The best of wellness in Manchester

Starting out as one of the coolest gyms in London, with studios located in only the painfully coolest of neighbourhoods, BLOK chose Ducie Street Warehouse in Manchester as their first location outside the capital. Decor-wise, it’s more like an industrial Berlin nightclub than a gym – all exposed brickwork, steel beams and polished concrete – and the classes on offer are fittingly non-traditional too. You can work on your physical wellbeing with rigorous boxing and HIIT classes, or try something a little more specific like callisthenics which uses body weight to train strength, or barre, which is inspired by ballet. If you want to go fully restorative then you can relax into a sound bath or yoga class too. If you want to replenish afterwards, head to the fittingly stylish protein shake bar. 

Manchester isn’t exactly known its stunning open water. If you’re brave, you can go for a dip at Sale Water Park. More discerning wild swimmers opt for Pick Mere though, a lake in the village of Pickmere, just outside Knutsford. A beautiful spot in its own right, with serious beach vibes in the summer, the addition of The Farm Club has made it a bona fide wellness destination. You can book onto yoga classes and sound baths, as well as guided breathwork sessions, all topped off with a bracingly chilly but utterly refreshing dip in the lake. If you fancy yourself as Cheshire’s answer to Wim Hof, The Farm Club is for you.

A vast new haven of wellness therapies, FIX is located (mercifully perhaps) a stone’s throw from one of Manchester’s most stressful locations, Piccadilly Gardens. As well as offering saunas and ice baths which you can oscillate between at your own pace, dispelling all sorts of nasty toxins in the process, they also offer breathwork, sound healing, stretching, meditation, reflexology, self massage, aromatherapy. So whatever’s getting you down, mental or physical, you’re likely to leave floating on air.

One of Greater Manchester’s most exclusive escapes, much of the Hale Country Club experience is off limits unless you have a ‘price available on request’ membership. The spa though is available to all, as long as you’re willing to splash out on a package. The place is stunning, obviously, and depending on what experience you choose, you can pick from a menu of treatments designed to make you unwind and glow while enjoying the saunas and steam rooms. There isn’t a ‘tox’ this place couldn’t ‘de’. Oh, and there’s a swimming pool with a view on the roof.

An exercise studio paired with a cafe serving all sorts of juices, salads and ginger shots, The Health Lab is the platonic ideal of a new age ‘lifestyle space’. Set over three floors on the corner of Newton and Dale Street in the Northern Quarter, this place isn’t just style over substance though, they offer one of the most comprehensive ranges of workouts and healing practices in the city. There’s reformer and mat-based pilates led by incredibly knowledgeable instructors, as you might expect, but there’s also breath work and sound healing, which takes place in a studio bathed in infrared light, which is reported to have heaps of benefits like improving sleep, mobility and reducing pain. In a space as pretty as this, it’s hard to be cynical.

Working from the principle that moving between very warm and very cold environments in quick succession is really good for you, and inspired by similar facilities in Japan and Scandinavia, Kontrast refer to themselves as a ‘sauna and ice bath cafe’. You book in for a session, and alternate between the heat and the cold for as long as you want to (or can stand it), then bask in the glow of natural endorphins. You can replenish yourself in the cafe afterwards, which is stocked by Blossom Coffee Roasters, so you know they mean business.

Historically the place to stay for visiting actors, footballers and rockstars, The Lowry Hotel is synonymous with all things decadent in Manchester. It is apt, then, that their spa, RE:TREAT, is equally as flashy in its offerings. This tech-led spa offers all of the new age treatments you might have heard about, like a meditation pod and a flotation tank, where you can unwind without the distractions of the outside world. They also have cryo chambers, where temperatures of -110 Celsius help with stress, sleep and muscle recovery. 

Looking every bit the part with its minimal interiors, sleek surfaces and indoor olive tree, Novel Aesthetics is a seriously contemporary-feeling beauty and wellness clinic. Run by Mia Bowler, a pharmacist, this place is all about enhancing natural beauty, not drastic makeovers. Of course, they offer fillers and peels (after an informative consultation, of course) but you can also head here to experience more niche treatments like mesotherapy, which is essentially a boost of vitamins directly to the skin.

A five-star day spa located in the heart of town, NiniSpa is a calm and tranquil oasis in the city. Standing for ‘Now I Need It’, their mission is to share the importance of rest and recovery. Whether you’re looking for a deep tissue massage to recover from injury, or just after something a little more relaxing, you’re bound to find exactly what you’re craving in one of their facials, massages and treatments.

King Street Townhouse is a residence befitting the exclusivity of its namesake — historically home to some of central Manchester’s best fashion boutiques and architecture. Many come to party, but it’s also the place to go for deeply indulgent treatments like facials, massages and scrubs. If you’re more initiated in all things new therapy, you might want to treat yourself to one of the more sci-fi options: a full body wrap or an LED light treatment. You’ll come away from your staycation with a new lease of life.

A piece of serenity out in Altrincham, RE:STORE is part shop, part coffee bar and part treatment room. You can shop for eco-minded beauty and homeware products, and enjoy a chai latte while you do so. Where things get really interesting is in their treatment rooms where you can enjoy manicures, massages and even microneedling, as well as more holistic therapies like sound baths, ensuring you come away glowing on the inside and out. It almost goes without saying that they work with products which are sustainable and cruelty free, you won’t find any harsh chemicals in this place.

Hidden down the notably pretty Bradley Street in the Northern Quarter is Sarasin Spa, a spa with serious aesthetic appeal of its own. You enter through a bright atrium of exposed brickwork, filled almost to bursting with colourful flora and fauna. Here, they take inspiration from the relaxation practices of different cultures, offering ‘authentic massage treatments from around the world’. That means you can enjoy a Thai herbal massage, a Swedish massage, hot stones and even reflexology in a little slice of urban paradise, before venturing back out into the hustle and bustle of the city centre.