Wellness
The water, and the reason for it
The Atlantic off this beach holds 14–15 °C for most of the year. Dunara answers that with 1 715 m² of its own heated water on five stepped terraces, and publishes the temperature of every one of them before the gates open.
- Bodies of water
- 9
- Water surface
- 1 715 m²
- The Long Circuit
- 11 stations, 90 minutes
- Treatment rooms
- 14
Why it is built this way
Cold sea, warm estate
The plan is organised around water because here the water had to be made rather than borrowed.
This coast sits over a cold upwelling. From November to May the sea off the dune runs 14–15 °C, and in the first week of August, at its warmest, it reaches 19 °C. Swimming in it is a short, bracing event you remember — not an afternoon. For seven months of the year it is not swimming at all.
So the water on the estate is heated and the terraces step down the dune in order of temperature: the Lap House at 28 °C, the Long Water at 27 °C, the Thermal Hall at 34–36 °C, the Shallows at 30 °C, and at the bottom of the fall the Cold Well at 12 °C. Five levels, nine bodies of water, 1 715 m² of surface and 2 155 m³ held once the balance tanks are counted.
Heating that volume is the single largest thing this resort does with energy, and the plant was sized for it before the first wall was poured: air-source heat pumps on the deck behind the Lap House, a solar thermal array on the planted roof above the Thermal Hall, and heat recovered from the kitchen refrigeration at A CASA. The Thermal Hall and the heat rooms take the biggest share, which is why their hours are fixed and published rather than offered on demand.
And everything that is heated is measured. The water board at the spa desk carries a signed row for each body of water at 07:45, before the terraces open, and again at 14:00.
Section A–A
The five terraces in section
Cut through the water from the Lap House at the top of the fall to the Cold Well at the bottom. The depths and temperatures on the drawing are as operated, not as designed; it is redrawn when the plant is rebalanced.
Section A–A through the water terraces. Datum is mean sea level plus 12.4 m, which is the floor level of the arrival court.
- 1
The Lap House — 28 °C
A 25 m six-lane pool under a slatted pine roof, 1.40 m deep from wall to wall so that a turn is identical at both ends. 28 °C is cool enough to swim a kilometre in and warm enough to stand in afterwards; a degree warmer and the lanes empty by nine in the morning.
- 2
The Long Water — 27 °C
Fifty-seven metres of pool with an infinity lip facing the dune, 1.10 m at the entry steps and 1.80 m at the lip, mean depth 1.27 m. The catch channel behind the lip carries 11 m³ of balance water — the volume, not the stone, is what makes the edge silent.
- 3
The Thermal Hall — 34–36 °C
Half under the vault, half open to the sky, and 1.05 m everywhere: the depth at which a seated adult's shoulders stay under the water. Two heat exchangers hold it, either able to carry the pool alone, which is why it has never been drained for a fault.
- 4
The Shallows — 30 °C
A zero-entry basin reaching 0.50 m at its deepest corner, and warmer than everything above it because small children stop moving. The sightlines from the terrace tables were set on the drawing board before the planting plan was drawn.
- 5
The Cold Well — 12 °C
A 2.6 m square sunk into the lowest terrace, 1.20 m deep, with a bronze handrail on two sides and a posted two-minute limit. Twelve degrees all year is a refrigeration duty rather than an absence of heating: in August the well is chilled, and the chiller is the loudest machine on the estate, which is why it sits behind the dune.
The nine bodies of water
Plan dimensions are measured at the coping. The nine surfaces sum to the published 1 715 m².
| Water | Plan size | Surface | Depth | Temperature | Hours | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lap House | 25.0 × 12.5 m, six lanes at 2.0 m | 313 m² | 1.40 m | 28 °C | 06:30–21:00 | Lane swimming and coaching; 14 and over except 16:00–18:00 |
| The Long Water | 57 × 17 m, infinity lip west | 969 m² | 1.10–1.80 m | 27 °C | 08:00–20:00 | Everyone staying, members and pass holders |
| The Thermal Hall | 18 × 9 m, half covered | 162 m² | 1.05 m | 34–36 °C, all year | 07:00–22:00 | 16 and over; quiet, as a reading room is quiet |
| The Shallows | 12 × 6 m, zero entry | 72 m² | 0 to 0.50 m | 30 °C | 09:00–19:00 | Under 12s, with an adult in the water or within reach of it |
| The Cold Well | 2.6 × 2.6 m | 7 m² | 1.20 m | 12 °C | 07:00–22:00 | 16 and over; two minutes, and an attendant in sight |
| Lagoa 1 villa pool | 12.0 × 4.0 m | 48 m² | 1.50 m | 26–28 °C to order | Private, first light to last | Villa guests only |
| Lagoa 2 villa pool | 12.0 × 4.0 m | 48 m² | 1.50 m | 26–28 °C to order | Private, first light to last | Villa guests only |
| Lagoa 3 villa pool | 12.0 × 4.0 m | 48 m² | 1.50 m | 26–28 °C to order | Private, first light to last | Villa guests only |
| Lagoa 4 villa pool | 12.0 × 4.0 m | 48 m² | 1.50 m | 26–28 °C to order | Private, first light to last | Villa guests only |
Villa pools are brought to temperature on the day of arrival and held there for the stay; the set point is yours to move between 26 and 28 °C. The plunge pools on the Atlantic Suite terraces, 4.2 × 2.9 m each, are counted with the suites rather than with the estate water — which is why this table has nine rows and not more. Every temperature above is held to within 1 °C of the figure shown.
07:00, October to April
The thermal pool at first light
From October the air on this terrace sits at 9–12 °C an hour after sunrise and the water sits at 35 °C. The difference is 23 degrees, and it is visible: the pool steams from the open half of the hall out over the coping, and the steam does not lift until the sun clears the pines at about nine.
This is the only hour on the estate with a queue, and it is a short one. Two heat exchangers bring the hall back to set point by 06:40 after the night setback, the attendant unlocks at 07:00, and the first twenty people in are generally the same twenty people all week.
- Robes, slippers and towels are on the terrace racks from 06:45; the floor from the changing rooms to the water is heated to 27 °C, so bare feet are the sensible way to cross it.
- Eighteen places on the submerged inner bench, nine on the outer ledge. Nobody reserves them.
- Coffee, water and bread from LUMAR's bread room at the spa desk from 07:00.
- The hall drops to a library voice at 07:00 and stays there until the Shallows open at nine.
- Open
- 07:00–22:00
- Held at
- 34–36 °C, all year
- Depth
- 1.05 m, flat
- Age
- 16 and over
Eleven stations
The Long Circuit
The circuit is taken in a printed order, and the order is the treatment. Each heat is followed by the cold that makes it work, the hottest room comes seventh rather than first, and the last twenty minutes are the reason for the first seventy.
The eleven stations with the temperature and the dwell time at each. The times are maximums: taken straight through the circuit runs about 90 minutes, and taken to the limit at every station it runs 101. Two rotations a day, 10:00–11:30 and 15:00–16:30, twenty places in each, released at 08:00 the day before.
- 1
Rinse — 36 °C, 3 minutes
A hand shower at blood heat, standing. It takes off the sunscreen, which is the only reason the vitality pool filters last a season, and it tells the skin that the next room will be hotter than this one.
- 2
Laconium — 55 °C, 12 minutes
Dry, mild and long: twelve minutes here raises core temperature about half a degree without hard sweating. Walking into 85 °C cold would shut the skin down. This room opens it instead.
- 3
Cold plunge — 12 °C, 1 minute
The first cold is deliberately short, and it comes before the hardest heat rather than after it. It is a rehearsal: you learn what your breathing does at 12 °C while you are still only mildly warm.
- 4
Hammam — 45 °C, 15 minutes
Forty-five degrees at close to saturation, lying on a heated marble platform under a dome pierced with star-shaped lights. Wet heat at 45 °C moves more heat into a body than dry heat at 85 °C, which makes this the real work of the circuit and the reason it is the longest hot station.
- 5
Salt room — 38 °C, 10 minutes
Warm, dry and heavy with brine aerosol. It follows the hammam because airways opened by wet heat take the salt, and because 38 °C is a step down rather than up — the circuit descends here on purpose, so that station six lands harder.
- 6
Ice fountain — 4 °C, 2 minutes
Crushed ice taken by hand to the forearms, the back of the neck and the calves. Standing, not immersed: the point is to cool the skin quickly while the core stays hot, which is exactly the state the pine sauna wants.
- 7
Pine sauna — 85 °C, 10 minutes
The hottest room on the circuit, seventh because a body that has already been through a hammam and an ice fountain sits comfortably at 85 °C for ten minutes. Maritime pine, three tiers, water on the stove on the hour and the half hour.
- 8
Bucket shower — 10 °C, 1 minute
Thirty litres over the head in a single pull. The handle is weighted heavier than it needs to be, because pulling it should be a decision rather than an accident.
- 9
Vitality pool — 35 °C, 12 minutes
Below body temperature, seated, with the water moving across the shoulders and lower back. After station eight a body is shedding heat fast; 35 °C is the temperature at which it stops shedding and begins to settle.
- 10
Tepidarium — 40 °C, 15 minutes
Heated stone loungers at 40 °C, no steam and no sound. This is where blood pressure comes back down, and skipping it is the commonest way to finish a hydrothermal circuit feeling worse than you started it.
- 11
Rest — 22 °C, 20 minutes
A dark room at 22 °C with blankets, water and nothing at all to do for twenty minutes. It is a station rather than an afterthought, and the circuit is ninety minutes long because of it.
The spa
Fourteen rooms
Nine single rooms, three double rooms, one wet room opening straight onto the hammam, and one long room with its own brine bath for the 110-minute rituals. Each is 19 m², each has a 2.05 m table on a heated plinth, and every window faces pine rather than a path.
The menu holds eighteen treatments at four lengths — 25, 50, 80 and 110 minutes — and the lengths are not arbitrary. Twenty-five minutes treats one region. Fifty treats a whole body or a whole face. Eighty treats a body and then a region. A hundred and ten is a ritual, and all three rituals use water.
- Rooms
- 14 — nine single, three double, one wet, one ritual bath
- Treatments
- 18, at 25 / 50 / 80 / 110 minutes
- Hours
- 09:00–21:00, last booking 19:30
- Arrive
- 30 minutes before the time booked
The water in numbers
- 9
- bodies of water, from 12 °C to 36 °C
- 1715 m²
- of water surface on five terraces
- 2155 m³
- held, balance tanks counted
- 11
- stations on the Long Circuit, in order
- 14
- treatment rooms, 18 treatments
Etiquette and house rules
Short, and held by the attendants on the floor rather than by signs on the wall.
The Long Water and the Lap House are open to everyone staying, to members and to pass holders. The Lap House keeps two of its six lanes clear for lengths at all times, and gives the whole pool over to families between 16:00 and 18:00.
The Thermal Hall, the Cold Well and the Long Circuit are 16 and over. The Shallows are for children under 12, with an adult in the water or within arm's reach of it.
Treatments are 18 and over, with two exceptions printed on the menu that are written for 14 to 17 with a parent in the room.
Swimwear in all nine bodies of water, and at every station of the Long Circuit including the hammam platform, where the attendant hands you a rinsed cotton wrap at the door.
A robe, slippers and two towels per person are in your changing room, and they are replaced as often as you ask. Robes hang on the hooks between stations; the benches are for people.
Shoes come off at the spa threshold, on the travertine step. From there to the water the floor is heated to 27 °C.
Treatments open 60 days ahead for guests holding a reservation and 30 days ahead for members, at the spa desk or by email.
Arrive 30 minutes before the time on your booking. That half hour is the health questionnaire, the changing room and a glass of water — and a treatment that starts late still ends when it was always going to end.
A treatment cancelled or moved inside 24 hours of its start time is charged in full. Outside 24 hours there is nothing to pay and nothing to explain.
Two rotations a day, 10:00 to 11:30 and 15:00 to 16:30, with twenty places in each. Places open at 08:00 on the previous day at the spa desk, and forty people a day is the whole of it.
Take the stations in the printed order. It is numbered on the drawing at the entrance, on the floor at each threshold, and on the card the attendant gives you, because the order is what the ninety minutes are for.
An attendant is on the circuit floor throughout and will tell you to leave a room. Station eleven is twenty minutes and it is not optional; the rotation is timed to include it.
The spa is a reading and sleeping room. Phones live in the changing-room lockers, and the desk will hold yours and come and find you if you are expecting a call.
Conversation on the terraces is normal and welcome. In the Thermal Hall, the Tepidarium and the Rest room it drops to the level you would use in a library.
The heat rooms are kept quiet rather than scored: the hammam dome has a reverberation time of about four seconds, and anything played under it arrives as noise.
Water, cold herbal infusions and whole fruit stand at both ends of the terraces all day and cost nothing.
A short menu comes down from A CASA between 12:00 and 17:00 and is eaten at the twelve tables behind the Long Water rather than at the water's edge.
Nothing in glass passes the coping line. Everything served on the terraces arrives in stoneware or bronze, which is also why the terraces have never been closed for a breakage.
Two lifeguards cover the Long Water and the Shallows from 09:00 to 19:00, and one covers the Lap House for every hour it is open. The zones are inlaid in the coping in bronze.
The Lap House is 1.40 m from wall to wall. The Long Water runs 1.10 m at the steps to 1.80 m at the lip, and the change of grade is marked on the pool floor and repeated on the wall above the waterline.
The Cold Well carries a handrail on two sides, a posted two-minute limit, and an attendant within sight of it for every hour it is open.
The Long Water, the Thermal Hall and the Shallows each have a submerged step sequence with a bronze rail at 900 mm. A pool hoist is kept at the spa desk and brought out on request, and the sand paths to the spa threshold are bound and firm rather than loose.
Four of the fourteen treatment rooms have a 900 mm clear approach on both long sides of the table and a plinth that drops to 480 mm.
The estate's full access statement, including the dune boardwalk and the beach route to BRASA, is published as its own page.
Two dogs stay at each Lagoa Villa, and they have the pine paths, the dune boardwalk and the villa's own walled garden.
The water terraces, the spa and the Athletic Club are for guests, members and pass holders. There is a shaded run with water at the head of the pine walk, two minutes from the spa threshold, and the attendants will keep an eye on a dog there while you swim.
A body of water closes when one of its eleven readings falls outside its band, and reopens when the number is back inside. The board names the water and the reading.
The Thermal Hall and the hammam are drained, scrubbed and refilled on the first Tuesday of each month, 07:00 to 13:00. The other seven bodies of water run normally that morning.
Treatment rooms are serviced in rotation on Tuesday mornings, so a Tuesday has eleven rooms open rather than fourteen and the menu is the same.
Come for a day, or for the year
The terraces are licensed for 180 people at one time, so day passes and the three annual tiers are released against a count rather than sold open. The stay planner shows what is open on your dates, and what still has places in it.