages lingering — the architecture itself feels like part of the treatment, a reminder to pause before rushing back into the outside world. A real treat.
- Esther McCarthy
Velvaere Spa, Radisson Blu Royal Hotel
City life can often feel frantic. That’s why Velvaere at Dublin’s Radisson Blu Royal has become one of my favourite gift-to-selfs.
A medi-spa in the heart of the city, it offers advanced cosmetic treatments in the calming environs of sleek, Nordic-style design. This is the destination for those amongst us who are time-poor — you want to relax, but you want results too.
The latest addition to the spa’s facial menu is what staff call the ‘crown jewel’. Courtesy of French brand CODAGE Paris, the €195 Magistrale facial is a 90-minute ‘fitness facial session’
I pop in a few weeks prior to launch to trial the treatment — it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There is an AHA/BHA peeling lotion, a warming moisturizing mask, a custom serum, an eye cream. Over the course of 90-minutes, it feels like every possible thing my face might require, it gets.
The stand-out, is the massage technique, pioneered by facialist Chantal Lehmann. My therapist compares it to having a ‘deep tissue’ massage for the face. Most spa facials focus on the epidermis, she notes, but the combination of lymphatic drainage techniques and chemical peels means we are working at a far deeper level.
Is it uncomfortable at times? Yes. But, having had chemical peels and laser treatments previously, this was definitely the most at ease I’ve felt during a results-driven treatment like this.
Afterwards, before drifting off in the dimly lit relaxation room with its herbal teas and fruit and yoghurt snack, I catch a glimpse of my snatched jaw in the bathroom mirror. Book this when you want a red carpet moment...
- Nicole Glennon
Unlimited access. Half the price.
Try unlimited access from only €1.50 a week
Already a subscriber? Sign in
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
