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Welcome to the second iteration of Vogue’s global spa guide, an index of the 100 best spas in the world, built from the expertise of our global editors and trusted contributors. There is a lot to choose from in the world of wellness, and no matter how far you’re planning to travel—from a subway ride to a trans-Atlantic flight—we want to make sure it’s worth the journey. Whatever your path, let us be your guide.
Why go here?
The Ocean Club alludes to a kind of vintage glamor that is singular among Caribbean escapes. If a Slim Aarons-eque, midcentury jet-set allure lives in your head as the platonic ideal of a vacation, this place is for you. It’s not exactly a wellness destination in and of itself, but if you like a martini to chase your massage, it’s well worth considering. (The resort has firm James Bond bona fides: Parts of Thunderball were filmed there, as were several scenes of Casino Royale.)
What’s the vibe?
Landing at the Paradise Island airport can feel a bit hectic, and the drive through the crowded streets of Nassau, clogged with cruise ship day-trippers and locals going about their business, can make you question—if you’re arriving from congested urban streets—if you’ve just traded one form of traffic for another. But once you enter the grounds of the Ocean Club, it’s a different story. Behind a modest-seeming gate, a long driveway, fringed with palm trees and plumeria flowers, azalea, and sea grapes leads to the check-in headquarters. Behind the building, the ocean opens up, with an infinity pool appearing to meld with the bleached blue sky. Down a wood staircase, beach umbrellas dot the shore. There are 107 rooms among 35 acres, giving each guest plenty of space. Though the hotel was full when I stayed there, it never felt at all crowded.
What’s the history?
The Ocean Club, a Four Seasons Resort celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022, and it’s not hard to see why it’s had such staying power. The resort was founded in the ’60s by A&P supermarket heir Huntington Hartford, who set out to fill what he sensed was a gap in the resort market, deeming most resorts “dull.” In 1959, he bought almost the entire island for what was then $13.5 million. (Soon after the purchase, Hartford petitioned the Bahamian government for a name change; since then, the area has been known as Paradise Island.)
Two years later, the Ocean Club was born, a 52-room hotel perched above a swath of pristine sand, with an Olympic-sized pool, a newly dredged yacht basin for his playboy pals to park their boats, a restaurant whose bathroom fixtures were coated in gold, and a 12th-century Franciscan monastery, transported from France and installed atop a terraced garden sloping up a bougainvillea-draped hillside. Over the decades, it has retained a classic charm. (In the ’90s, Cindy Crawford was married at the Club; the nuptials were photographed by Arthur Elgort.)
What should you try?
There’s no point in going minimalist in a place like this, and the spa offers an array of Caribbean indulgences—like a massage inspired by the rhythms of the Bahamas (the most popular version on offer), or one deploying a coconut poultice. Certain facial treatments do involve micro-currents and red-light baths, but there is something a little off about deploying medical equipment when the soft scent of frangipani is wafting into your room—unless you’re committed to keeping up your dermatological routine. No judgment here!
What else do we need to know?
While everyone working at the resort was more than lovely, this is the kind of place that runs on island time. A laid-backness permeates the place, which is both deeply relaxing and, occasionally, a bit tricky to navigate, if you’re wanting to stick to some kind of schedule (not that we recommend that approach).
That said, this is really a wonderful place to go with children, or the whole extended family, no matter what timetable (or lack thereof) you’re following. There is plenty of space to spread out (including a huge lawn next to the main restaurant where my kids ran around while we waited for our dinners), an oceanside restaurant (new this year), and a family pool, where we seemed to be the only guests. A gently sloping “shore” meant that even a one-year-old could sit in the shallow water.
Who can go here?
Anyone can reserve a spa appointment, and the spa is open daily between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Booking details for The Ocean Club
Address: Paradise Island, One Ocean Drive, Nassau, Bahamas
Read more from Vogue’s Global Spa Guide.
