Sanctuary for your soul

And caring really is the right word for it; under the expert touch of my therapist, TK, I felt supremely well looked after. Aptly named, the massage is best described as like receiving a wonderfully warm cuddly hug from a mama. In fact, it was so warm and toasty I was quite grateful for the unexpectedly cool-and-rainy Cape Town day.

The treatment starts in in their Tellurium with a 15-minute self-body exfoliation using the delicious smelling Moya Snowbush Salt Glow salt scrub. I found it so effective in smoothing, softening and gently perfuming the skin that I bought a tub. Exfoliation done, the remaining time was spent opening pores in the adjacent private sauna.

Toasty treatments

Next, one is led to one of the three treatment rooms for the full body, head and foot massage. Heated shells are placed along the body to specifically target certain tensions during the massage, while pure fynbos oils are used in conjunction with hot stones to allow deep tissue stimulation. Being a fan of hot stone massages I really enjoyed this section of the treatment; that said, I would definitely recommend this for cooler wintery days as the hot stones are well ... quite hot and might become stifling on warmer days. I particularly liked the use of the hot stones with the foot massage, it was a truly unique way to target certain tensions. I constantly found myself drifting off during this session. The head massage was blissful; I had a minor nagging headache prior to it however the head massage banished it for good.

The one-hour massage flew by and before I knew it TK was gently slipping heated slippers on my feet. Slowly reawakening and emerging from my toasty-towel cocoon, I shuffled to the changing rooms, catching a glimpse of my blissed-out post-massage face in the mirror. The Monday nine-to-five tensions of the day dissipated and, body wonderfully loose and soft, I really felt like a new person; a true testament to the effectiveness and skill of the spa and therapist.

For more info or to make a booking go to www.sanctuarysignaturespas.co.za or contact the Queen Victoria Hotel Sanctuary Signature Spa on +27 (0)21 425 2080 or az.oc.apsyrautcnas@airotciv.