Hurrah. Sydney has a beautiful new day spa where you can while away the hours — and I mean actually while them away, not just clock in for a treatment and clock out.
Éliva, tucked into the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach, has everything.
Start with the bathing. Glorious outdoor thermal pools, three warm magnesium mineral baths that step gradually cooler as you move through them. And yes, there are cold plunge baths — two of them — but here’s the thing: they’re not brutal. Cool and refreshing rather than punishing. No alpha-male ego required. No white-knuckle endurance test. Just proper contrast therapy that’s actually safe for people who’ve never done an ice bath, women going through menopause, anyone with a heart condition. It’s a thoughtful blend, and I wish more spas got this right.
Then there’s the thermal offering. A salt sauna with salt-tile feature walls — halotherapy done properly. A crystal steam room. Infrared. Vitamin C–infused showers to finish. It’s a genuinely considered wellness circuit, not a token sauna in the corner.
But the treatment. Let me tell you about the treatment.
It began at the Signature Herbal Ritual Bar, where the therapist curated an aroma for exactly what I was feeling and needing that day. Then — and this is the part I’ve not seen enough of — I got to blend my own oil. Four bases to choose from: avocado, macadamia, almond, and a lighter fourth. Want something weightless so you’re not walking out heavy? Go almond. Want rich and nourishing, avocado? I chose a combination of avocado and macadamia. That personalisation, the sense that the treatment was built around me rather than off a menu, is rare. It’s the kind of detail that separates a good spa from a memorable one.
The treatment I had is called Journey to Coogee, a 90-minute ritual inspired by the restorative rhythm of Coogee and the natural benefits of thalassotherapy. And it earns its name — it reads like the iconic Bondi-to-Coogee coastal walk translated into touch. A little salt, a little sand, the pull of the ocean, that feeling of drifting along the cliffs and letting your mind wander.
It began with a deep-cleansing back treatment using Australian sea salts, honey and kelp — the salt and sand of the walk — followed by a warm clay mask to purify and nourish. Legs exfoliated with a jute mitt to lift stagnation, then massaged with a cooling ocean magnesium gel to boost circulation and relieve tired legs. A seaweed-inspired sense of motion runs through it. The back massaged with notes of jasmine and sandalwood — pure Australian summer. A radiance-boosting Éliva facial to finish.
They’ve taken the story of that beautiful stretch of coastline and folded it into the treatment. You come out feeling like you’ve made the journey.
Magical. Genuinely.
And it’s great to see Sydney with a spa where the facilities are the destination, not an afterthought to the treatment. You can make a day of it.
Go.
Éliva Spa & Wellness, InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach. Level 1, 242 Arden Street, Coogee NSW 2034.
