Aspria
The spa at Aspria's Royal La Rasante, a 1902 country club in Brussels: four hectares of gardens and L'Institut, a calm of light and organic materials.
Aspria runs a small collection of luxury members’ clubs across Europe, and Royal La Rasante (first opened in 1902) is its flagship. It is quite a place: a classic country-club setting that, improbably, sits in the heart of Brussels.
The grounds come first. Four hectares of green gardens give the club the feel of an estate rather than an address, and they are worth exploring before you head indoors. When you do, the destination is L’Institut, the club’s spa.
L’Institut has been designed with restraint. Natural light and organic materials run throughout, and the effect is immediately soothing: a space that lowers the shoulders before a treatment has begun. There are private gardens and relaxation rooms for a quiet moment, and a sauna for those who would rather go straight to the heat.
The treatments lean on Espa and Dermalogica, both known for carefully formulated skincare, and range from deep-cleansing facials with personalised masks to algae body wraps. The one to book is the ESPA Inner Calm full-body massage, designed to ease muscular tension and anxiety in equal measure, which is a fair summary of what most guests arrive needing.
For a traveller in Brussels, Aspria offers a rare thing: a genuine country-club afternoon without leaving the city. A morning in the gardens, an afternoon at L’Institut: it makes for a well-composed day.
