The Ardennes thermal town of Spa — from which all world spas take their name — is 130 kilometres from Brussels. FFGR Belgium programmes a private Ardennes wellness day combining the Les Thermes de Spa facilities, forest walks, and château dining.
The town of Spa in the Belgian Ardennes is the etymological source of the word spa itself: the town's thermal springs were used by Roman legions, developed through the medieval period, and became the most fashionable watering place in Europe during the eighteenth century. Peter the Great visited in 1717; Tsar Paul I, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas were regular guests; and the phrase "the café de l'Europe of the world" — coined by the Austrian poet Charles de Ligne — refers to Spa's extraordinary position in the European social calendar of its time.
Today, Les Thermes de Spa — the contemporary thermal facility built into the hillside above the town — operates one of the most sophisticated spa complexes in the Benelux, with the unusual advantage that all its pools are fed by natural mineral springs from the surrounding hills. The Spa-Francorchamps racing circuit is five kilometres from the town centre; the Fagne plateau and the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve offer some of the finest forest walking in Belgium within twenty minutes of the thermal facility.
FFGR Belgium's Ardennes Spa day programme departs Brussels at 09:00 in the Rolls-Royce Ghost or the Mercedes-Maybach, arriving at Les Thermes de Spa at approximately 10:30. The client has four to five hours of private use (treatments can be pre-booked through the facility's concierge in advance) while the FFGR Belgium driver waits at the facility's vehicle area. Lunch is taken at either the Thermes' own restaurant — which has views across the valley — or at the Hôtel Cardinal, the most distinguished dining address in the Ardennes. The afternoon, if time and interest permit, can include a drive through the Hautes Fagnes on the N68 — one of the most atmospheric roads in Belgium, particularly in autumn — before the return to Brussels arriving at 18:30–19:00.
The spa programme can be combined with a visit to the Spa-Francorchamps racing circuit for clients with motorsport interests: the circuit offers year-round track days, and FFGR Belgium has relationships with the circuit's hospitality team for private visit coordination.