Terra Nova Nordic Spa & Cafe - Woodstock, Ontario

Wendy P.

Came here with some friends to celebrate my birthday a la Thermal Experience. Fun and relaxing way to spend the day. The hot tub + pool were the perfect temperature. I like that in addition to the cold plunge barrels, there was a larger cold pool. The saunas were a bit on the smaller end, but you could still comfortably fit 4-6 people in the ones outside (I didn’t try the infrared one). Everything was clean, and well maintained. Our 3 hours went by pretty quick.

The check in process was a little disorganized at the time. We were asked to share a locker between the 4 of us since they didn’t have enough to accommodate all guests that morning. The lockers were small, so they gave us 2. We were handed one robe, and 2 towels, which we initially thought we were expected to share those as well, but were then advised that there were robes and towels inside the locker. Locker/change rooms were small, and there was only one washroom in the ladies change room downstairs, but they’re currently renovating, and will have larger change rooms.

The cafe was very nice. Our sandwiches and coffee/teas were delicious.

Overall, it was a great experience.
We’ll definitely come back again, but maybe after the renovations are done.

Steve D.

We enjoyed our time. Great hot and cold experiences. A little simpler and homey-the staff are warm and welcoming. Not busy and we love the plants. Had a great nap in the rest area. The steam eucalyptus room and infrared room were great.

We tried the pear Brie bacon sandwich and hearty lentil soup. Great value, and taste.

Bobbi J. T. R.

This was my first time here and I loved it. We did a three hour circuit with the contrast hydrotherapy. Enjoyed a lovely high tea, and I had a facial with Marsilia… she had a lovely energy to her and I felt very well taken care of in her care. The Staff were courteous and helpful even when I called the day after I booked to edit my reservation. I think good things are coming to this little gem of a spa. Wishing you all the best in your expansion and hope to see you again soon.
Ps. Please make lotion available in the change rooms :))) and more signage for quiet voices.

Sarah

Amazing, relaxing, incredible. The renovations are top notch. Everyone is so friendly. The cafe should be open later on Thursdays and Fridays though for a nice evening snack.

Gaby W.

I went to Terra Nova with a very close friend yesterday for the first time. The set up is quite lovely but definitely not what I expected. The construction noise made it impossible to fully relax. I wish I'd known construction was underway. When construction noise stopped street noise was quite distracting. Something I hadn't considered prior to going. Loud guests were actually quite annoying. I've never experienced this in similar spa settings. That was disappointing. Lunch was delicious. It seemed a bit odd to have lunch brought out to us bit no one to retrieve dishes after eating. I'm not sure if it was a staffing shortage but robes and towels were overflowing onto the floor. Again something I've never experienced elsewhere. There were 4 women waiting for showers we opted to leave the shower until we got home. Check out took over half an hour and that was just to pay our lunch bills. Neither front desk clerk could seem to figure things out. Not ruling out a second visit but would describe the first visit as chaotic and disappointing.

Alicia

I was really looking forward to a relaxing experience at Terra Nova Spa, but unfortunately, it missed the mark. The atmosphere honestly felt like someone’s backyard — not what I expect from a spa, especially at the price point. It’s located right by the highway, so there’s constant noise from traffic.

To make matters worse, people were incredibly loud, chatting nonstop, and even yelling at times. It was chaotic, not calming. No staff were around to enforce any kind of quiet or spa etiquette, which made it feel more like a public pool than a relaxing getaway.

The teepee was freezing cold, and the fire area wasnt maintained either. Same with the wood-burning sauna — no one was keeping it going towards the end of the night, so it just felt neglected and cold. This just didn’t feel like a proper spa experience at all. I won’t be coming back, and honestly, the other Nordic spas in Ontario are way better — more professional, better maintained, and actually relaxing. Save your time and money. Good for hydrotherapy, but not for relaxing spa experience.

Kevin W.

Went at the end of August for the very first time and absolutely love everything about this place. It’s on the small side, but that just adds to the charm, and makes it a lot less busy than other spas. The staff were all polite, knowledgeable, and pleased to show us all the amenities, saunas, steam rooms and hot/cold plunge pools.

The cafe is charming with excellent lunch options that are reasonably priced and great value for money.

I can’t wait to book our next visit, especially after the planned expansion that’s underway. For my next visit, I’ll be taking some ear buds so that I can listen to some guided meditation too.

Thanks for a wonderful day, Terra Nova and I’ll see you again soon.

Kristen M.

Safety concerns
I’m sorry to have to write this but I feel it’s necessary. My husband and I were there on Sunday and I had an unfortunate accident that could have been entirely prevented if some basic common sense was taken into consideration on the part of the business to not use cheap items in high traffic areas. I was coming down the stairs to the change area from the outside spa area, this area gets very wet from everyone’s footwear bringing in the slush and snow from the outside. The stairs were outfitted with some cheap stick-on fabric treads, I assume to prevent slipping, however these treads are not meant to get wet as the adhesive does not work properly when wet. Two of the treads were already missing on the first two steps, so someone obviously knew this was a problem already. I went very carefully down these stairs as I could tell they were slippery looking. As I stepped onto the third step the tread fully detached and slipped away from the stair, and I started to fall down the rest of the stairs (about 4 more steps). Luckily, I was hanging on to the railing very tightly and I managed to keep from fully tumbling all the way down, I basically slid down three steps, I twisted my knee as it wasn’t coming along for the ride. My husband who was a bit ahead of me heard me fall down and was able to collect me thankfully. Another patron in the change area asked if someone just fell and I said yes, I just did. She reported it to the staff member up stairs and then came back down to tell me they wanted me to fill out an incident report before I left. I went up the stairs to the main reception and the girl took my description of what happened and my contact information, she was very nice but said I could go now if I wanted. I proceeded to tell her last time I was at the spa in December I reported I saw someone slip and fall in the cold plunge, there are foam like pool noodles on the hand rails into the larger cold plunge pool and it isn’t secured and a poor guy was trying to get into the pool and the foam noodle slipped down the railing and he took a header down the stairs and into the pool, I think he was embarrassed and just tried to brush it off. I reported this to reception at this time, but no information was taken, and on my visit yesterday I saw no measures were taken to remedy this, this foam grip still was slipping down when people were getting into the plunge pool. So, this is two times that I have been here and there have seen slip and fall accidents (including my own). Unfortunately, no one from management called me today to follow up or ask how I was (which my knee is messed up now) or for any remediation. I have taken my mom here and my husband and was going to come back with girl friends but I am not impressed with this situation so I am seriously doubtful I will spend my money to subject anyone else to this. I’ve heard it already that they are under renovation and making improvements, but that doesn’t mean you don’t consider the safety of your current guests as the number one priority, which it clearly isn’t. I could go on about other issues around supporting people getting in and out of slippery areas, but my point has been made, anyone that is there for a few hours in winter can tell where there are not enough railings and where things are very dicey with all the water freezing. Please do better, people are spending a lot of money for a safe and relaxing environment, and this isn’t acceptable.