NEW YORK -- It was a view of lower Manhattan I'd never seen before. At least, it was a view I'd never seen from this setting: in an outdoor heated pool with steam rising all around me, gazing at the panorama of the skyline and the Staten Island Ferry gliding by.
Night falls quickly in the winter, and the lights of the Financial District and the city's famous bridges twinkled ahead of me. The pool bubbled with hot tub-style jets and the delighted laughter of fellow bathers. Behind us was a three-story brick building, a former military barracks, scrubbed clean and refreshed, with all the windows warmly lit. Inside the building was a bona fide day spa, with a dozen treatment and relaxation rooms, a café, shop and changing room.
I was at QC New York Spa, the U.S. outpost of QC Spa of Wonders, an Italian company with 12 destination day spas and seven resorts. QC New York, which opened two years ago on the city's Governors Island, is one of its newest properties.
The QC New York complex includes a couple of large, outdoor spa pools, including a "music pool" where soothing sounds are piped in under the water. A ground-level area inside the building holds steam rooms, foot baths, Vichy showers and saunas.
In the summer, chaise lounges dot the lawn for sunbathing or socializing; in the winter, the lawn's glass-enclosed Reflection Rooms are the place to be, with gas-burning fire pits and blankets with which to cozy up and enjoy the view.
All of this is on a sliver of Governors Island in the middle of New York Harbor -- just across from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island -- that has been redeveloped from a former military base to a park and is accessible via quick ferry rides from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
How the QC New York spa came to be
Governors Island came to the attention of QC about 10 years ago, when Andrea Quadrio Curzio, one of QC's founders (the other is his brother, Saverio), said the company was looking to expand, and "the dream" was to do it in New York. At the time, the city was soliciting proposals on redevelopment for the island and the barracks.
The QC NY Spa is fashioned out of a former military barracks on Governors Island. Photo Credit: Rebecca Tobin
"It was an international competition to develop a project on Governors Island," Quadrio Curzio recalled. "And we immediately fell in love with the location … it was perfect for many different reasons. It's a mix of historical buildings, green fields."
Even the ferry ride, he said, was viewed as a plus since the brief trip from the hustle and bustle of the city helped guests "disconnect."
Quadrio Curzio said QC spent $54 million on the first stage of the spa project, working through the pandemic and opening in 2022.
And it's growing. QC is spending another $15 million to $20 million to refurbish the buildings adjacent to the spa, bringing the total size of the facilities to more than 100,000 square feet in stages this summer and next.
My experience at QC started when a friend and I met one of QC's press representatives at the Battery Maritime Building, where we caught the ferry. From the island's dock it's just a few minutes' walk to the spa entrance.
The QC New York spa experience
The QC spa proposition could be described as DIY: Guests have to make an appointment if they want a massage, but they're otherwise free to wander the building and grounds and partake in whatever experience they please.
So my friend and I donned our bathing suits, plus QC-provided robes and slippers, and explored the place, leaving no steam room unturned. We started with the pools and wet rooms, paused briefly in the bistro and then went upstairs, where guests can relax in a variety of themed rooms. One was filled with beds lit by infrared lights.
In another area, basket chairs dangled from the ceiling. Our favorite was a room called So Close Yet So Far, which was filled with sauna-like wood planks and provided an astounding view of the Brooklyn Bridge through a giant bay window.
Chairs submerged under a pool heated to 90 degrees Farenheit face an unparalleled view of lower Manhattan. Photo Credit: Rebecca Tobin
Quadrio Curzio said one big improvement during the expansion will be to its food and beverage offerings, which right now are limited mostly to salads and prepared foods and a relatively short beverage menu -- this being an Italian spa, you can order a Peroni beer, a Bellini or a Negroni, but there are other alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.
The outdoor pools are, of course, the showstoppers. In the freezing air, we had to move quickly from the covered walkway into the water, which is heated to 98 degrees, and then quickly submerge up to our necks. A few visitors had brought fuzzy hats to wear, which was smart, since my ears began to get cold quickly.
A not busy midweek, winter night is the perfect time to appreciate the chill factor in any spa, but in the summer I can imagine the pool and grounds becoming a social scene. QC doesn't permit beverages in the pools, and it also has taken steps to mitigate crowding. Quadrio Curzio said QC caps the number of customers and has worked to "fine tune" its passenger flow now that it had a couple of years of operating experience.
QC offers a handful of pass types. Three-hour, midweek passes start at $98 per person, but an all-day pass on a weekend can run $178. My friend and I were at QC for about five hours and could have easily stayed longer. We had to hustle to the last ferry departure of the night, joined by other spa-happy patrons.
Selling Governors Island
QC sells through some websites, including Viator. For travel advisors, the spa's location makes for a unique add-on to a client's New York City trip. It's also a chance to introduce visitors to the mellow charm of Governors Island, with its bike paths and walkways, cultural programming and other F&B outlets (the island is potentially slated for more redevelopment, according to news reports, which could again change its vibe).
Another option is to pair a spa day with a stay at Collective Retreats' glamping property on the island's west side, which is open from May to November. That resort opened in 2018 and has a variety of tented accommodations and its own restaurant.
CORRECTION: QC New York updated its branding from QC NY, and QC Spa of Wonders from QC Terme Spas & Resorts. This report was updated to use the new versions of the company and spa name.