An Austrian Spa Retreat

It’s taken me some time to realise that people don’t always have the same thing in mind when it comes to talking about spas.

For me, it’s all about feeling good. About feeling relaxed. I long to rest somewhere beautiful, to stretch out my muscles, to stretch out my mind. To fill my senses with pleasure and peace and to leave feeling better than when I arrived.

And for years, I made the mistake that most of us make. I assumed other people enjoyed the same.

As it turns out, that’s not true.

What People Want From A Spa

Some people get bored lying still in an pretty spa. Others don’t care about the aesthetics, they want pain and punishment now with a promise of feeling better later. Feeling bad to feel good, I suppose. It’s all very clinical.

This fundamental misunderstanding leads to various problems when it comes to spas.

I’ve strolled in, ripe and ready to relax, only to find myself cornered in an NHS style cubicle being hosed down with iced water or threatened with a stinging nettle lashing.

I’ve sat on sulphur-soaked stone while the drips from fungus around me carry “healing properties” into my veins.

And I don’t even want to talk about the smoke therapy unit. Let’s just say that perhaps I’d have enjoyed that better had I truly been a believer.

But I respect other opinions enough to know that the world of alternative therapy means a lot to many, even if it offers little to me.

So let me heartily recommend the Warmbaderhof Spa and its associated complexes as the place to spa in, no matter where you sit on the pain-to-pleasure Abi King spa scale.

Introducing the Warmbaderhof Spa: How it all works

First, a little explanation. The complex consists of three properties, more or less, with different names and different target markets. Guest who stay at the Warmbaderhof Hotel can slop across in their dressing gown and slippers to the Karawankenhof Thermal Spa and Karnten Therme, but the reverse is not true. Day entry is possible to the Karnten Therme Thermal Urquellbecken suite, a point I’ll come back to later.

Each has a distinctly different feel.

The Thermal Urquellbecken Austrian Spa Retreat

The Thermal Urquellbecken sits atop Villach’s natural thermal springs. Each day, 40 million litres of hot water bubble up from Mount Dobratsch at a temperature between 25 and 29 degrees.

It’s this bubbling buoyant water that has drawn pilgrims to its source for centuries (as far back as Roman times) and an astonishing 10 million litres of water flow into this pool alone every single day.

You can swim amid slate and charcoal pebbles beneath a gleaming sun in the purest thermal water in town. If you arrive before the day-trippers (that’s at 7am for Warmbaderhof guests,) it’s even purer.

The Urquellbecken complex also has treatment rooms where people wear white and carry clipboards. So for me, moving on…

The Karawankenhof Austrian Spa Retreat

Next up is the amusingly named Karawankenhof, built in this century and designed to be modern, light, airy and for families. Or as the hotel website says, the complete opposite to the Warmbaderhof itself.

Rooms are bright and blue and both the indoor and outdoor swimming pools resemble more of a theme park than traditional spa with their coiled slides and aquatic playground. The crazy river also hosts a lederhosen water slide competition each year. Stick that in your wet T shirt contest pipe and smoke it.

There’s also a decent sized swimming pool (25 metres) for those who love laps (me! Me!) and a glossy granite hammam and steam room for those who like to feel good (also me.)

A word of warning, though. In northern Italy and southern Austria, you sauna in the nude. And there’s no segregation.

You have been warned.

Third, and finally, there’s the classic, luxurious Warmbaderhof Hotel and Spa.

The Warmbaderhof: A Classical and Classy Austrian Spa Retreat

Built back before Austria was even founded, this place has seem some changes, both on a global stage and on a structural one, as the sketches near the front door show. With hiking and biking routes plus atmospheric indoor and outdoor pools (these aren’t the ones for chalking up the laps, mind) it’s easy to drink in your fill of pure Austrian mountains and clean air with a bit of a laze in the sun.

A picnic goes a long way too.

The Style of the Warmbaderhof

Rooms vary enormously, from vintage floral classics to renovated cream gold trim. My junior suite featured both bathtub and shower, a walk-in closet and automatic lighting which helped fight the confusion of jet lag in the night.

There’s a TV and reasonable wifi but neither have much of an imagined role here, as it’s assumed you’ll spend your time out of the room.

Treatments in the Spa: Suction Cup Lymphatic Drainage

As a tester, I underwent a standard facial: a mix between pure pleasure and clinical pain. The suction cup lymphatic drainage punched popcorn sized welts into my skin: the cinnamon and peppermint oil made up for it.

And the complimentary hand massage felt heavenly.

Dining at Warmbaderhof

It’s pleasure all the way when it comes to the Warmbaderhof’s food, though, and something of a paradise for someone with a newfound dietary restriction.

The hotel offers nutrition consultations (which I didn’t take part in) and pays extreme attention to detail when it comes to being creative with ingredients. There’s no need to fear sugar, gluten or lactose here.

In Summary

The Warmbaderhof complex manages to, for once, genuinely keep everyone happy. Whether your love of spas includes relaxation and pampering, clinical pain, splashing around with the kids or pursuing the great outdoors and pushing your body to the limit, this megalith of a spa resort provides the tools to make it happen.

You can even feel historical doing it.

Disclosure

I visited these spas as part of a project organised by Captivate and Visit Austria to take a look at one of Austria’s 12 Finest Hotels.

You can reach the Warmbaderhof by flying into Ljubljana in Slovenia and taking a short transfer across. To speed up the journey at the London end, you can take the Heathrow Express. The Heathrow Express is the fastest way to reach Paddington, which connects on to Wales and the West Country as well as being within Zone One and on the District, Circle, Hammersmith and Bakerloo Underground Lines.

All opinions mine, as I suspect is obvious ;-)