Wander the Spa’s outdoor thermal pool cove.Andrew Fearman/supplied/Supplied
Another new Nordic spa facility, you might yawn? Yes, but Wander the Spa in Ontario’s Prince Edward County wine region is offering aufguss, a German ritual that turns a traditional sauna sweat into something you won’t soon forget.
Wander the Resort is the year-round five-star beachfront resort in Bloomfield, Ont., that opened in 2021 with 10 ultra luxe cabins packed with high-end amenities, an outdoor barrel sauna and the most chic beach furniture this side of Miami. A year later shimmering outdoor pools set back from the Lake Ontario beachfront followed. For 2025, it’s innovated and expanded again with a 10,000 square foot indoor/outdoor spa cove hidden from the rest of the resort.
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PEC visitors and resort guests enter Wander the Spa by purchasing day passes. Guests descend a hidden staircase into the welcome area and locker rooms, and are handed one of the world’s most plush hooded robes (bring your own flip flops). Inside are two treatment rooms reserved for massage or reiki treatments, and you’ll find a steamy wet sauna and salt-scrub shower nearby. Then make your way toward the light, and step out onto the outdoor thermal pool deck to start moving through the hot, warm and cold plunges. Out here you’ll find the dry sauna entrance, too – make sure to step in for one of six daily aufguss sessions.
Waterfall cool pool just outside the dry sauna door.Andrew Fearman/supplied/Supplied
The aufguss ritual raises and lowers the temperature, humidity and sensory experience of the sauna. Each 10 to 15 minute session at Wander’s spa is slightly different but basically an attendant flaps a towel around in an impressive choreographed display – rhythmically moving hot air over saunagoers and watching how it affects them, then changing the atmosphere by opening the door for fresh air or steaming up the sauna rocks with ice doused in scented essential oils. There’s music, too. Sometimes it’s a party, sometimes it’s a calming meditative process. Which is why guests often sweat through more than one session during a visit.
Right outside the sauna door is a cascading waterfall to cool off and many chic looking outdoor lounge spaces to lie about and maybe even snooze. Pale, concrete walls rise 12-feet from the pool decks, offering privacy from the resort goings-on above. A few more patio umbrellas and greenery are needed to offer shade out here, but perhaps that’s been installed by now. I visited in mid-March, not long after the spa opened.
Guests who prefer to relax indoors are welcome to climb the stairs and enter the adjoining Wander Clubhouse and restaurant in their robes. Put your feet up on the soft couches and order light bites or drink tall glasses of water while enjoying the lake view – at least until 5:30 p.m. That’s when spagoers are shooed out for chef Justin Tse’s top notch dinner service at Gather restaurant.
After dark, the underwater pool lights become more colourful, the spa vibe gets a lot sexier and the entry price drops, too.
This summer, Wander will end its Beach Club day access for visitors and only offer spa day passes, which will include a dedicated “Whisper Beach” area on the sand for spa guests.
- Wander the Resort, 15841 Loyalist Parkway, Bloomfield, Ont. Spa day passes are $95, includes four-hour locker rental. Wander after dark access is $45 and begins at 5:30 p.m. Cabin guests can access the spa for $75. Cabins start at $795 a night.
The writer was a guest of Wander the Resort. It did not review or approve the story before publication.
