Devon offers the best of two worlds when it comes to spa backdrops: both the breezy, bracing coast with its health-giving sea air, and the rugged moorlands with their dramatic views and opportunities for a health-inducing ramble. Actually, it offers a lot more than that, for starters there’s the peaceful, rural idyllic bits and the bustling market-town-y bits. But most of our picks for the best spa hotels in Devon are on the coast, or close to Dartmoor or Exmoor. Aside from the exceptional range of views, Devon’s spa hotels offer an exceptional range of treatments, decors and possibilities, with some great family-friendly options as well as the sort of romantic spa escapes you might imagine where you think of spa hotels. We’ve also found that the best spa hotels in Devon come in a good range of price brackets.
Devon’s Most Romantic Spa Hotels
- The majority of the 50 boutique rooms and suites at the Salcombe Harbour Hotel overlook the estuary with its picture perfect sailing boats. The spa, restaurant and terraces, and some of the bathrooms as well, also have incredible views! All the suites come with ‘balcony baskets’ which include binoculars, throws, books and complimentary gin and sherry. And that really sets the scene for this ‘hotel with the lot’. Since their recent refurbishment, where they improved the pool and spa facilities further, they also have a 16 seat cinema and a new pontoon with access to watersports kit. Romantic and indulgent doesn’t cover it.
Some of the Most Luxurious Spa Hotels
- Just outside Chagford on Dartmoor, Bovey Castle is a grand country house hotel and home of the UK’s flagship SUNDARI spa. With 64 rooms, suites and family apartments, this hotel is the perfect place for a pampering, whatever the configuration of your party. If you’re looking for romance you’ll find it on windswept walks on the moors, in bespoke spa treatments and in the elegant Edwardian Grill restaurant. If you’re here with your family you can distract your kids with the Lego room service while you enjoy a treatment or two, then go meet the ferrets and falcons, try archery or croquet and dine in the family-friendly Castle Bistro. If you want an active break there are tennis courts, riding, fishing and golf facilities and an impressive gym.
Devon’s Best Spa Escapes
- Escape to the rugged beauty of Dartmoor National Park and Boringdon Hall Hotel, a wonderfully castle-esque manor house with a superb blend of original features and modern convenience and comfort. Try the state-of-the-art Gaia spa, regularly referred to as one of the best in Devon. Expect some vast spaces, with vast windows, huge stone fireplaces and doors five times the width of your door at home, but many of the 40 rooms could be transposed into a hotel built this year without causing a stir, so it’s up to you how Tudor-era you want to get. This hotel offers five stars worth of adults-only escape.
- Northcote Manor is a 16 room country house hotel converted from an elegant 18th century manor house in the Taw Valley, a rural idyll just inland from Barnstaple. This is the perfect place for a relaxing weekend break, offering the simple pleasures of good food, rural views and tranquility. And a luxurious spa, of course! One with a hot tub, sauna and steam rooms, as well as a gym and treatment rooms. It’s set in 20 acres of gardens and woodland, including a secret walled garden, apple orchards and a Japanese water garden.
- For a spa break escape by the water consider the Dart Marina Hotel, in Dartmouth’s buzzy marina. For some of us there’s something extra healing about being close to the sea, and if that’s you, then book into one of their rooms, suites or self-contained apartments and relax in front of the river views before hitting the luxurious spa, which offers a range of holistic as well as traditional treatments, and the AA Rosette-awarded restaurant. This is the perfect spot for sailors and golfers too.
The Best Spa Hotels on the Coast
- On the cliffs, right beside the Coast Path, and overlooking a panorama of Devon’s coast, is Gara Rock, a stylish, modern hotel with 12 rooms and suites and a collection of family-friendly self-catering cottages. From the spa you can expect a good range of treatments and spectacular views, especially from the indoor pool. From the rooms expect big windows and big views — the loft suites are especially good for views, and a mid-century feel. The restaurant is gourmet, there’s an onsite cinema for cosy winter evenings and in summer they offer a yoga session at sunrise.
- The Thurlestone Hotel is a family-friendly, 65 room property on the South Devon coast, with fantastic spa facilities, and great facilities all round. Starting with the spa, which offers a range of treatments and therapies, a hot tub and a pool, or try the gym, where there’s a dedicated Personal Trainer. And then maybe on to one of the two tennis courts? or the golf course? You and your family might like to play croquet on the lawns, or go fishing? Then you could take a stroll before eating in the restaurant or the pub. The views are lovely, and you’re close to the beach too.
[image id="1eaabdc6b5b1d59ddf840bbbd5fbe011" size="600x422" alt="Sidmouth Harbour Hotel']
- On the South Devon coast, just back from the Jurassic Coast, you’ll find the Sidmouth Harbour Hotel, a light, airy hotel with a nautical feel, lots of floor to ceiling sea-views and a spoiling spa. It has 57 rooms and suites, an excellent restaurant which specialises in British classics and both indoor and outdoor pools. This is a great spot if you want to relax, and see some sights on your spa break.
Devon’s Best Family-friendly Spa Hotels
- North Devon’s Saunton Sands Hotel offers the quintessential family holiday to the seaside, but wrapped up in a package that includes not just a range of family rooms, suites and apartments, but also an extremely comprehensive spa. And they offer you two hours complimentary childcare per-day in their kid’s club so that you can use the spa facilities with ease. They also offer a free Saturday morning yoga session, which your kids can join in with. The ‘sands’ part of the name is accurate too: the hotel is right on the beach, with an outdoor heated swimming pool on a grassy terrace above the beach, but there’s an indoor pool too, and a 2AA Rosette fine dining restaurant.
- The Cary Arms doesn’t call itself a spa hotel, but it has an excellent spa known for its Yon-Ka products and good range of treatments, so we think it’s worth including. It’s not particularly easy to classify, it’s a sort of boutique inn with the charm of a traditional British seaside pub, but with newly built extra cottages and beach huts, some of which suit families, that run down the slope towards the water’s edge. Including the more traditionally proportioned rooms in the main building there are 21 rooms, the majority of which have wonderful water views. Some rooms are pet friendly too. Creating a really relaxed environment where the benefits of your spa treatments will last.
For great value
- With rugged Dartmoor views from all 25 rooms, the Ilsington Country House offers a starkly cosy and comfortable contrast on the inside, with a soft colour palette and some warming tartans. Their restaurant is a fabulous exponent of local produce and the spa itself is wonderfully indulgent, combining the latest in wellbeing technology with touches of ancient Tibetan philosophy. Bring your family, be your kids two legged or four and relax amongst the peace and moor views.
If you haven’t found your idea of the best spa hotels in Devon on our Guru’s list of 11 you could:
