I can still remember the overwhelming surprise I felt as waves of sound vibrations washed over (or, rather, resonated at a deeper, almost cellular level through) my body as I lay in the Saxon Spa more than a decade ago.
I was trying a newly introduced but ancient treatment — a Tibetan sound bath, where variously sized traditional singing bowls were placed on significant energy points around and on my person and played by a professional magician. I realised that I might be having both an entirely relaxing experience and an epiphany! Which is not what you expect from a morning at the spa.
Back then this was not a mainstream offering — no one was having sound baths as a matter of course — but, in retrospect, it was completely consistent with the Saxon Spa ethos: to create a wonderfully luxuriant environment with cutting-edge wellness offerings.
For decades, the Saxon has stood as a sanctuary of elegance in Joburg, with refinement and repose as meticulously tended as its fabled gardens. Now the Saxon Spa has extended its aura beyond its Hyde Park residence and into the rarefied enclave of Steyn City, bringing with it an invitation to take the already superlative spa experience to the next level in a bucolic landscape that feels like a real urban escape. The view of the waterfall and the lake really helps with the fugue state.
Steyn City itself is a vision of urban utopia — sweeping landscapes, vast skies, and carefully curated architecture create a sense of space seldom found within the confines of a city. To step into this new Saxon Spa is to encounter an architecture of calm: high, light-drenched interiors that dissolve into nature, muted tones that quieten the mind, and textures that soothe simply by touch. It is less a spa in the ordinary sense than a temple to wellbeing, an atelier of both serenity, where every detail has been tuned to the frequency of ease, and creative collaboration, as the mosaics and light fixtures are all artisanal artworks that reflect the space and its commitment to beauty. The treatment menu reads like poetry. Signature massages, fusing global techniques with African healing traditions, are performed with an artistry that borders on reverence. Mine began with a breathing ritual and ended in a puddle of bliss.
Bespoke facials employ cutting-edge skincare science, yet are delivered with a tenderness that honours the ritual of touch. Hydrotherapy pools, heat experiences, and contemplative relaxation areas are seamlessly woven into the architecture, encouraging guests not merely to “book a treatment” but to surrender to a journey — an unfolding of breath, body, and being.
What distinguishes the Saxon Spa at Steyn City, however, is not only the meticulousness of its offering but also the philosophy underpinning it. Here, wellness is imagined as a holistic practice: nutrition, movement, mindfulness, and beauty interlaced with subtle luxury. Everything — each product used from the bespoke in-house line to the seasonal scent story that discreetly permeates the atmosphere and the nifty bikini dryer in the gorgeous change rooms — has been thought through and curated by passionate spa manager Tanya Lopes, who was clearly the brains behind my life-changing Tibetan sound bath all those years ago and who is quite patently still at the top of her game.
With this new expansion, the Saxon has accomplished something rare: it has created not just another spa, but an ethos embodied — a promise of balance and beauty, delivered with grace.
From the September edition of Wanted, 2025
