| rev:text
| - Continuing my tour of fancy spas in Toronto, I checked out The Spa at Four Seasons for the first time. And I am impressed. Compared to similar spas in Toronto that I have been to, Elmwood Spa and Body Blitz, I am ranking the experience a notch above both of these spas.
Amenities --
One thing I loved about the Four Seasons spa is that the amenities were above par in comparison to my other spa experiences.
There is a large steam room with a shower inside in the change room area (larger than both Elmwood and Body Blitz, seating area is about the same though), delicious biscotti (not available at the other two places), apples (not available at Body Blitz), fruit infused water (not available at Body Blitz), a nice selection of teas (available at Elmwood but I believe at a cost at Body Blitz) and a ton of comfortable lounging chairs and couches. Really, the lounging chairs they have are really cool, they are kind of like V shaped with your legs propped up and very comfortable (also comes with a blanket!). And there's tons of space to lounge. Unlike Elmwood, which has just some cushioned patio furniture by the pool to sit around, this place has many places to lie around to just chill for awhile and relax. The organic body soap, natural shampoo and conditioner were also my favourite compared to the other two places as they smell fantastic, being organic/natural aside. The change room facilities are also kept in tip top shape with attendants ensuring the cleanliness of the showers and bathrooms, not to say Body Blitz/Elmwood don't have attentive attendants in the change room but I always found the Four Seasons attendants keeping the showers and bathrooms clean (with the toilet paper folded into a point, each time I went in) while I was there. There are just 3 showers so hopefully not everyone suddenly decides to shower when you decide to but hey, there are comfy lounging chairs to hang out on to wait it out so I wouldn't fret too much. There's also an assortment of towels available everywhere, including inside the shower stall which was a huge plus, and also hand towels both dry and cold wet ones for when you use the steam room. Also a decent assortment of current on newsstands magazines to read (not available at Body Blitz and meh available at Elmwood, though I usually find back issues there unless someone has taken all the new issues).
As others have mentioned, the pool and hot tub is shared with hotel guests so you are going to have to deal with children and "the aggressive pool swimmer" (you know the one, with their goggles, kicking and butterflying in huge splashes so everyone knows they are SERIOUS about swimming). I read the reviews so it wasn't a shock to me and I just let it be. I had children in the shallow area kicking water, running around and splashing on me but I just kept reading my magazine to ignore it. So yeah, don't expect to continue the zen-ness in the pool area. What I did like about the pool area is more couches and more lounging chairs, and it looked like outside there were loungers on the outdoor terrace. Since I went in the winter, obviously I am just guessing but if they open up the patio in the summer, I AM DEFINITELY COMING BACK THEN.
Also good? Like Elmwood, the lockers have digital locks so you don't have to lug around a key.
The massage --
Instead of my usual Swedish massage, I went for a 60 min deep tissue massage with Marius. And it was one of the best I ever had. Maybe it's not a fair comparison as Swedish massages are more for relaxation than anything, but with some of the massages I've gotten at Body Blitz in particular and Elmwood, I felt like they were just tapping fingers on my back and rubbing my spine majority of the time -- even when I ask for more pressure. This massage was a mixture of relaxation and kneading my muscles until I was writhing in pain, but y'know, it's for the greater good. There was also massaging of my scalp which felt nice (and luckily, my RMT washed his hands before going up into my hair as I've had some massages that afterwards, my hair is just full of oiliness from massage oil) and my face, which I've never had done before.
The aromatherapy massage oil smelled great and adds to the relaxing effect. You also get a choice of music which is awesome, because if if is still the case now, Body Blitz pretty much has played Enya each time I've been there. There's a heating pad to keep you warm and the bed sheets, OMG, they were so soft. It was like being enveloped in a soft, fluffy cloud. The room I was in was for couple massages but it was a lot bigger, regardless of the two massage tables, than other treatment rooms I've been in with a lot of space and a sitting area and even a tub (?).
While the RMTs at Body Blitz and Elmwood (hit or miss) tend to usually end the massage with some tips on stretches to address your problem areas, there was less of that in this session but could be a one-off.
All in all, I highly recommend and will go back!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)