Brach Paris

Occupies a 7,000 sqm former postal sorting facility in the 16th arrondissement, reimagined by Philippe Starck in 2018 as the anchor property of the small Brach Hotels group (part of Evok Collection, alongside sister properties in Madrid and, soon, Rome). The 59 rooms mix raw materials — leather, marble, aged wood — with objects and sculpture drawn from Africa, Asia and South America, a Starck signature rather than a themed overlay.

The wellness offer sits apart from the guest rooms in a dedicated Sports Club styled after 1930s boxing gyms, running to several hundred square metres and open to both hotel guests and local members. It centres on a 22-metre pool, plus a separate thermal pool, sauna, steam room, Himalayan salt cave and ice bath. Classes span boxing, TRX, Pilates and aqua cycling, delivered by a standing team of sports coaches, osteopaths, naturopaths, physiotherapists and dietitians rather than visiting practitioners. A separate three-room spa runs Clarins treatments alongside the fitness programme.

The result reads less as a hotel spa than as a genuine private sports club that happens to have rooms attached — a distinction worth knowing before booking if the wellness offer is the draw rather than the design.