Advertisement

Dior's new luxury spa features themed rooms and the largest hotel pool in Paris

Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior
Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the hottest ticket in Paris this season was a front row seat at the spring/summer 2022 shows, but there's one invitation that the fashion set, celebrities and chicest of Parisians all have top of their lists: a peek at the new Dior spa, nestled in the latest Cheval Blanc outpost.

If you do manage to snag an appointment there, prepare to have every sense stimulated from the moment you arrive at the shiny new hotel - the fifth of the Cheval Blanc group - which is housed in a refurbished Art Deco building perched on the banks of the Seine and a stone's throw from the Louvre. The construction took more than 15 years, and the result is immaculate: soaring ceilings, a rooftop with arguably the best view in the city, and 72 rooms all designed by the renowned New York-based architect Peter Marino.

But it's the spa that has everyone especially excited, and as soon as you talk a walk down the curved stairs to the subterranean space you see why. Greeted by a receptionist in a Dior-branded Breton, you're led through a butterfly-adorned hallway and past examples of Maria Grazia Chiuri's couture designs into the 'waiting room', which is like - and very well could be - an interior-design magazine cover.

Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior
Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior

A soft palette of powdery pinks and pale beige, the bleached wood walls house shelves of silk scarves, books and other Dior delights, while buttery leather sofas invite you to settle in. The other half of the room holds a curated collection of the maison's skincare and fragrance, including the new Cheval Blanc scent, exclusive to the property. "It has a bit of floral, of course, it's Dior," Francois Demachy, the brand's famous in-house perfumer, tells me, "but it's more musky and powdery. It has a softness to it." The "comfortable" fragrance, as he describes it, perfectly encapsulates the space, which, despite its luxury, is warm and welcoming.

When it comes to picking your treatment, you're spoilt for choice with almost 50 options (the 'menu' took five years to develop), but you'd be remiss not to try a facial using the newly developed Solution Professionnelles line, unique to Dior spas. You'd also get to experience the exclusive Sapphire Crystal Micro-abrasion, a unique tool coated with super-fine sapphire particles, that vibrates across the surface of the skin to gently exfoliate and promote cell regeneration. Facial massage, soothing masks and a bespoke cocktail of serums will follow to leave you slipping back into the world's plushest spa-slippers (Dior logoed, of course) with an unrivalled glow.

Your choice of treatment will also dictate which room you're led to, which in most spas wouldn't be something to note. But this is not most spas...

Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior
Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior

Each of the six suites is themed to present 'a facet of the House of Dior'. 'Sauvage', for example, has a table covered in alpha-quartz and raised from the floor (to give a floating effect) to represent a return to nature. In 'Bonne Étoile' your Dior-blanketed bed faces a starry ceiling which, once you're tucked in, lights up to single out your astrological constellation.

Alongside the spa space, the floor has a gym (which, of course, houses some now-essential Pelatons) and the largest hotel pool in Paris - no mean feat considering the calibre of luxury properties in the city. With a wave-inspired mosaic floor, mirrored ceiling and video-screen walls showing slowly moving illustrations of the city, it is a feast for the eyes which somehow maintains a serene atmosphere.

And this is the most brilliant aspect of the Dior Spa, and surrounding Cheval Blanc home: it is opulent, and expensively designed, yes. But it is balanced, not over-done or pretentious. It feels elegant, and thoughtful, and, overall, very Dior.

Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior
Photo credit: Matthieu Salvaing for Parfums Christian Dior

Dior Spa Cheval Blanc Paris, 8 Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris

You Might Also Like