France’s heated seawater spas provide the ultimate relaxed escapism. Here we take a revitalising break in Royan, on the coast of Charente-Maritime.
In France, a country of almost endless discoveries and diversions, few things make me happier than what I call the Big Dip. This is the name I’ve coined for the week-long spa cure that I’ve been doing annually for the past 25 years in one of the 50-plus thalassotherapy centres that are found along both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines of France.
The benefits of seawater to human health have been known for thousands of years. As far back as 414 BC, Euripides wrote that “the sea cures all human ailments”. What makes thalassotherapy different from traditional marine medicine, however, is that it not only focuses on ailments such as rheumatism and poor circulation, but also targets the most common affliction to be found today in developed countries: stress. The actual science behind thalassotherapy, a hugely popular regimen of seawater-based spa treatments perfected by the French, is simple. The chemical composition of human blood and seawater is similar, so when seawater is heated to body temperature, the skin becomes permeable and absorbs the vital trace elements the body needs to sustain good health and which are regularly depleted by stress. Exercising in seawater is another facet of a thalassotherapy cure, because the buoyancy of salt water displaces body weight, allowing for stretching and toning with less risk of muscle strain. If this sounds eminently sensible, it is, but it doesn’t begin to explain why I’ve become such a diehard fan of thalassotherapy. Let me begin to explain my ardour by noting that these centres are often found in stunningly beautiful and unspoiled rural coastal locations, because it’s imperative they have access to a supply of clean seawater to administer the various treatments that compose a thalassotherapy cure.
Clean sea air, long walks on the beach and maybe a swim, weather permitting, would be enough for someone who’s as much of a water baby as I am, but it just gets better, since a thalassotherapy cure not only is deeply revitalising and, often, slimming, but profoundly relaxing. This is because the organisation of a cure involves a good amount of swaddling and cosseting whatever your ostensible health goals may be (thalassotherapy cures are available to lose weight, detox, become more fit, recover after an operation or giving birth… in short they’re beneficial for almost everyone). Because I’d had to let my belt out by a notch at the end of 2023, my goal when in March I went off to the Thalazur Royan, a thalassotherapy centre and hotel in Royan, in the Charente-Maritime, was clear. I wanted to shed a few pounds, weight-gain being the constant menace of my work as a food writer joyfully incapable of resisting the temptations of Gallic gastronomy, including cheese, rich sauces, more cheese, foie gras and my favourite white Burgundies. I also needed a good rest at the end of a very busy year, which meant the honest luxury of doing nothing but showing up for my four daily spa treatments, grouped together in either the morning or the afternoon, and then being free to read, nap, or just stare out at the flinty green Atlantic from a cosy armchair and day dream. The art of doing nothing is something I am trying to teach myself in the hopes of preserving what little is left of my sanity after having lived an over-busy life for so many years.

© EMMA MILLAS, THALAZUR ROYAN
Time to relax
I chose Royan, one of the chicest seaside resorts in France pre-World War II, because I hadn’t been there before, and also because I had done a cure at the Thalazur thalassotherapy centre in Cabourg just before Covid and very much enjoyed it. I’d also read of Royan’s intriguing 1950s Modernist architecture dating to its reconstruction after devastating allied bombing from September 1944 to April 1945. It also offered good value for money, with a room and full-board cure running to €1,200.
Unlike other thalassotherapy centres I’ve been to in Quiberon, for example, there was no medical consultation when I arrived at Royan. Instead, I unpacked in my attractive room, with a seaside colour scheme of driftwood and sea glass and a lovely view of the sea, and then went down to the spa to pick up my kit: plastic sandals, a water-proof carry-all, a thick, white cotton dressing gown and my schedule of spa appointments for the week to come.
Most people seek to make a few changes in their schedule. In my case, I was able to swap out my two Aquagym sessions for a second seaweed wrap and wet body massage. Having sorted my cure, my next order of business was dinner. Would the food be good? When I saw I could eat local oysters (the Charente-Maritime produces some of the best in France) every night if I wanted to, any gastronomic apprehension I had blew out to sea. In fact, the food was consistently good, including a generous plate of langoustines one night, and succulent local lamb another. No one needed to tell me that butter, bread, cheese and wine were off limits if I was serious about recovering the notch on my belt, so with uncharacteristic restraint, I banished everything I like best of all from my table, but I still ate well.
Since there are waits of between ten and 30 minutes between your four daily treatments, people relax in spacious waiting rooms, reading while waiting to be called by their next therapist. Here, as elsewhere at this hotel and spa, an easy-going amiability prevailed. Visitors, most of whom were part of prosperous middle-aged French couples, chatted about their cure, the weather and, often, the other thalassotherapy centres they’d frequented. Politics and other possibly prickly subjects were consensually avoided, and if there was one thing they all agreed on, it was the health benefits and pleasure of doing a thalassotherapy cure, with many doing one twice a year, in the spring to purge the body of winter heaviness, and at the end of summer to tone up for the rest of the year.
Weighing success
Though it’s very easy to surrender to the pleasant inertia that sets in after a couple of days in a thalassotherapy centre, I enjoyed the cliff walk that follows the coast in Royan, and also walked into the town to eyeball some of its post-war architecture. Once regarded as sort of camp, with the passage of time, it now reads as some sort of playful Gallic take on Bauhaus, especially the covered market and the handsome reinforced concrete 1958 church of Notre Dame, which were designed by Bordeaux architect Claude Ferret.
Seven days might seem like a long time to basically be doing nothing at all, but as always, this blissfully coddling and swaddling time-out went by much too quickly. So my moment of reckoning arrived after the last round of treatments on a Saturday morning. After I’d finished packing to take a train back to my home near Uzès, I gingerly stepped on the scale. It was a little victory to have lost 4lb 8oz, a sense of accomplishment confirmed by recovering the recently abandoned notch in my belt. Best of all, though, was that I felt such a deep calm while also thrumming with energy.
It wasn’t just me either. A day later, the woman at the counter at my bakery raised her eyebrows when I walked in. “Where have you been, Alec? You look great.” Suffice it to say that flattery always works a charm, and so does thalassotherapy.
CONTACT ESSENTIALS
Book a stay at a Thalazur wellbeing and thalassotherapy centre: www.thalazur.fr
Royan tourism: www.royanatlantique.fr/en
Charente-Maritime tourism: www.atlantic-cognac.com
From France Today Magazine
Lead photo credit : © EMMA MILLAS, THALAZUR ROYAN
Alexander Lobrano grew up in Connecticut, and lived in Boston, New York and London before moving to Paris, his home today, in 1986. He was European Correspondent for Gourmet magazine from 1999 until its closing, and has written about food and travel for Saveur, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Travel & Leisure, Departures, Conde Nast Traveler, and many other publications in the United States and the United Kingdom. He is the author of HUNGRY FOR PARIS, 2nd Edition (Random House, 4/2014), HUNGRY FOR FRANCE (Rizzoli, 4/2014), and MY PLACE AT THE TABLE, newly published in June 2021.
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