At Swiss centre of wellness Chenot, it’s about prevention rather than cure

Walk into any high-street health store and you’d be forgiven for thinking detox is simply a process invented to sell stuff.

At Chenot Palace, detox is considerably more bespoke than an off-the-shelf capsule, takes longer than 24 hours (from seven days) and costs rather more than a 3-for-2 offer. The Chenot Method, according to its website, is somewhat vague. Not that this has put off any of my fellow guests – or the 60 per cent of clients who come here more than once a year – at its flagship centre of wellness in Weggis, Switzerland.

An international mix of solitary and couple detoxers – mostly Russian, but including increasing numbers of Brits and Europeans – have gathered, focused on the very important matter of prevention rather than cure. Or, as they have it here, the business of “healthspan”.

Most of Chenot’s guests are aged between 45-65, but in the last week of January there are no shortage of 20- and 70-somethings too. The prevailing philosophy: if we’re living longer, and hoping for more years of retirement, then let’s enjoy them in better health.

For at Chenot, it turns out, wellness is not something you can buy in a bottle, it’s something you achieve by focusing on the four pillars of health – nutrition, exercise, relaxation and sleep – via a holistic combination of Chinese medicine and science, including Chenot’s new future-proofing molecular lab.

And the Method. Ah yes, the Method. Chenot offers a fasting process so (mostly) enjoyable that deprivation barely comes into it. Each guest is allocated 800-850 calories a day, divided up across three mouth-watering meals.

Breakfast (try the barley cappuccinos for a convincing alternative coffee hit) precedes an aromatherapy bath, a heated mud wrap and (there’s no way around this) somewhat startling jet wash. Then, it’s time for a blissful 30-minute Chenot energetic massage (ask for Doina), focusing on your 12 meridians, as well as any areas identified as needing attention during your initial bioenergetic assessment and acupuncture session.

Lunch and dinner are three-course taste sensations, even on fast days (each guest has the option of one day per week), when two types of broth are served at your table in the dining room.

Mealtimes tend to be the only time guests connect, with a friendly “bon appetit”, other than at the lively weekly cookery demo with Chenot’s charismatic chef, Ettore Moliteo. The rest of the time, we pad around in mostly silent bath-robed bonhomie, sharing occasional nods; the days quickly absorbed by all the treatments.

There is much to take away from each stay: your resting metabolic rate, for example; postural and movement tips – as a 40-something office worker I apparently have the “mobility of a 70-year-old”. A medical examination pointed towards a hyperactive thyroid, prompting a magnesium and iodine supplement prescription and advice to see my GP on my return home.

A body composition analysis led to a recommendation to do weights (which reminds me…), and there’s also the purely enjoyable – although even the instantly transformative anti-ageing facial involved a particularly ferocious cupping situation.

I remain sceptical about spending a huge amount of money on the Neuro Acoustic Deep Relaxation treatment (half an hour listening to specially tuned music for deep relaxation – isn’t that what Classic FM is for?), and this claustrophobe is not going to convert to the joy of cryotherapy any time soon. Such is the focus on wellness, not thinness, that they don’t actually weigh you – though by the end of the week, I’m not only clearer headed and more motivated, but lighter too (to the tune of 7lb).

I’ve also managed to turn all my “red” or “stressed” areas (sinuses, heart, pineal gland, spleen) to green, and have signed up to a yoga course. Prevention not cure indeed – and if this is the true meaning of detox, then sign me up for the next one.

Healing Holidays (020 3372 6945; healingholidays.com) can arrange a seven-night Advanced Detox programme from £6,369pp based on two people sharing, including British Airways flights, full board accommodation and inclusions of the programme. Chenot Palace Weggis (00 41 412 552000; chenotpalaceweggis.com)

Covid rules Proof of at least two doses of an approved vaccine, the second administered no fewer than 14 days before entry

Have your spirits lifted with various health treatments at Chenot Palace Weggis Wellness booster: the retreat is set on the shores of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland