Willow Stream Spa, Fairmont Banff Springs, British Columbia, Canada

We are floating in a large hot pool, out in the cold – read -15°C kind of cold – looking at vistas of snow-topped mountains in the almost ethereal Banff

National Park. As we float, the inky black sky with its dandruff-like stars teases above us, adding to the other-worldly atmosphere. This outdoor spa pool, rather large as it is, is just one reason why Willow Stream Spa is at the very top of the spa ladder. It is huge, with 3,530 metres of space containing a spa atrium with three waterfall whirlpools ranging from cold to hot, a large indoor mineral pool, a sauna, mens’ and ladies’ steam rooms and a relaxing lounge room with a fireplace. Then there are the 23 treatment rooms for all forms of bodily pampering and a full salon for hair and nails. I fall asleep in one of them during a 60-minute Rockies Rehydration body treatment to moisturise and replenish my skin, dried out by the combination of the cold air when out skiing and the indoor heating in this magnificent ‘Castle in the Rockies’.

It was the hot springs and the jaw-dropping scenery that first brought visitors in on the old steam trains over a century ago, and as we laze in that outdoor pool mesmerised by the view, I think nothing much has changed. fairmont.com