LONDON LIFE • February 2025
London’s best post-flight massages
Step off the plane to a little self-care in the real world. For those arriving into our London airports (or any locals who might need a pamper), we’ve worked out where to find the city’s best post-flight massage spots that are ready to work their magic…
The one in an underground cave
Duck off the Strand, enter JM Barrie’s former digs, and nip down some stairs to the underground lair that is Aire Ancient Baths. Amid flickering candles, it will drain all the stress from your limbs via a series of six pools set to different temperatures that you can enjoy at your own pace. To truly reset after a long-haul flight, add a Himalayan salt ritual – a cocooning wrap with the detoxifying crystals to absorb all of the bad stuff, followed by an invigorating scrub to pep you (and your skin) up. Expect to emerge blissed out but raring to go.
The modern massage
Turn off one of East London’s busiest streets and suddenly you’re in a world of calm. MASAJ – which does away with the sprawling massage menus of yesteryear in favour of six tightly curated treatments – has all the cool of a Shoreditch studio with all the warmth of the womb, each wall painted in a natural clay. Bent-out-of-shape city workers and low-key celebs make up the current clientele, but frequent flyers are cottoning on, returning for expert knuckles and the hipster soundtrack – what other spas play Massive Attack and Nick Drake?
The extra indulgent one
Straight off an uber-long intercontinental flight? Welcome to your most extravagant tonic yet. Conveniently situated en route into London from Heathrow, The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park offers its ‘Oriental Harmony’ package for tired, tired travellers. For some two hours, not one, but two therapists will ease away the tolls of travel, working together in four-hand harmony to rebalance your body. The treatment starts with a soothing foot wash, leaning on the oriental influence of the spa, before stage one begins – a full body exfoliation leaving skin suitably buffed. We advise choosing the ‘uplifting’ massage oil from the selection on offer – a concoction of lemongrass, coriander seed and lemon – to really set the mood. Make the most of your spa slot by arriving an hour or so before your treatment time – on top of the treatment rooms, there’s an indoor swimming pool, a steam room and hydrotherapy jets to ease you back into Greenwich Mean Time pronto.
The Art Deco delight
A shiny copy of Tatler on the glass table, a line of modernist, 1950s-style lounge chairs coated in soft, creamy leather and chrome, an old-school hair salon with black and white retro portraits… The Beaumont Mayfair’s classy mini-spa is the neighbourhood’s best-kept secret. Decked out in white tile and marble originally inspired by the Turkish baths of the RAC private members’ club in London, this Art Deco oasis has its own Hamman, sauna, steam room and ice bar, as well as a perfectly formed gym. Treatment rooms continue with the monochrome pictures but add a comfortable bed, where the Beaumont Recovery experience (two and a half hours) soothes away the neggy effects of jet lag with a reviving body brush, scrub and mask, followed by a full body massage and facial. Afterwards, pop into the seductive Le Magritte Bar and your Beaumont experience is complete.
The overnighter
The ‘flight mode recovery’ package at Pan Pacific London in Liverpool Street is a 24-hour holistic experience that taps into your physical and mental wellbeing. When you check in, you start with a PT-led aqua bike workout – yes in the pool – to get your blood pumping for the day ahead, with a calming and detoxifying lymphatic drainage massage following later. With deep rest being the new luxury, at bedtime your room is set up to optimise your circadian rhythms with Pañpuri aromatherapy oils by your bath, a temperature-controlling Ooler sleep sheet that you can set to your ideal digit and a Mela weighted blanket to help you destress as you zzz.
This article has been tagged Wellbeing, Destination
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