If you are a wine aficionado like me who enjoys a glass of SanGiovese on a crisp Spring day, but also appreciates the health benefits of natural wonders like a thermal pool or spring, you have found your paradise. Welcome to ADLER Spa Resort THERMAE, a luxury 5-star property located in the Tuscan countryside, built on a natural thermal spring. Combining the wonder of the Tuscan countryside with the wild elements of water, the 90-room hotel offers both relaxation and wellness, while you can also savor local wine and farm-to-table selections of the land. Located in Val d’Orcia Natural Park, an uninterrupted UNESCO World Heritage Site, the hotel sits next to an ancient spa village called Bagno Vignoni, where the thermal waters were established for healing properties by the Etruscans and Romans. This Italian area is famed for its wines, including Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
The thermal pool, with water piped directly from the Bagno Vignoni natural spring, has four corners where guests can enjoy the hydro jets and actually see and feel a waterfall of warm water that comes from the ground, attesting to the anti-aging and purifying benefits while swimming. Even along the hotel property, you can explore a hidden travertine cave that hosts a steam room, and the spa offers a sauna and a variety of health and wellness services. There is even a mystical underground Salt Grotto using Dead Sea salts. The hotel also provides fitness classes, cooking classes, a doctor specialized in nutrition for weight loss advice as well as an Ayurvedic doctor from India and an aesthetic medicine expert for non-invasive beauty treatments.
One of the most exciting offerings of the hotel was the divine wine therapy treatment- perfect for couples that are looking for romance and want to explore wines together, while also enjoying bodily health benefits of wine salts, grapeseed oil and scrubs. The room is adorned with grapes and couples can rinse off the scrub in their own private jacuzzi tubs, where the wine salt concoction is poured, a combination of Sicilian salt and grape powder, which is extracted from the grape itself and mixed with oil.
The restaurant has been built in classic Tuscan style, with a romantic ‘piazzetta’ square and retractable glass-roof for guests to enjoy stargazing al fresco. Choose from a buffet of options, including a menu of Tuscan delicacies like Fiorentina for two, sliced beef tartar, ravioli, spinach and ricotta, risotto with truffle, or mouth-watering carbonara. The wine list has an array of local options like Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Chianti and selections from the wine cellar “In vino Veritas,” where guests can enjoy wine tastings weekly.
Another plus– the hotel is located just 10 minutes from a local winery where you can learn about the organic wine growing process, and even the secrets on the difference between prosecco and champagne, or the process of brut vs. extra brut. The hotel offers excursions like hiking, bike riding, tastings, and happy hours, depending on the day of the week, with an activity calendar to scroll through on the guest section of the website. I enjoyed a 40 minute abs and leg workout at 10am, with literal panoramic views of Tuscan vineyards from the window of the fitness center.
All in all, if you are in need of a true vacation, away from the crazy hustle bustle of life, surrounded by the warmth of the sun and nestled between the rich cyprus trees, ADLER Spa Resort THERMAE, one of six Adler properties, is the right choice for you.