The Best Gift You Can Give a Mother? This.
There are days that ask nothing of you. No deadlines, no decisions, no notifications. Just the quiet luxury of being somewhere beautiful with someone you love.
On one of our recent days in Boston, Anouk and I did exactly that. We gave ourselves over to a full day at the Guerlain Spa at the Raffles Boston, and I have been thinking about it ever since.
The Raffles Boston has become my favorite hotel in the city, and for good reason. There is a level of care here that is hard to articulate but impossible to miss. Everything feels considered, generous, and effortlessly refined. It is the kind of place that makes you want to stay longer than planned.
The spa occupies the entire fourth floor, and it shows. Three private treatment suites with hydrotherapy baths and showers, a dedicated couples suite, separate saunas for women and men, a steam room, invigorating experience showers, a 20 meter vitality pool, and a fitness center equipped with Technogym. It is a world unto itself.
You sink into the spa the moment you arrive. The duvets are impossibly soft, the light is warm, the whole space has that rare quality of feeling genuinely unhurried. We had a couples massage, side by side in the same room, and were offered a choice between two oils: one with a gardenia note, the other a deeper, warmer blend of patchouli, tonka bean and vanilla.
We chose the latter. Both of us, without hesitation. The massage was exceptional, the therapists precise and intuitive, and the Guerlain products throughout were simply extraordinary. The scents alone are worth the trip.
Afterwards we swam, sat in the sauna, let the steam room do its work. One of those days you want to press pause on.
On a day like today, it feels worth saying: if you are still looking for a way to celebrate the mother in your life, an experience like this is the answer. Not a thing. Time, beautifully held.
And for those of us in Switzerland: Guerlain Spas are closer than you think. In Geneva at The Woodward, in Lausanne at the Beau-Rivage Palace. Both are destinations in their own right.
Happy Mother’s Day!
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Photos: Courtesy of Nail Bar, Butter London and © Sandra Bauknecht