Currently in Slovakia to experience two of its newest hotels, Kempinski Hotel River Park and Grand Hotel Kempinski High Tatras – both with exceptional spas.

As there are limited flights between London and Bratislava, we took an early morning flight into Vienna and drove for 45 minutes to Bratislava, the bustling Slovakian capital. We arrived in time for a delicious buffet lunch at Kempinski Hotel River Park, the city’s latest and most glamorous  5-star hotel.

My treatment in the Zion Spa was booked for 7pm, so plenty of  time for a tour of a new local winery at Modra, outside Bratislava. Nigel, a Kiwi winemaker who helped set the winery up for its Slovakian owners, showed us around. We tasted the white wines first then moved onto the reds, which we sampled with nibbles of local cheeses and delicacies. We returned to the hotel feeling noticeably more cheerful!

Now on our way back to the UK after our Spanish holiday. It’s always a wrench to leave our little bolthole, but at least we have the journey home to look forward to as we’re driving back though France.

We were up before dawn (ghastly!) for our long trip, leaving Javea around 6.30am and taking the A7 motorway to the French border then on northwards to Millau in the Midi- Pyrenees.  It was quite an effort in the heat, but we covered over 600 miles in a long day of shared driving with just one diversion  - lunch at Llafranc, one of our old haunts on the Costa Brava. The villa we rented for a family holiday 25 years ago is still there and looks much the same.

It was probably the fastest, but not the most enjoyable way to travel, with heavy traffic in places, expensive tolls and below par service areas selling refreshments at lunatic prices.

We reached Millau around 8pm and as we drove down the steep winding road into the town, had a great view of the famous Millau bridge in the distance. This beautiful bridge is one of the wonders of the modern world and an awesome sight.

Following a good night’s rest, we drove out to the bridge the following morning and toured the visitor centres above and below the bridge, to get a true feel for the sheer scale of this graceful and amazing feat of engineering. The bridge spans the wide Tarn valley and links two limestone plateaus and has made the A75 highway the shortest route between Paris and the Mediterranean. We finished our visit by driving across the bridge’s one and half mile span before continuing our journey north.

Millau bridge

A couple of hours north of Millau, we turned off the main highway to visit Bagnols-les-Bains – a sleepy little thermal spa village near the town of Mende. The spa facilities seem quite good for such a small place and include indoor and outdoor swimming pools. You can visit for half a day and enjoy the pools and showers or have a massage in the therapeutic waters. I noticed that the several doctors practise at the spa, where the waters are used to treat respiratory and rheumatic conditions.

Spa Entrance, Vichy

We over-nighted in the elegant spa town of Vichy, where we stayed at the Thermalia hotel. While our room was a good size and perfectly adequate, the ambience felt dated and a bit clinical (old fashioned weigh- scales outside the lifts on each level). The famous Vichy Spa adjoins the hotel and can be accessed directly through doors on the ground floor. However, it is a separate business and has links to other hotels in the town.

The spa was closed when we arrived in the evening in heavy rain. The next morning I’d hoped to have had a look around the facilities, but unfortunately my request was turned down by a haughty receptionist in the palatial entrance lobby. I gathered from my elementary French that the spa was busy so no-one was available to show me round. I’ll have to come back! At least I managed a photo of the spa entrance and can report that the highly carbonated waters are used medicinally to aid digestive problems and in beauty and wellbeing treatments. Oddly enough I never saw mention of a Vichy shower in the treatments list!

Our Spanish Garden

It’s hard to believe that we’ve  been in Spain for a month – the weather has been glorious – just one short refreshing rain shower in five weeks!

The time time has flown – what with visits from family and friends, shopping, housekeeping, gardening and essential cooling dips in the sea and the pool.

I’ve done some work on the next issue of Spa Wellbeing, written up a couple of features and made frequent visits to the internet café. The only thing I haven’t done is visit any spas. This is the peak season, so not the ideal time for a fam or press trip – these can wait until our next stay in the autumn. I’ve lots of features to write up in the meantime for the website.

Working from Spain is not ideal because we don’t have an internet connection in the villa.  We’ve applied for a phone line and broadband connection, and are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be installed before we leave for the UK in about ten days.

The Wiesenhof Hotel

After a thoroughly enjoyable  and interesting stay at the AlpenMedHotel Lamm in Seefeld, (more about our amazing treatments in my longer review coming soon), we have now moved to the rural setting of the Wiesenhof Hotel in Pertisau – a short walk from the the shores of Lake Achensee and the Karwendel Alpine Park.

Our lovely room has a four poster bed and a large balcony with rural and mountain views! The surrounding countryside looks beautiful in the mist and rain so must look positively stunning with blue skies and sunshine

The Wiesenhof has extensive wellness facilities and after lunch, we have the first of our treatments, a 20-minute Tyrolean shale oil bath for two, which we take in a long narrow wooden bath. The shale oil is extracted from local stone and has a pleasant, slightly antiseptic fragrance.  We thoroughly enjoy a warming and relaxing soak – perfect on a wet and cool afternoon!

Wooden bath for shale oil treatment

What a pleasure to be in Austria again!

We’re visiting the Tyrol, flying into Innsbruck and then taking a half hour drive to the alpine village of Seefeld. Shame about the weather! – we leave the UK basking in sunshine and land at Innsbruck in heavy rain. The city’s spectacular mountain backdrop is completely shrouded in mist and low clouds.

Seefeld village

We’re staying at the AlpenMedHotel Lamm in the heart of Seefeld. This is a comfortable, well established hotel – with a choice of  traditional or contemporary accommodation in two wings. There’s also a super modern spa with outstanding facilities, including a medically supervised cryrotherapy chamber, one of a select few in Europe. We’ll be having a few sessions in the -110° chill – and  writing more about this unusual treatment in Spa Wellbeing.

AlpenMedHotel Lamm's lovely spa pool

Summer has arrived – at least in Portugal!  Cloudless blue skies and bright sunshine from early morning until late evening – a welcome contrast to the  cold  weather we’ve been having in the UK this May.

Thalasso pool at Grande Real Santa Eulalia Resort

I’m in the Algarve  for a few days to visit and experience some leading spas, including the new Longevity Wellness Resort and Medical Spa, which opens officially in July.

I’ll also take a peek at  Caldas de Monchique, an old village away from the coast with natural spa waters. It’s the region’s only thermal spa and is situated in the hills near the highest point in the Algarve. The village has several spa hotels and a spa centre where you can have with therapeutic and wellness treatments.

This part of southern Portugal has long been a haven for spa goers and golfers alike. There’s an abundance of  luxury hotels and  golf resorts all with spas with outstanding facilities and treatments. Look out for my impressions of the trip and what I found in Spa Wellbeing soon.

The above photo is of the warm thalasso pool at Grande Real Santa Eulalia Resort in Albufeira.

Ibiza Springtime

Work has been full on these last few weeks, so I was more than ready for a break in the Spanish sunshine, even if it meant leaving for the airport at 4.15am!

After three days in Javea, I’m now in the Balearics, on the lovely island of Ibiza for a Spa & Wellbeing weekend. I took the afternoon ferry from Denia (a few miles from Javea), and arriving at the port joined a huge throng of passengers departing to Ibiza for an early Easter break. I seriously wondered if one ship could accommodate so many people, but of course it did and once aboard, there was a surprising amount of room.

Ibiza is looking fresh and green with wild spring flowers and blossom on the trees. We are staying at Cas Gasi, a charming hotel in the middle of the island and during our stay will be having yoga and pilates in the hotel’s exercise studio and also visiting some of Ibiza’s newest spas. Watch out for my account of the weekend on the website soon.

Flew down to Perpignan for a fleeting visit to some lesser known (to UK visitors) French spas.

What a tonic to exchange London’s rain for the blue skies and warm sunshine of south east France. After picking up our hire car, we headed west into the foothills of the Pyrenees and the tiny spa village of Molitg-les-Bains, where we were having dinner and an overnight stay at the historic Chateau de Riell. A visit to the adjoining thermal spa was planned for the following morning.

We were delayed by the rush-hour traffic in Perpignan. No sooner had we arrived at the Chateau, than instead of being shown to our rooms, we were asked to grab our swimsuits and go immediately to the spa in the nearby Grand Hotel. Apparently, our treatments had been rescheduled and the spa was staying open late specially for us.

A great privilege to have the spa entirely to ourselves – and such an interesting and historic one too with smiley helpful therapists, who despite not speaking English made us feel very special and cared for. Any tiredness from the journey was soon forgotten as we soaked first in deep marble baths in individual marble cabins then relaxed in two large warm pools – one with massage jets and thermal water and the other with bouyant white clay, in which we floated like white ghosts for about 15 minutes. After showering it was back to the marble cabins for a relaxing facial treatment before dressing and returning refreshed and invigorated to the Chateau de Riell for a spectacular  dinner on a beautifully set table next to a cosy log fire.  Amazing food, wine and company!

Our rooms in the Chateau are nothing short of spectacular! Accessed via a narrow winding staircase covered in an exotic zebra print carpet, they are vast and sumptuously furnished with vast comfortable beds, heavy drapes and massive shuttered windows with views over the village and down the valley towards the Canigou mountain. I just love the unique charm and character of this part of France!

Chateau de Riell, Molitg-des-Bains

This week, I´m having a relaxing break with friends on the Costa del Sol. The September weather is glorious – long sunny days and balmy moonlit nights. It’s hard to believe that autumn is just around the corner.

We flew down to Malaga with Monarch Airlines on a wide-bodied airbus (the sort used on long haul flights) – so there was more legroom than usual and ample space for hand luggage. The onboard breakfast cost £6 and included two cups of coffee or tea.  Considering that most airlines now charge over £2 for just a hot drink, it was good value and tasty too!

Here in the pretty resort of Nerja, I’m enjoying daily thalassotherapy – not in some super swanky spa, but in the warm waters of the Med. Using one of those long polystyrene tubes sold in beach shops, I stay blissfully and securely immersed for ages, stretching, floating, riding the waves and carrying out all sorts of aquarobic exercises. This natural thalasso is an exhilarating tonic with a tangible ´feel good’ factor.

For maximum enjoyment, the sun should be blazing down and the sea should have a slight swell so you can bob over the top of the waves like a cork. Yesterday afternoon, a breeze whipped up, making the sea quite rough. I waded in slowly as usual and was suddenly knocked off my feet by a large wave that snatched off my sunglasses. Before I could retrieve them or my balance, another huge wave sent me sprawling and rudely washed through my nasal passages! Not quite the idyllic experience of the previous day, but a reminder of the awesome power of nature and the sea.

How time flies when you’re having fun! Seems like only yesterday, we were boarding the Pride of Bilbao for our trip to Spain and now our spa visits and holiday are behind us.

Watch out for my reviews of the Marqués de Riscal Hotel in Elciego and the Gran Hotel La Florida in Barcelona – they’ll be on the website soon. Suffice to say, both properties and their spas exceeded my expectations.

Exterior of Marqués de Riscal Hotel

The Marqués de Riscal Hotel and Spa, situated in the heart of the Spain’s Rioja Alavesa wine region, must be the most unusual hotel we’ve ever stayed in. Designed by renowned Canadian architect Frank Gehry, its breathtaking shape represents the flowing movement of the locally produced wines and the colour of the wine barrels. The Caudalie Vinotherapy Spa is the perfect addition to the hotel’s amenities and offers top notch therapists, products and treatments.

By contrast, the Gran Hotel La Florida in Barcelona is an older and more traditional property, although the lovely in/outdoor pool and spa amenities are modern. Situated in the hills behind the city, the views of Barcelona from the rooms and terraces are stunning at any time. Treatments in the refurbished Zen Zone Spa are first class.

Night View of Barcelona from Gran Hotel La Florida pool