Recharge at Sydney’s latest wellness mecca
Relaxing with a billion-dollar view is all part of the luxurious new offering in Sydney.
The day starts with a warm meet-and-greet from senior butler Elmo Ablay as I arrive at Central Station, and ends with a cool appraisal of my glowing skin in a bathroom mirror at Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour. Do I really look younger in less than a day or is it just the giddy altitude at 34 floors up? Let’s plump for the former as even my cheeks seem firmer and lifted after an afternoon in the new fourth-floor Sofitel Spa. Despite my scepticism about all things new-age, I’m now sufficiently relaxed to don the supplied headphones and listen to one of the seven “guided meditation” rituals that I was supposed to undertake before my appointment.
This giant, glossy hotel, with almost 600 guestrooms and suites, is a flagship of Accor’s Sofitel brand, perched on the western side of Darling Harbour, with views across to Sydney Harbour proper and city skyline, and fortuitously adjacent to the International Convention & Exhibition Centre. It seems odd that a wellness facility wasn’t part of the mix when the property opened amid much fanfare in 2017, but this month sees the unveiling of a soothing space in serene, contemporary style.
The four “pillars” of its philosophy are movement, care, nutrition and rest, so an inclusive residential deal is the best option to tick that list. Spas can promise a lot of things, including minor miracles, and the language around wellness is often daft but the brand-new Sofitel Urban Wellness Package is something else.
The hotel’s spa director, Cecilia Ferreyra, originally from Argentina, believes in a holistic approach and there’s a gentle, personalised touch to proceedings. I even feel comfortable enough to admit to her I did not make eye contact with my suite’s “personal” Peloton bike (a session on which is suggested as a pre-appointment warm-up procedure), shut the wardrobe door so I wouldn’t be shamed by the yoga mat and weights, and averted my gaze as I passed the glass-walled fitness centre near the spa.
Is my skin in good shape? Let’s find out. The spa features products by family-run French heritage brand Biologique Recherche, founded in Paris in the late 1970s by biologist Yvan and physiotherapist Josette Allouche. Today I’m in the assured hands of Maria from Romania (via NYC), an expert practitioner with decades of training in the brand’s methodology of highly concentrated active ingredients, which are cold-pressed and fragrance-free. Biologique Recherche has a cult following in the US, Europe and, increasingly, Australia, especially for its signature P50 exfoliating and purifying facial lotion. The products are available to purchase at Sofitel Spa, one of the few retail outlets in Sydney.
First up for me there’s an “evaluation stage” with the Skin Instant Lab, a machine-based dermatological technique that Maria uses to analyse my complexion. Results pop up on her screen and a personalised (and polite) “skin diagnostic report” is duly emailed to me. Now she can select the correct products and I can rejoice that my obedient pores and lack of blackheads get a green tick and even the 15 per cent “sagging” and “moderate” wrinkles sound relatively OK, at least to me. Maria prepares the cleanser, lotion, mask, serum and eye contour cream she’ll need for my facial treatment. When she tells me to expect “results”, I am still sceptical. However, I will be proved wrong.
But first, there’s bathing to be done, and Kana from Saitama in Japan has prepared a windowside tub, its warm water scattered with thin orange slices, bay leaves and tiny white flowers. I forgo a glass of Champagne (let’s not forget Accor is a French company) and take in a view of Darling Harbour while breathing the rising citrus and woody scent of Essence of Autumn bath serum by Australian brand Waterlily. It’s like a mini-onsen. And then Kana guides me to a deeply comfortable bed for a body massage, focused on my upper back and “computer” neck and shoulders? How to stay awake during such a treatment? I wish I knew.
The two-storey facility comprises seven treatment rooms, including two suites, one featuring that tub with a billion-dollar view, plus a guest relaxation lounge and infrared sauna. The suites are at least as large as many a hotel room I’ve occupied so there’s no stinting with space. The streamlined decor is appropriately soothing and uncluttered, with pale marble, timber and sandstone accents; the signature tea will change with the season but just now it’s a warming chai-style sip.
A three-course wellness dinner with an autumnal produce theme caps the day. I could have started with canapes and pre-dinner drinks during the two-hour Apero Chic session at Club Millesime on level 35, but I am no longer that person. Besides, there is a dress code and it doesn’t include a hooded spa gown, no matter how luxuriously soft and chic.
I choose to dine chez moi, meaning there’s no need to shuck off the biodegradable slippers with compostable cork soles (which I snaffle to take home, naturally). Elmo produces yet more of the pepita-glazed pumpkin canapes with early grey and apple relish I tried earlier.
The meal that follows is vegetarian, soothing, full of flavour, and the dessert naturally sweetened with blackberries poached in their juice. This is what virtuousness tastes like. Elmo joins me and we tell each other silly stories about our travels and laugh a lot. He thinks I might be sufficiently relaxed now to colour in a mandala and provides me with a box of tiny coloured pencils and a diagram of leaves. But there’s only so much “embracing of slowness” I can handle and, besides, I need my beauty sleep.
IN THE KNOW
The Urban Wellness Escape package is designed for two persons and includes overnight suite accommodation, access to the hotel’s infinity-edge swimming pool and fitness centre, wellness canapes and drink on arrival, three-hour spa treatment session, lunch, dinner and breakfast. Also featured in the mix are Club Millesime privileges, customised bathing experience, private 45-minute sunrise yoga session, and chauffeured return transfer within a radius of 15km from the hotel. Available Sundays-Fridays. Choice of two suite categories, from $5200 for two. Individual treatments in Sofitel SPA can also be booked direct with the hotel, including an Autumn Wellness Journey package with valet parking, access to pool and fitness centre, body polish and wrap, aromatherapy massage, apple collagen facial, light lunch prepared by executive chef Sam Moore, plus Waterlily gift pouch of 50g spice body polish, 50g spice body creme, and 100ml winter body and bath serum.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour.
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