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Welcome to Vogue’s first-ever spa guide—a compendium of the 100 best spas worldwide, pulling from the expertise of our global editors. There is a lot out there in the world of wellness, and we are here to sort the cryo from the cold plunge, the infrared light treatment from the IV infusion. Or if your path is a more holistic one—there’s something for you here, as well.
Why go here?
While other sites of midcentury upper-crust debauchery—the Cote d’Azur, Marrakech, the Amalfi Coast—never lost their sheen, the Athens Riviera arguably endured a period of decline throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Over the past few years, however, a new wave of luxury resorts has begun setting up shop in the region, and none have made quite as much of a splash (so to speak) as the One Only Aesthesis, which opened last November on the site of a beloved former beach club. Within the luxury hotel is a state-of-the-art spa.
What’s the vibe?
After you’ve made your way through the traffic-clogged streets of Athens and whizzed down the grand boulevard of the 91 highway, you’ll eventually arrive at the seafront suburbs of the Glyfada neighborhood. An ascent up the curving driveway brings you to the colossus of white stone that serves as the resort’s central hub, hovering over the beach like a groovy John Lautner spaceship that just landed directly from Palm Springs. The sprawling spa complex is perched on a slightly higher promontory than the rest of the resort—a kind of miniature acropolis of wellness. Its cutting-edge facilities include an airy well-appointed gym, a lap pool, a yoga pavilion, and a bijou sauna and hammam.
The history?
The resort serves as a clarion call to the wider world that Athens—and Greece, more broadly—has rebounded. The Greek economy is now on an upswing, with a 2023 report from The New York Times reporting that its growth is currently twice the eurozone average. If there’s one corner of Athens that is firmly on the come-up, it’s here.
What should you try?
The main reason you’ll want to make a stop at the spa here is for its partnership with Guerlain, meaning world-class skin care and facials. Having caught a little sun on my way over, a blissfully soothing series of masks, serums, and creams paired with a scalp massage had the magical effect of somehow bringing my raw and reddened complexion back to life.
How environmentally friendly is it?
The resort has been carefully and unobtrusively laid out to comply with the local zoning laws, which deemed that One&Only could only develop on the footprint of the resort that previously existed on the site; luckily, that layout was surprisingly intuitive for a venue built in the 1950s. A spit of land also owned by the hotel contains a forest reserve that has been left to the wild for hiking and swimming.
What else do we need to know?
The main selling point of One&Only Aesthesis is that it offers the best of both worlds: sun and city, with some well-crafted relaxation thrown in. You can spend a morning on a sun lounger by its sweeping pool or an afternoon on the massage table—essentially, attune yourself to the lazy rhythms of a beach or island holiday. And then, after a few days, when you’re starting to feel the itch, you can easily catch a $20 taxi into the city center for shopping and sightseeing. Also of note: No visitor to One Only Aesthesis is at risk of going hungry. The restaurants here offer inventive (but not too inventive) spins on the classics, and a playful tapas restaurant overseen by the three-Michelin-starred Andalusian chef Paco Morales serves a decadent Moorish-inflected menu. The cocktails here deserve a special mention too.
Booking details for One&Only Aesthesis
Address: Leof. Poseidonos 110, Glifada 166 74, Greece
Read more from Vogue s Global Spa Guide.
