USP If you know anything about Brussels, the spa’s name alone, Aspria Avenue Louise, gives away immediately what a client might expect walking in. The health club is not only located on Avenue Louise, the most fashionable and upmarket thoroughfare cutting through the heart of the Belgian capital, but it is adjacent to the most fashionable and upmarket hotel in the city, The Conrad Brussels.

But don’t let that intimidate. Although the private club (which readily welcomes non-members), is luxurious and chic, it’s relaxed and friendly atmosphere will make you forget that there is a very good chance of running into Peter Mandelson, Kim Clijsters or Hercule Poirot – any one of Belgium’s “slebs” (OK, maybe not the first one).

Another perk is that it does not permit anyone under 16. That’s left to its sister clubs elsewhere in the city: Aspria Rue de 'Industrie and Royal La Rasante. Forming part of an exclusive European chain, the club’s philosophy, to address a person’s mind, body and soul, is demonstrated through the attentiveness of their highly trained on-site professionals from personal trainers and nutritionists to beauty therapists.

AMBIENCE In a word, the club is low-key. The combination of luxury without pretension, plus the no-kids rule, makes it a terrific “third space”. Even at peak hours, the place is barely half full – if this was London, New York or even Berlin, it would bursting at the seams and not a place where you can leisurely roll in at 11am on a Saturday and settle into a peaceful coffee and newspaper.

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Background

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• For more than 240 independent spa reviews

Just past reception is the cushy lounge and dining area, which leads to the changing rooms on one side and stairs on the other which go down to two additional levels, ie, the gym and then the spa, sauna and pool.

OK, confession time: It was difficult to leave the changing room. The club is stylishly decorated in hues of brown and cream, with leather and marble accents. The fitness and spa areas are modern and built with an open centre so that there is a stunning view of the pool from above which simultaneously allows a lot of light into the lower ground spa area.

But it’s worth a visit to experience the locker rooms alone. Where to begin? They are spacious, well-lit, abound with plush towels and robes, have self-locking dark wood lockers, a vanity room with individual spaces and hairdryers and showers with multiple speeds. What more could a girl ask for?

QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE Although on the compact side, the spa’s handful of treatment rooms are all tastefully furnished – some have mini-waterbeds as treatment tables - and dimly lit with the requisite litter of candles. It offers a variety of massages and face and body treatments using Carita, Decléor and Aromatherapy Associates products.

I had the Turkish Delight. Not the sickeningly sweet bonbon, but 30 minutes of an invigorating total body scrub involving the therapist exfoliating my skin with rough gloves and soap, then “rinsing” with the most divine hot towels, and finishing with a massage of hot oil.

There was nothing to say other than AAH and then aaahh. Wait, I confess again: it was hard to leave the treatment room. Meanwhile, my partner was impressed by the 16m, heated pool and even the Men’s Express (30 mins) facial – his first ever. He found it relaxing, yet still, you know, manly, but he was dismayed that it didn’t make him look 25 again. Nope, still 40.

IN-CROWD The club attracts guests of the Conrad (who receive a discount) as well as visitors staying elsewhere. Most members, however, are locals – ranging from ladies who lunch and expertly tanned members of the EU Commission to your average young professional. And of course, the aforementioned slebs.

FOOD Leave the moules frites, chocolate and beer to the restaurants and shops (Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier, one of the best in the city is just en face) outside. The only cocktails on offer are the freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices anyhow. Aspria offers a range of fresh salads and hot meals from breakfast to dinner, all carefully catered to a guest’s specific dietary needs – No salt? No butter? No dairy? No problem. You can “have it your way” and you don’t have to go all the way to America for it.

WALLET WATCH Once you get past the entrance fee, €50 for non-members, €38 (£28) for members' guests, the club is very affordable. This gives access to the lounge and dining room, gym, Jacuzzi, pool, steam room and sauna. The spa costs are additional. Treatment prices range from €40 each (for example, my scrub and his facial) to €75 for a one-hour Swedish massage.

However, for a complete pampering, there are day packages with fantastic names like the Me, Me, Me (€140) which over the course of 90 minutes includes the Repose facial, a hand massage and the Aaahh foot and leg energiser treatment which is said to make you feel like you're floating on air.

NEED TO KNOW Aspria Avenue Louise Institut de Bien-Être, Place Wiltchers, Avenue Louise 71B, 1050 Brussels (+32 (0) 2 542 46 66; www.aspria.be)

For more than 230 independent spa reviews log on to timesonline.co.uk/goodspaguide

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