"Best spa in London for: A full day decompression Just off Sloane Street, the handsome Grade II-listed Edwardian mansion-house that Ushvani sits inside calls to mind the sort of place Lucy Honeychurch, heroine of A Room With A View, might stay on a visit to London, tripping out for iced coffee and meringues with cousin Charlotte. The spa's walls and staircases are clad in the original Arts and Crafts carved panels, and the rich color and history of the wood immediately casts a spell on the visitor—there is the immense quiet and dignity here almost of a grand library. And yet the permeating scent is of hibiscus, the treatments are Asian-inspired, and there’s a subtle sound of water from the subterranean plunge pool—which guests are encouraged to take proper time in before a treatment—as well as the dry and wet steam rooms. The signature Malay Massage centers on stretching, the therapist firmly guiding movements, stopping to concentrate on areas that are tight. There is a sense of someone properly listening to your body and making any changes in the treatment to suit—it feels intuitively bespoke and therapists are confident and strong: This is proper, sensitive bodywork. There are many thoughtful things about Ushvani: the careful way they stagger treatments so that the place is never crowded; their own super-light king coconut and hibiscus facial oil; the little morsels of glacé mango they serve with fresh herbal tea in the drawing room that looks onto the stuccoed elegance of the street, before you gather your thoughts and leave, somewhat dazed, zinging-clean and acutely relaxed. Treatment to book: Ushvani Malay Massage. Insider tip: The yoga studio upstairs is flooded with light and is one of the few places in London to practice Shri Vivek Yoga, an amalgamation of Hatha, Kundalini, Vastu, and Tantric. —Antonia Quirke This article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller U.K." - Condé Nast Traveller, Issy von Simson
