We were sorry to leave Velassaru after our short but memorable stay blessed with perfect weather.

We said our farewells to the resort’s  lovely staff and left the island after breakfast – travelling 30 minutes by speedboat to Kurumba to spend a day and a night on the Maldives’ first ever resort.

Kurumba is named after the coconuts that grow on island and are still used in cocktails and desserts served in the bars and restaurants. Kurumba’s a much bigger resort than Velassaru with more rooms and larger public areas including shops, lounges, a business centre and a library.

We have a fantastic villa that comes with a sumptuous four poster bed and its own walled private  garden with a waterfall, hot tub and swimming pool! Our front door looks out onto a powder white beach and turquoise sea. A day and a night just isn’t long enough to enjoy all this!

Pathways link the accommodation with the public areas and restaurants and criss-cross the island’s lush gardens filled with exotic blooms and frangipani trees covered in pink and white flowers.

The Aqua Spa is a short walk from our villa and offers individually tailored treatments and spa rituals using Pevonia products. One of the therapists gives me a short tour of the  facilities and treatment rooms, but can’t offer me a treatment slot as they are fully booked – such is the spa’s popularity. We settle for a swim in the ocean before dinner followed by a dip in our private pool before enjoying a luxurious deep sleep in our four poster bed.

It’s back to reality tomorrow as we head back to the UK after what has been an unforgettable few days in this lovely part of the world.

After 11 hours of flying, a three-hour stop over in fascinating Dubai and a 30-minute speed boat ride, we have arrived in Velassaru, a paradise island in the Maldives. Formerly known as Laguna Beach, the resort has been renovated, refurbished and renamed. It opened in March this year.

Beach, Velassaru

We are here for four glorious days to sample the resort, the scuba diving and of course the new over-water Aquum spa. Fringed by perfect white sand beaches and surrounded by turquoise seas – you can walk or swim around the island in less than half an hour.  The weather is perfect too – blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the low 30°s.

The warm coral seas are teeming with marine life – just walking from our water villa to the restaurants or beach, we’ve seen shoals of small fish, turtles, baby sharks, crabs, needle fish and lots more.

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

I had three interesting meetings up in London this week, all relating to new spa developments, which seem to be continuing apace despite the economic slowdown.

On Monday I heard about the Parkhotel, at Igls in Austria – which reopens this autumn following an extensive refurbishment. This is a medical spa offering prescribed programmes of modern Mayr medicine – similar to Viva Mayr. White coat holidays, as medical spa stays are sometimes called, are growing in popularity as their positive effects on health and wellbeing become better known.

On Tuesday, I enjoyed a business lunch at the Caesar Hotel, courtesy of Prestige Hotels of the World. We had an interesting presentation of 20 or so consortium’s members – all individual city and resort hotels in Europe and around the world.

I was particularly interested to hear about the fantastic new spa at the Sport Hotel Hermitage and Spa at Soldeu in Andorra. This is the largest Wellness and Spa centre of its kind in Europe and is situated in the mountains at the foot of the ski slopes.

The Hotel Peralada Wine Spa and Golf is also on my ‘must review in the future’ list. Located just 30 mins by road from Girona and 90 mins from Barcelona, the spa treatments include vinotherapy with products made from local grapes.

The afternoon ended with a meeting with the Kempinski hotels. Kempinski have long been one of my favourite hotel groups, and have opened up many fascinating new properties in 2009 – including their first Safari Lodge with an Anantara Spa in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.