Sauna, steam and massage at Altein, Arosa

Heat is the part of the day people plan around once they have walked or skied. The sauna Arosa guests use at Hotel Altein comes in two forms, one textile and one textile free, both running at 90 C, and they sit inside a 950 square metre spa alongside a steam bath, an infra-red cabin, a cold plunge and a relaxation area. The spa itself opens at 08:30, but the heat rooms come on later in the day, which is worth knowing before you come down at eleven expecting a sauna.

The heat rooms

Both saunas hold 90 C and both open daily from 14:00, as does the steam bath at a gentler 60 C. In summer the saunas run without infusions; the rooms themselves stay in operation. The infra-red cabin works across a lower range, roughly 30 to 60 C, and suits anyone who finds a full Finnish sauna too much. Between rounds there is a cold plunge at 18 C and a single relaxation area that takes its warmth from the sun rather than a thermostat.

Children are welcome in the saunas and the steam bath when an adult is with them, so this is not an adults only floor. The one exception is the Night Spa on Friday evenings, from 19:00 to 21:00, which is reserved for adults; the spa stays open until 21:00 on that day rather than closing at 19:00 as it does the rest of the week. After a cold morning outside, the sequence most guests settle into is heat, plunge, rest, repeat, and the same instinct sends people here after ice bathing in Arosa or a long day on the winter hiking trails.

Treatments

Two treatment rooms sit off the spa, staffed by three therapists in winter and two in summer, and the menu stays deliberately short. Massage runs from a 25 minute back and neck at CHF 75 through sport massage at 25 or 50 minutes, CHF 85 and CHF 130, to the classic full body at 50 or 80 minutes, CHF 120 and CHF 180. Hot stone comes in the same two lengths at CHF 130 and CHF 180, aroma oil therapy is 50 minutes at CHF 130, and a foot massage with peeling is 25 minutes at CHF 80. Two treatments follow the seasons: a hiking massage in summer and a 30 minute apres ski massage in winter at CHF 85. Booking is by phone or email with the spa rather than online, and in high season it is worth doing on the day you arrive.

Around the heat

Pools, the lazy river and the day pass arrangements for visitors who are not staying are covered separately, on the indoor swimming and thermal pools page and on the hotel spa page.

The saunas at Hotel Altein, a Faern Collection Resort, are at their best in the hour after they come on, when the wood is hot and the room is still empty. Come down at two, take the cold plunge seriously, and give yourself long enough in the relaxation area afterwards that dinner feels like a decision rather than a schedule.