When Stewart hinted at needing a spa break I didn’t hesitate to book it! The spa of choice was the Scandinave Spa, which I first discovered when we were looking for somewhere to go for my birthday last year.

There are four Scandinave Spas across the country with the closest one to us about a 2 hour drive from Toronto at Blue Mountain. Nestled in the Niagara Escarpment, it’s the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle and stresses of city life.

We visited on Halloween weekend, so whilst the rest of the country was busy dressing up in all manner of strange outfits and eating ‘candy’ we got to relax and enjoy the beautiful autumnal colours around us.

The spa experience is based on the Scandinavian hot and cold therapy, whereby you alternate between the two to relieve stress, soothe the skin and improve circulation. I have to admit to being too afraid to put more than my toe into the cold pools but hopefully being outside on a cold day counted somewhat towards the cold part of my therapy?! Either way, it was incredibly relaxing and we enjoyed the pools, sauna and steam room as well as the perusing the local property magazines in the relaxation area. Anyone like to buy us a cottage in the Georgian Bay? There are some gorgeous ones and we will let you visit!

No children, cameras or phones are allowed in the spa and there is a strict quiet policy, making for a very tranquil environment. That is until you try and get two people wearing towels onto a hammock!! Needless to say, there was a lot of giggling and we lasted about 5 minutes before we decided it was too cold to be outside wearing just swimwear and a wet towel.

As well as the spa experience I also booked us a 60 minute Swedish massage each, which finished our day off nicely! Scandinave Spa is open all year round and I’d really love to visit in the winter when it’s covered in snow, it would be perfect after a day skiing in the Blue Mountain resort. I just wish you could book online as we still struggle with Canadians not understanding a word of what we say and interesting new spellings of Stewart’s name!

Good to know and our tips for visiting:

• Bring your own robe – you can survive without one but I think it would have been nice if we’ve had one. Robes can also be hired from the spa for $12.
• Bring a reusable water bottle – to avoid endless wasted plastic, cups are not provided and instead they encourage you to bring your own bottle. If you forget yours, stainless steel bottles can be bought for $10.
• Plan to spend the day there – we went for the afternoon and left feeling like we could have stayed a fair bit longer! There’s a bistro serving healthy food and drinks if you get hungry.
• Check Twitter for info on possible wait lists. It can get incredibly busy on weekends and holidays and they often reach capacity, causing very long wait lists (sometimes 4hr+)!
• Book a massage! Guests who have a massage booked are allowed into the spa 2 hours before their appointment and massages can be reimbursed by extended Ontario healthcare benefits if you’re lucky enough to be covered.
• Visit on a Wednesday for a $10 discount on bath access.

Emma