Dior unveiled its newly transformed spa at Hôtel Plaza Athénée in September 2023, and Wallpaper* has been to try it out. It is an ultra-private Parisian temple to beauty and wellbeing and a key destination for state-of-the-art therapy and rejuvenation in France’s capital. The legendary hotel, which opened in 1913, is located at 25 Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Élysées and the Palais de Tokyo, and sits in the very lap of luxury.
Avenue Montaigne is regarded as the grande dame of Parisian streets when it comes to fashion and its history, with Dior’s Paris flagship store sitting at No. 30. It was opened in 1946 by Christian Dior himself, who factored in the proximity to the Hôtel Plaza Athénée when choosing the four-storey building for his fashion house. It was only natural, then, that when Dior launched its first spa in 2008, Hôtel Plaza Athénée was selected as its destination.
Dior Spa at Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris: luxury surroundings and sleep-enhancing light therapy
The spa itself slots in seamlessly with the ambience of the Hôtel Plaza Athénée. It’s grand yet intimate all at once, giving the feeling of a lavish private home in the heart of Paris. Just like the hotel’s other elegant public spaces (including a bar and five outstanding restaurants, which epitomise timeless French glamour), the Dior Spa immerses you in the luxurious setting.
The spa has been designed as a retreat from the hectic bustle of city life, a series of beautiful rooms decorated with warm, pale tones and natural materials. There is a cocoon-like feeling, enhanced by a striking egg-shaped marble water table that sets a mood of soothing calm.
There are five individual treatment rooms, a couple’s treatment room, a sauna and a hammam, and traditional techniques are combined with new therapies that use cutting-edge technology. The beauty menu features a selection of treatments created specially for this location, as well as the opportunity to explore personalised sensory spa experiences to suit guests’ needs for body, face, and mind.
The reimagined spa features a new Dior Light Suite, which is the first-ever light therapy room in Paris. This spectacular innovation has a ceiling set with LEDs that perfectly reproduce the light of the sun. Light therapy is used to synchronise circadian and chronobiological rhythms that influence sleep, daily wellbeing and skin health. Dior has used its expertise in collaboration with medical professionals to develop three different therapies that aim to rebalance sleep and energy patterns.
‘The Recharge’ ritual awakens the body and mind by imitating the gentle glow of dawn before gradually intensifying into the brilliance of the midday sun. ‘The Recover’ treatment promises total relaxation via soothing massage that includes a restorative nap phase, with guests enveloped in luminous daylight (which gradually fades to a warm amber twilight). Finally, ‘Rest’ emulates sunset as a gentle pre-bedtime treatment with tension-alleviating massage to encourage a good night’s sleep.
Whichever ritual you choose (or even if you opt for multiple) they are perfect antidotes to jet-lag, and for those who simply wish to relax, rebalance and reinvigorate body and mind under the hands of experts, in beautiful surroundings.
