When I first arrived at Gran Marbella Resort & Beach Club, I found an indulgent hotel with three pools, an a la carte restaurant serving Spanish cuisine and a terrace bar and lunch spot. It was my first time in Marbella for around 30 years and I held onto the image of the town as a place for celeb spotting and partying hard but that wasn’t what I found here. This was a serene resort with a private beach down the road, which you entered via the hotel’s beach club. It was there, by the sea, that I found the only Champneys spa outside the UK.
The hotel has been newly renovated and re-opened in April 2026, so Champneys has only just stepped forward into this new territory. In the UK, Champneys has a firm footing already, with spas in London, Buxton, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cheshire, Kent and Derbyshire, the brand is well known for being positioned in country house retreats and for being an oasis of calm. But this one is different. Champneys in Marbella has much more of a fun vibe to it. The beach club is where hotel guests hang out for lunch and lounge by the pool whilst up-beat music plays in the background. In the evenings the beach club comes to life with DJ sets. The cava flows and the atmosphere is one of holiday chic but it never gets too loud or takes on the character of Marbella’s Puerto Banas where parties stretch long into the night. Here, it’s much more sophisticated.
It feels like the antidote to the party side of Marbella and when I entered Champneys for my facial on a Sunday morning, that’s exactly what I needed. Yes, there had been a party at the beach club on Saturday night and I may have overindulged a little. The spa was exactly where I needed to be.
Champney spas do have a signature look and feel to them and this one is no different. It’s bright and airy and blurs the lines between the indoors and the outdoors, feeling both fresh and earthy at the same time. When you enter the spa area to the left is a cave-like corridor where you walk through the showers, into the sauna and steam room. The main area of the spa houses a hydrotherapy pool, swimming pool, jacuzzi, and cold plunge, and an abundance of loungers and beds. It was very quiet in the spa when I visited and I do think this is one of the major benefits of Champneys in Marbella. On a sunny day, which is most days, the majority of people prefer to spend their time outside, leaving you with a spa that sees a steady trickle of other visitors flowing through rather than the hoards you often see in spas in the UK.
Treatments at Champneys are usually the same whichever you go to, apart from the Buxton Crescent Champneys where they have bathhouse treatments as well. There’s a wide range to choose from, hands and feet treatments, pregnancy, massage, rituals, and Champneys signature 100 Years Young treatments. After the beach club party the night before, I definitely needed to feel a hundred years younger, so I chose the 100 years facial.
The facial begins with some meditative breathing exercises to get you fully relaxed. I find this kind of meditation at the start of any treatment to be really beneficial and I felt instantly relaxed. I then enjoyed a triple cleanse followed by a round of exfoliation and then a mask. As facials go it was pretty fantastic, but what really set it apart for me and made it probably the best facial I’ve ever had, was the anti-aging cryotherapy globes which were used to massage my face. This felt cool against my skin and so refreshing, the excesses of the night before were soon a distant memory. The treatment ends with your choice of a hand, arm or scalp massage. I chose the scalp massage to carry on the relaxed feeling my face was already experiencing. It was the perfect end to the facial and I left feeling like a new woman. Perhaps not exactly 100 years younger, but not too far off.
In the relaxation room I enjoyed my complimentary lemon tea and my spa therapist gave me a couple of eye masks to take home with me. My partner was waiting for me by the pool and when I joined him he looked at me with amazement. “Wow, he said, “you look so much better, you’re glowing.” I don’t think you can ask for a better reaction than that and honestly, I felt every inch of it.
The 100 years young facial lasts for 50 minutes and is priced at £105. Guests of the Gran Marbella Resort & Beach Club can use the spa facilities for free, as much as they like and treatments can be booked at reception or before you travel.
