The Most Relaxing Spa Breaks to Book in Manchester, UK

For a slice of Guys and Dolls-era New York in Manchester, Hotel Brooklyn ticks the boxes. With all the style of a Brooklyn brownstone, inside rooms are swanky – appropriately named the Highline, Liberty, Governor and Uptown – with huge beds and terraces with views in some. Kick off your wellness break with vegan-friendly food at Runyon’s Restaurant (or drinks in the speakeasy-style hotel bar), then book into nearby day spa, Bali Health Lounge, for multi-award-garlanded massages, facials and treatments.

Although without its own wellness facilities, the City Warehouse Aparthotel is handily located close to the superb Sarasin day spa. With leather sofas, wooden floors, smart kitchen areas and dining tables, there’s everything you need here to make yourself at home, and the apartments are ideal for longer stays. Around the corner, the Sarasin has gorgeous red-walled, flower-filled interiors, and offers Thai massages and aromatic oil treatments, so you can easily transform your aparthotel stay into a spa break.

The Waterside Hotel might just lay claim to being the best spa hotel in Manchester. On the city outskirts, it has extra space for impressive facilities. There’s a heated 25m (82ft) swimming pool, a sizeable gym, a hydrotherapy pool with jets and aroma- and salt-infused steam rooms. Rooms are small and simple yet comfortable, and there’s a riverside restaurant proffering healthy dishes, such as coconut king prawns with a light Thai salad.

Malmaison Manchester has the boutique brand’s signature sexy room decor, here featuring crushed velvet and king-size beds across spaces that span from snug standards to suites. The spa is particularly good, offering ESPA treatments, yoga classes and a gym. A great city-centre location and popular bar-brasserie that’s a cut above, serving calamari and beetroot-based vegan burgers, complete your wellness weekend.

If you’re looking for a hotel with a spa in Manchester, the Edwardian is a peach of a place. Indeed, there’s a whole floor dedicated to self-care, with a 12m (40ft) aquamarine pool, a sauna, a steam room and a well-equipped gym. Located in the fanciful Free Trade Hall building, you’re not only centrally placed, but rooms are sumptuous and contemporary with creature comforts such as REN products, making it a superb place to unwind.

The Lowry is the type of place where doormen usher you inside and there’s champagne already on ice. But we’re still in salt-of-the-earth Manchester, mind you – so there’s no hint of stuffiness. The refurbed River Restaurant looks like Palm Springs on a plate, all mid-century modern design and millennial wall art. But when you’re not sinking martinis on the roof terrace, the serene spa offers space to dial things back. Elemis and Aromatherapy Associates sign their names to the treatments, and there’s Technogym kit and personal trainers to whip you into shape in the gym.

The Midland may have been around for more than 100 years, but she’s certainly not showing her age. That’s in large part down to her time-defying spa, where you might just step in and forget all about coffee-hopping through the Northern Quarter or filling your boots on the food scene of Ancoats. This being the brisk northern reaches of England, you’ll be pleased to hear there’s a toasty thermal pool, tropical showers, a steam room and even an 85-degree sauna with a Himalayan salt-block wall to help conduct heat. Book in for a spa day, or simply a treatment, with French brand Caudalie presiding over the starry line up.

Inside the Macdonald Hotel, you’ll find this luxurious spa offering half-day, full-day and weekend retreats to refresh and rejuvenate. Alongside the array of facials, massages and wraps on offer, the spa also offers specialist treatments including hot stone massages and Indian head massages. There’s also a luxurious thermal suite with a hot rock sauna, infra-red sauna, sensation shower, ice igloo, eucalyptus steam room and heated loungers available to use at an extra charge.