Spa in North America means massage, facial, manicure, pedicure. Spa here is something completely different. Massage is available, as is a facial, but the rest is do-it-yourself rejuvenation and it was divine. I started with a short back massage, which was very nice. I had said to Peter that I needed to have a Swedish massage while I was in Sweden to see if it was any different from Swedish massage at home. It's not. After my massage, I joined the others. One starts by washing off the bad energy. You have your choice of a private shower or the japanese style washing room. Once that ritual is complete, you don your bathrobe and flipflops and head into the spa proper to continue your rejuvenation.
The spa at Arkan is a 2-story space with massive windows overlooking the harbour and docks at Torslanda. As we were there at night, we saw lights. Cloudy tonight (storm coming in - snow due Saturday), otherwise, the stars would have been magnificent. Both floors have several lounging areas. The main floor has one beside a fireplace, for example. There are 4 poster beds facing the windows where you can lie down and have a rest. There are 2 copper antique bathtubs filled with warm riverrocks to lie on. Light and dark and lack-of-light are issues here, so there are the dark room and the light room and you need a balance of both. The dark room contains water beds where you can lie down and rest for up to 15 minutes. The light room is all white with special sunlight-mimicking lighting, intended to give you back all the brightness you're missing. Don't stay in there too long, especially at night, or it's the same effect as several expressos, I'm told.
Upstairs, are the water rooms. There is a large seating area where herbal tea is available som du vill. On one side of this area is a hot pool, about 1 foot deep. One side is lit with blue lights, the other with red. It's enormous, and running through the middle of it is a 2 foot deep ice cold pool. The bottom of the ice pool is lined with river rocks. The idea is that going from hot to cold stimulates your immune response (I think). After lounging in the hot water, you're supposed to walk through the ice water, then go back into the hot. It's easier the 2nd time around. On the opposite side of the seating area are the saunas. Sauna #1 is a salt steam room at 47C. On the ceiling are lights that cycle through all the colours of the spectrum. There's a giant geode in the middle of the space. It's steamy. Sauna #2 is 55C. Brighter. Marble benches. The ice sauna is what it says it is. It smells wonderful - eucalyptus - and it's a small room with a pile of crushed ice. Your body steams when you go into it, and it genuinely doesn't feel that cold. Sauna #3 hot is hotter than 55C and smells of typical cinnamon / cedar sauna. Dark, big windows over the bay, definitely my favourite space, with the blue / red / ice cold pool a close second. There is also a jacuzzi, an ice-cold plunge pool, a shower where you dump a pail of ice water over yourself (I climbed down into the plunge pool - pail? forget it!) and a bench overlooking the bay where you can soak your feet. There are also more lounge chairs.
Dinner was really nice. It was definitely somewhere I will find an excuse to go back to spend an afternoon. Check the pictures in the link - they do it justice - and the site will flip to English for you.
Somebody's going to sleep well tonight...
http://www.arkenkonferenscenter.se/art-garden-spa.aspx
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