Situated on the mezzanine level of the five-star Corinthia Hotel, just off Trafalgar Square, is the ESPA Life day spa. A shiny, monochrome labyrinth of treatment rooms, steam rooms, saunas and thermal pools, the spa is thoroughly lavish, modern, low-lit and windowless. It's the ideal place to shut the door on reality – there's absolutely no chance of spotting the 388 shuttling down Victoria Embankment or tuning into the sound of protesters underneath Nelson's Column.
Through the elegant reception, which opens on to small but stylish cream-washed restaurant, filled with white leather furniture and warmed by a roaring fireplace you'd only see in the lair of James Bond villain, visitors weave their way through corridors of pearly cream and slate paneling to find the luxurious changing rooms (the term 'changing rooms' seems an insult) and a room of 'Sleeping Pods'.
Downstairs, the spa's main area, the Thermal Suite, is a black-marbled oasis which houses a large steam room, swimming pool, jet pool, ice fountain, heated loungers and, most stunning of all, a glass-walled sauna amphitheatre as its centre piece.
If you can tear yourself away from the Thermal Suite for longer than just a toilet break, one floor up ESPA relaxation treatments on offer include personalised massages (£160), body wrap packages (£220) and facials (£170). If it's more than indulgent respite from your emails that you're after, specialist skills from the crème de la crème of naturopaths, traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncturists and herbalists, and osteopaths are on offer too. And let's not forget the spa's Daniel Galvin Hair Salon is also on hand to red carpet-ready your locks after the massage oil has got to it.
Children are permitted to use the spa at certain times (Mon-Sun 10am-11.30am and 3pm-4.30pm), though its marble surfaces and sharp lines aren't obviously child-proof. Treat yourself to an ESPA Life trip solo, we say, and indulge in the opportunity to zone out, read a fancy magazine or pass out in the Sleeping Pods.
A visit to the ESPA Life will revive any weary soul – and that's just after standing under one of the changing room's heaven-sent showers. Stepping out of the Corinthia Hotel back on to the pavement of Whitehall Place and back into reality is hard task, but forget navigating the nearest tube station, you'll be so damn relaxed you'll be floating all the way home.
£95 per person for three hours access to the spa. Day packages start at £155 per person.