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All it takes is a couple of days of sunshine for us to start frantically Googling the best seaside towns for a weekend away or booking a trip to a country spa. Excitingly for UK holidaymakers, a brand new destination for all that is coming to England – and it’s just got that step closer to opening.
After years of delays caused by legalities, planning permission and admin issues – AKA the boring stuff – things are officially taking shape for a a gigantic wellbeing resort called Therme Manchester. The project, located opposite the Trafford Centre and next to the Trafford Palazzo shopping mall, is nothing short of colossal. It will span the size of 28 football pitches when it opens its doors, and will be the UK’s first urban wellbeing resort.
Think: giant swimming pools, biodiverse gardens, immersive art and family-focused leisure spaces, as well as an indoor beach with over 30 water slides and multiple saunas. The large-scale water park, heated to 33C, will have plenty of wellness facilities, all of which will be divided into three distinct zones – Play, Relax and Restore.
Luckily for the happily childless among us, two of these (Relax and Restore) will be adults-only. Expect outdoor pools, waterfall showers, mineral baths, steam rooms, saunas and casual dining.
For families, the play zone will be kitted-out with water slides, wave pools, steam rooms, saunas and family dining as well as an outdoor beach.
If all this sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because the resort has been years in the making. Plans were originally revealed all the way back in 2019, and its doors were set to open in 2025. That deadline has obviously come and gone, and the £500 million project is now scheduled to welcome guests in 2028.
Therme’s bosses finally broke ground on the site late last year, and new drone footage has now given us a peek at their progress.
From above, you can clearly make out the outline of the resort’s central hub, a key feature which could previously only be seen in the CGI renderings.
Therme’s bosses say the emerging layout marks the ‘shift from concept to construction’.
According to the Business Desk, commercial director Jonathan Lingham called Therme Manchester ‘the UK’s largest paid-for tourist attraction’, predicting it could welcome a whopping three million people a year.
Once complete – which is expected around the end of 2028 – Therme Manchester’s bosses say it will be one of the biggest wellbeing resorts in the world. And they should know. Therme Group, the project’s parent company, currently operates four major facilities in Europe and is developing new destinations across the globe in locations such as South Korea, Dubai, Canada, and across the US. The company is also building a new resort in Singapore.
⛱️ The best waterparks in the UK, according to Time Out.
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