One and only

GETAWAYS • Switzerland

There’s only one sun, and you should follow it all the way to Sole Uno in Rheinfelden. Living in the Rhine region, I’m surrounded by thermal baths, from Alsace to the Black Forest and across the Basel area. Yet, since discovering Sole Uno, no other spa in the region has quite measured up to the quality of its spaces and the intelligence of its design.

Suspended between water and landscape, you float in the outdoor pools while taking in the view, then drift toward bubbling loungers and powerful shoulder jets that energize the body. Swim beneath a delicate veil of falling water and suddenly you’re in a more intimate pocket of calm, where time slows and you can lie back, relax, and gaze up at that sole uno above.

Inside, the hammams are exceptional in both variety and atmosphere. One is lined with glowing salt-stone walls; another centers on a monumental structure of stacked wooden branches, where steam gathers, condenses, and gently drips back down. Several others unfold with distinct personalities, each infused with different essential oils, creating shifting sensory landscapes from room to room. In the sauna area, another hammam offers a complimentary sea salt scrub, a thoughtful gesture that perfectly rounds out the experience.

A tropical rain shower, bathed in dimmed, colored rings of light, is an experience I could linger in endlessly. Just beyond it, the alpine shower delivers a sharp contrast: a dramatic room of dark stone where, at the press of a button, an icy cascade crashes down like a true mountain fall, bracing and reviving.

My favorite space, though, lies underground, in what feels like a bat cave: rough concrete walls, soaring ceilings, near darkness pierced by red neon light. At the center of the pool runs a narrow corridor beneath a single skylight. Here, the water is enriched to mimic the density of the Dead Sea, allowing you to float effortlessly in barely 40 centimeters of depth. With no effort required, all tension releases. Submerge your ears and listen to the Indian raga or soft jazz playing beneath the surface. Push gently off the edge and glide slowly beneath the skylight, weightless and suspended, a cinematic travelling.

The sauna area is equally architectural. Traditional wooden cabins offer varying temperatures and styles, but my personal favorite is the Finnish sauna: a circular, pitch-dark room with a wood-burning chimney at center. Everyone sits in a ring, silently watching the flames dance in shades of red and blue, the heat building slowly and deliberately. –Candice Chemel

→ Sole Uno (Rheinfelden) • Roberstenstrasse 31 • Daily 8h-22h.