Mums do travel

Travel with and without teens

  • Home
  • Destination
    • UK
      • London
      • Kent
      • Northern Ireland
      • Wales
      • Elsewhere
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Croatia
      • France
      • Gibraltar
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • USA
      • Canada
      • Carribean
      • Costa Rica
    • Africa
      • South Africa
      • Tunisia
    • Asia
      • Thailand
      • Bali
      • Singapore
    • Australia
  • Inspiration
    • Things to do in…
    • Things to do in London…
    • Where to stay
    • Language learning
    • Family travel interviews
    • The journey
    • Recipes
  • Published in
  • About
  • Contact
  • Travel shop
Home / Trips without kids / Review: The Malvern Spa Hotel

Review: The Malvern Spa Hotel

October 19, 2017 by Gretta Schifano 2 Comments

Outdoor pool, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Outdoor pool, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

As I drive up to The Malvern Spa I assume that my SatNav has brought me to the wrong place. I’ve been to a fair few spas in my time, and all of them have been either in country house hotels, or on the coast or in swish city centre locations – apart from the spa which I went to with my daughter on board a cruise ship (you can read her review of that particular spa here). But The Malvern is different from all of those. It’s a modern building and sits unexpectedly on the edge of a kind of retail park, next to a Premier Inn and quite close to a Morrisons supermarket. I’ve been invited to stay here and publish a review, and for a moment I worry about what I’ve let myself in for. But I soon discover that I’ve come to the right place, and that there’s a very good reason for its surprising location.

Great Malvern

The spa is in Great Malvern, an English spa town in Worcestershire where Victorians once flocked to take the fashionable ‘water cure’. Using natural spring water from the nearby Malvern Hills, patients (including people such as Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and Florence Nightingale) took part in a regime of brisk walks, cold baths, being wrapped in wet sheets, and other uncomfortable experiences, in order to improve their health. The Malvern Spa was built in 2008 and is located next to a bore hole in order to access this natural spring water.

The Malvern Spa

Once inside The Malvern, all is wonderfully tranquil, relaxing and spa-like. The building is modern, light and airy. The staff are friendly, helpful and welcoming, in an unobtrusive way. There’s a hotel, a restaurant, a health club and of course a spa, and it’s all for adults only.

Afternoon tea

After a quick tour with my fellow bloggers (five of us are here), we go to the restaurant for my favourite kind of lunch: afternoon tea. In case you don’t know, afternoon tea is a very English marvel which consists of tea (obviously), sandwiches, cakes and, ideally, scones with jam and cream. We have The Malvern Full Afternoon Tea which comes with all of these, includes the option of veggie sandwiches, and is served with a glass of cava.

Afternoon tea, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Afternoon tea, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

It’s excellent, and I definitely recommend it – if I lived nearer I think I’d be a regular afternoon tea customer at The Malvern!

The room

I’m in a twin room on the second floor and it’s very swish and well-equipped. The decor is modern and the room has everything that I need and would expect in a decent hotel. The beds are comfortable, there’s a pillow menu, tea & coffee making things, a hairdryer, air-con, a TV and a safe. There’s free wifi for guests throughout the building. The towels are white, thick and plentiful and there are towelling robes on the beds. My only small gripes are that the safe is too small to store a laptop (mine’s a 13-inch) and the toiletries look cheap – I’d expect high-quality branded toiletries in this kind of place.

Twin room, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Twin room, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

The spa

I change into my swimsuit and towelling robe and head downstairs to the spa with my fellow bloggers. We spend an enjoyable afternoon trying out the various relaxing steam rooms and saunas and the excellent indoor-outdoor hydrotherapy pool. The pool is heated to a cosy 35°c and is filled with Malvern spring water. The indoor section of the pool is surrounded by comfortable and plentiful loungers. The outside section is in a peaceful, sheltered enclosed area and the two parts of the pool are connected by an opening in the exterior wall of the spa, which you can walk or swim through. The pool has various areas with water jets, bubbles and hydrotherapy beds and is a very enjoyable and relaxing place to be.

Indoor pool, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Indoor pool, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

The restaurant

We have dinner and breakfast in the Malvern Restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed – many guests wear their towelling robes to the restaurant, and you feel as if you can spend as much time as you like in there, even once you’ve finished eating. The restaurant opens directly to a bar area with sofas and low tables, beyond which is the spa reception and a beautiful, airy lounge area, complete with olive trees and chaises-longues.

Lounge area, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Lounge area, The Malvern Spa. Copyright Gretta Schifano

The food in the restaurant is good. For dinner I start with a parmesan and rocket salad, followed by baked beef tomato with ratatouille, mozzarella and wilted spinach. Although it’s tasty, the tomato dish is quite a small portion for a main course, so I order chips to go with it.

Next morning there’s a breakfast buffet of the usual cereals, toast, fruit and juice, as well as a menu of hot dishes to choose from. I opt for smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast, and it’s good.

Treatments

The spa offers a range of health and beauty treatments and I decide that I can’t leave without experiencing one of them. So after breakfast I go to the spa and have a 30-minute hot stone massage. The therapist uses smooth heated stones and oils to massage my back and it feels wonderful.

The Malvern Spa in Worcestershire, England, is a modern spa hotel in the Victorian spa town of Malvern. With a hotel, spa, health club, restaurant and indoor-outdoor pool it's a great place for a luxurious and affordable spa break - but it's only open to adults. Click through for the full review.

Verdict

I really enjoyed staying at The Malvern Spa and would definitely recommend it. The spa facilities, food, accommodation and service are very good. The indoor-outdoor heated pool, the afternoon tea and the hot stone massage were my highlights. The location surprised me until I found out that it was chosen because of the natural spring water. I think that The Malvern Spa offers good value – a one-night spa break for two people, including dinner, bed, breakfast and an hour’s treatment per person, costs from £294 (at the time of writing). The Malvern Full Afternoon Tea costs £14.95 per person plus £4.95 for a glass of cava.

Over to you

Do let me know if you have any questions about The Malvern. Do you think that you’d like to stay there? Or maybe you’ve been already – if so, what did you think?

Disclosure: This review contains affiliate links, so if you clicked through and booked, I’d receive a small commission. The Malvern Spa hosted me for one night for the purposes of this review. All opinions, words and images are mine, as ever.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

Categories: Elsewhere, Spa, Trips without kids, Where to stay
Tags: Afternoon tea, hot stone massage

About Gretta Schifano

I'm a freelance journalist and blogger specialising in family travel with teenagers, trips when parents manage to travel without their kids, and 50+ travel. I also write about vegetarian travel, parenting teenagers, adoption, SEN, ADHD and anxiety. My work's been published by the Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, National Geographic Traveller, Lonely Planet and others. I've lived and worked in Italy and Spain and am now based in rural south-east England with my husband, adoptive and birth kids and our dog. I previously worked as a social action radio producer for the BBC.

Facebook - Twitter - Google+

Subscribe to posts by email?

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Comments

  1. Cathy (Mummytravels ) says

    October 19, 2017 at 4:00 pm

    I’m very glad being wrapped in wet sheets is no longer on the treatment list! A much more enjoyable experience these days.
    Cathy (Mummytravels ) recently posted…City Tripping #92My Profile

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      October 24, 2017 at 5:41 pm

      Quite – I can’t believe that was ever a thing! Surely it would just make you feel cold and ill?

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Search site

Follow me!

Email: gretta at mumsdotravel dot com
Follow me on FacebookFollow me on Google+Follow me on TwitterFollow me on InstagramFollow me on YouTubeFollow me on PinterestFollow me on Bloglovin

You'd like posts by email?

Booking.com

Most popular posts:

  • How to pack for an 8 kg luggage allowance
    How to pack for an 8 kg luggage allowance
  • Where to find Mary Poppins film locations in London
    Where to find Mary Poppins film locations in London
  • Thailand with teenagers: a two-week summer itinerary
    Thailand with teenagers: a two-week summer itinerary
  • Itinerary for a three-night Berlin sightseeing trip with a teenager
    Itinerary for a three-night Berlin sightseeing trip with a teenager
  • What to do when your teenager doesn't want to go on your family holiday
    What to do when your teenager doesn't want to go on your family holiday
  • 60 free things to do in London with a teenager
    60 free things to do in London with a teenager
  • 5-night itinerary for Northern Tunisia
    5-night itinerary for Northern Tunisia
  • How to shop in the souks of Tunis medina, Tunisia
    How to shop in the souks of Tunis medina, Tunisia
  • Jane Austen tour: the places where she lived and wrote
    Jane Austen tour: the places where she lived and wrote
  • Top things to do in Sicily with teenagers
    Top things to do in Sicily with teenagers

Recent Posts

  • How to apply for Italian citizenship: everything we’ve done so far
  • How to explore London’s top attractions from home
  • Amsterdam virtual museum & gallery tours
  • Introducing Armchair Travels
  • How to explore Florence, Italy, from home

About

  • About
  • Published in
  • Contact

Disclosure

This is a personal blog written and edited by me, Gretta Schifano. Sometimes I’m given products or sent on trips to review, but I always make this clear and give my honest opinion. See my About page for full details.

Copyright © Mums do travel 2019
Header by Suzanne Barton
Website by
Callia Web

Sign up for my free newsletter:
Subscribe to the Mums do travel mailing list... it's FREE!
You'll receive family travel news, offers and competitions. Once you sign up you can download my tips for saving money on family travel.
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
Sign up for my free newsletter: