Culloden Estate & Spa has been looking out over Belfast Lough for 150 years. The Victorian mansion on the Holywood Hills was built for stockbroker William Auchinleck Robinson in 1876 and became the official residence of the Bishops of Down, Connor and Dromore in 1898; its twelve acres of gardens still run down towards the water and the Antrim coastline beyond. It’s a setting made for the darker months, when the city is fifteen minutes away and yet feels much further.
This winter, the hotel’s spa is leaning into exactly that. Between October 2026 and February 2027, The Spa at Culloden is running a seasonal programme built around floating sound baths, Red Light Pilates and two rituals inspired by the elements. It arrives in a good year for the property, which was recently named AA Hotel of the Year for Northern Ireland after a £620,000 investment programme during its anniversary year, £80,000 of which went into the spa and fitness facilities.
Here’s what’s on, and how to make the most of it.
Drifting on sound
The headline act is the floating sound bath. Rather than lying on a mat, guests are wrapped in soft robes, given an eye mask and set adrift across the spa’s indoor pool, while resonant tones and vibrations fill the room. The hotel says the sessions are designed around stress reduction, nervous system regulation and mindful meditation.
Culloden is billing these as Ireland’s first floating sound baths, though that title is contested. Powerscourt Springs Health Farm was promoting what it called “Ireland’s first Floating Sound Bath” in November 2025, and still describes its floating sound bath retreats that way. Culloden’s own wording was more modest in May, when it described a sound bath workshop at the spa as “Northern Ireland’s first”. Whoever got there first on the island, the format is a rare one, and this is the place to find it within easy reach of Belfast.
There are four dates in the programme: 25 October, 12 December, 23 January and 20 February. Each costs £45 per person and, according to the hotel’s spa offers page, includes an evening in the spa, which makes it one of the more accessible ways into a five-star spa on a winter’s night. Places are booked by contacting the spa directly, and with only one session a month for most of the season, it’s worth getting in early.
Pilates in a red glow
Red Light Pilates pairs mindful, controlled movement with red light therapy. The hotel says the classes are intended to support muscle recovery, circulation, mobility and overall wellbeing, and is pitching them at guests who want to keep body and mind in good working order through the colder months.
The classes aren’t brand new to Culloden. The instructor launched the first sessions at the spa in April, across three classes, and they now take their place within the winter line-up. For anyone who finds a pure pamper day a little too still, it’s a way to build some movement into a stay before the steam room and the pool.
Rituals for the turning season
Two seasonal treatments round out the programme, each inspired by the elements and designed with winter in mind.
The Ocean and Earth Ritual is the longer of the two. Culloden’s offer sheet lists it as an 80-minute treatment at £140, beginning with a full-body exfoliation before an algae or marine mud wrap, then moving on to a scalp massage and an ESPA personalised facial. The hotel describes it as a ritual to restore balance, ease tension and replenish skin, and it comes with a skin brush and tote bag the spa values at £63. It’s available from September to November, so this one is for autumn rather than deep winter.
The Fire and Ice Ritual plays on contrast. A hot-stone back massage is followed by an iced rose quartz facial and a heated Space Mask, before the treatment closes with herbal tea in the Relaxation Room. It’s priced at £100 per person and runs daily throughout October and November.
A refurbished retreat
The treatments sit within a spa that has recently been refurbished. Alongside the indoor swimming pool, there’s a eucalyptus steam room, a sauna, a jacuzzi and quiet relaxation spaces for drifting between treatments. The spa has eight treatment suites, with rooms for couples, making it well suited to a shared escape.
ESPA remains the spa’s signature treatment range, and the hotel has added Medik8 as its newest wellness partner, so there’s room to build a stay around results-led skincare as much as pure relaxation. The AA singled out the spa as a standout feature of the hotel when it handed Culloden its 2026 award, and the winter programme gives it a sharper sense of season.
A bishop’s palace above the lough
Part of Culloden’s appeal is how it pairs a sense of retreat with proximity. Belfast’s city centre is fifteen minutes away, yet the former bishop’s palace sits within its own landscaped grounds in Holywood, with sweeping views across Belfast Lough. Its fine-dining restaurant means an evening sound bath can roll straight into dinner without leaving the estate, and the 150th anniversary year has brought fresh investment across the property.
For a winter break, it’s an easy combination: a morning of red-light Pilates, an afternoon on a heated treatment bed, an evening floating in the pool, and the lough outside the window throughout.
Booking
Garden Rooms at Culloden Estate & Spa start from £270 per night and suites from £790 per night, both including breakfast. The floating sound baths run on 25 October, 12 December, 23 January and 20 February at £45 per person; the Ocean and Earth Ritual is available until the end of November at £140, and the Fire and Ice Ritual daily through October and November at £100.
For reservations and spa bookings, visit Culloden Estate & Spa or call 028 9042 1066.
