Guerlain Spa at The Shilla, Seoul
The massage is to die for (or at least fall asleep during), but it’s the foot bath lounge that is sheer genius.
I had never heard of a foot bath lounge until I stayed at The Shilla, a five-star hotel in the Korean capital. I couldn’t figure out exactly what it meant even when I was sitting in said foot bath lounge of the Guerlain Spa, taking in the beautiful view of Namsan Mountain, relaxing in a very fetching and comfortable robe on a sink-into lounge.
It wasn’t until a staff member lifted my feet so the floor could whiz back to reveal a hidden foot bath that it became apparent. And in that moment I became an instant fan of the foot bath lounge.
Located on the third floor of The Shilla, the spa has beautiful wooden floors and neutral interiors and of course smells divine (you can buy perfumes and products from the make-up bar). The staff are all trained at Guerlain’s head office in Paris and customise each treatment for you.
The spa is one of only a handful around the world run by the 185-year-old French perfume house, which also produces make-up and skincare. There is a range of treatments on offer from facials (including one that uses orchid extract that lasts for 2½ hours) to the ultimate: a four-hour program designed to beat the stresses of travel.
After about 15 minutes relaxing in the beautiful foot bath lounge, I was taken to one of the 10 treatment rooms for an hour-long massage. It was fabulous but I cannot give a full rundown of the hour as it seemed to fly by — and it turned out I actually fell asleep midway through. But I suspect there is no better endorsement of a massage than drifting off into a deep slumber.