Sri Lanka’s Galle Face Hotel to Unveil L'Occitane Spa Mid-2017

More than 153 years after opening, The Galle Face Hotel will unveil the new L'Occitane spa that pays tribute to the property's association with Hollywood over the years. 

Spanning 1,115 square meters, Spa L'Occitane En Provence will offer guests eight therapy rooms, including couples and Ayurveda rooms, as well as a nail spa, indoor and outdoor areas, steam rooms, dry saunas and Jacuzzis. Situated adjacent to the hotel's Pool Bar and Terrace overlooking the Indian Ocean, the spa's outdoor area will serve up a spa menu with healthy snacks and specially crafted cocktails. 

The spa will offer an ample selection of massages, facials and other treatments based on natural ingredients such as lavender from Provence in the south of France and shea butter from Burkina Faso in west Africa. First opened in 2001 in Brazil and Vietnam, L’Occitane spas are committed to socially responsible best practices, limiting water and energy use where possible as well as carefully selecting natural materials.

Both as a backdrop and a place of relaxation post-filming, The Galle Face Hotel has hosted a number of stars over the years, including Laurence Oliver, David Lean, Gregory Peck, Carol Reed, Peter Finch, William Holden and Alec Guinness. Bo Derek checked in for the shooting of Tarzan, the Ape Man in the ‘80s. In the same decade, Harrison Ford was a guest when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was filmed on the island.  

Due to open mid-2017, the spa’s emergence follows a 30-month restoration completed in late 2015 that brought the hotel’s rooms and suites, restaurants and bars, and lobby and ballrooms of the North Wing back to their original grandeur.