I decided to treat my self and my sister to a spa break and decided to take advantage of the Easter break . As she's based in the Varese we selected the hotel as it was close enough and was listed on a specialist site .
We booked the "Profumi and sensazioni " package staying 2 nights.
The hotel is located close to the main dual carriage way and shares some of the facilities
with the motel that is wrapped around its perimeter.
Having traveled extensively it is the first time i find a 4star hotel sharing its grounds with a motel.
The room was big , clean and decorated in minimalistic style , the highlight of the room for us was the roomy bathroom .
To gain access to the wellness center ,one has to walk across the reception area so it could be off putting if you are at all self conscious of how you look with your bathrobe and plastic slippers kindly provided by the establishment .
The treatment room both my self and my sister were showed held two massage tables and the therapist seemed keen on keeping the door open rather than switching on any lighting . In the mornings the room adjacent to the wellness center was being used for some kind of meetings and my experience was that the level of noise traveling into the treatment room prevented me from actually achieving any level of relaxation.
As part of the package we were meant to have a number of treatments in the hamman area ( savonage +steam room + rasoul + gommage + hair mask + relaxation tank + full body massage +face mask) . In the hamman we observed large dark mould patches both in the steam room and the tepidarium area. We were left in the tepidarium area for quite a long time and it felt quite cold . There was one therapist only and everything for me and my sister was booked at the same time which meant one of us was left waiting and hanging around . When it came to the full body massage we were taken to the treatment room and it noticed that the towel had not been changed from the previous client as it was already wet and stained with mud .
The therapist left few times to attend to other clients who were at that stage in the hamman area . Again that broke whatever level of relaxation we had achieved .
The pool was closed for the whole of the second day we stayed and the gym was a carpeted room with few machines ( some of which were broken ) but could not be defined as a proper gym by any means.
The restaurant was the saving grace of this establishment and the personnel there were attentive and helpful as my sister is gluten intolerant they provided her with a gluten free menu for each meal and ensured she could choose between different options .
Having stayed in different wellness centers across Europe we decided to leave the second day without even finishing the treatments as the level of stress that the experience brought on was more than the enjoyment .
On leaving we were told we would be contacted by the management however a week after we are still waiting for that call.
All in all very poor for a spa break however it might be suitable as a base to explore the wonderful natural areas all around.
- Valgrande Hotel Vogogna
