From salt scrubs to Thai treats... other top cleansing breaks
SEA’S THE OPPORTUNITY TO RELAX IN BIARRITZ
ANY flat body batteries feel totally recharged after a week’s thalassotherapy (treatments involving seawater and its products), leaving you more svelte and less stressed. No wonder many French women undertake an annual ‘cure’. The spa at the Hotel Sofitel Biarritz Le Miramar is more clinical than luxurious, with the prevailing scent closer to muddy seaweed than frangipani oil. But you’ll feel amazing after four treatments a day during which you soak in warm seawater, are hosed down with it, scrubbed with salt until your skin glows, and are slathered with seaweed and wrapped in clingfilm like an exotic dish.
PRICE: Four nights with two meals a day and four daily treatments costs from £1,342pp (Sofitel.accor.com). Flights/train travel cost extra.
DE-STRESS YOUR LIFE IN TRUE THAI LUXURY
THERE’S a reason everyone from Kate
Moss to Raymond Blanc visits Thailand’s Chiva-Som: its retreats really work. They’re tailored to your requirements, too. I wanted a weight-loss programme but was advised my problem was stress, so I followed a combined detox and anti-stress programme, along with treatments for a dodgy knee and elbow. There are complementary classes in everything from aqua aerobics to yoga; exquisite food (which is somehow incredibly low in calories); and some pretty swish rooms and Thai pavilions. PRICE: Seven nights’ full board with a daily treatment and £510 wellness credit costs from £3,929pp with Healing Holidays (healingholidays.com). Flights cost extra.
GIVE YOUR MIND AND BODY A WORKOUT IN DEVON
AT YEOTOWN in Devon, they say it’s not about what you lose but about what you gain. And that’s quite a lot, including a changed relationship with food, plus general wellbeing for body and soul. It’s categorically not a boot camp but you are pushed to your physical limits with boxing workouts, coastal hiking and yoga. Meanwhile, being in the big outdoors helps you de-stress along with meditation and mindfulness. Those attending the five-day retreats stay in gorgeous rustic-chic cottages.
PRICE: Five days’ all-inclusive accommodation
ENJOY A HEALTH MoT IN THE BLACK FOREST
A FRIEND checked in to Villa Stephanie at Brenners Park Hotel in Baden-Baden, had her first medical check-up and was found to have a huge (non-malignant) growth in her stomach – which UK doctors hadn’t found despite her being in pain for two years. That’s the beauty of this luxurious property in the foothills of the Black Forest: it merges superb medical care with holistic health. Massages are carried out by trained physiotherapists and there’s a five-floor spa.
PRICE: Seven days’ detox and weight loss costs from about £6,959pp (oetker collection.com). Flights cost extra.
FLING AWAY THE MOBILE IN THE HIGHLANDS
ESCAPE the digital world with a trip to Laggan, an off-grid property on the Ardnish Peninsula in the Highlands. No electricity means no TV or wi-fi, though there is heating and hot water supplied by a wood-burner. Meanwhile, you can turn your mind to simple pursuits such as scavenging for driftwood for the burner, watching sea eagles or playing board games by paraffin lamp. It’s so cut off, you have to take a boat to reach Laggan (you keep it during your stay).
PRICE: A week’s self-catering for five in three rooms costs £1,050 year-round (ardnish.org).