Nobody looks forward to having blood tests and body scans but at a swanky medi-spa your personal wellness co-ordinator will probably schedule a relaxing massage afterwards, which takes the sting out of those needles and probes. These days medi-spas collaborate with not only the world’s top consultants and hospitals but with leading interior designers too, so the bedrooms and restaurants are as stylish as any five-star hotel. Here’s where to check in for your check-up.
Spa finder — click on regions below for our recommendations
Europe
1. Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, Germany
Baden-Baden is one of only 11 Unesco-designated great spa towns of Europe, thanks to its 2,000-year history of thermal bathing. For the past decade the destination has been on the wellness radar primarily because of this spa, which is within one of Germany’s grandest grandes dames, Brenners Park-Hotel. It comprises a chic medical clinic that specialises in innovative longevity treatments combined with a pampering palace with treatments by Augustinus Bader, a brand beloved by Hollywood stars. It also has the Black Forest on its doorstep for five-star hiking and dining options that range from super-strict detox diets to loosen-your-belt gastronomy.
Spa treatments from £165 | Family friendly | Accessible
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details Healing Holidays has seven nights’ full board from £7,199pp, including a Detox and Weight Loss programme and transfers (020 7135 2436; healingholidays.com/sundaytimes). Fly to Baden-Baden
2. Chenot Palace Weggis, Switzerland
This grand resort in a fairytale castle in the sleepy town of Weggis on Lake Lucerne pulls off a tricky sleight of hand — it’s a temple to detoxification yet manages to feel decadent too. Its spa heritage is second to none, as its founder was the late, great Henri Chenot, known as the father of detox. The three-step toxin-eliminating method he developed more than 50 years ago is now augmented with cutting-edge scientific advances yet remains faithful to his “prevention is better than cure” ethos. Central to its success is the calorie-restricted yet delicious diet. By the end of a week, like countless supermodel and CEO fans, you will emerge like a butterfly from a chrysalis, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and several pounds lighter.
Spa treatments from £158 | Accessible
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details The Chenot Palace Weggis has seven nights’ full board from £5,162pp, including tests, consultations, treatments and the Chenot Diet (chenot.com). Fly to Zurich
3. Clinique La Prairie, Switzerland
Tim WagnerMarlene Dietrich, Charles de Gaulle and Truman Capote are just a few of those who have recharged their batteries at this Swiss sanctuary near the jazz festival town of Montreux. It’s less spa than high-tech holistic health farm, where programmes target everything from weight loss to maximising brain potential by combining a medical approach with elegant, nutritional meals and Zen-boosting breathwork, cryotherapy and sound therapy. Massages and facials are supplemented with the latest biometric testing, stem-cell treatments and epigenetic DNA analysis, which makes for a minutely detailed, bespoke full-body check-up with tangible results. Children are welcome (but rare).
Spa treatments from £215 | Family friendly | Accessible
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details Clinique La Prairie (cliniquelaprairie.com) and Healing Holidays have six nights’ full board from £17,789pp, including a Master Detox programme and transfers (020 7135 2436; healingholidays.com/sundaytimes). Fly to Geneva
4. Mount Med Resort, Austria
Michael Huber PhotographyIf you want a wellness break that feels like a “normal” holiday then this transformed historic Austrian guesthouse expertly bridges the divide between holistic and hedonistic. In the cute Alpine backwater of Oberau, about an hour from Innsbruck, the spa opened in December 2024 with interiors that are soothingly chic and home to a world of razor-sharp doctors, therapists and trainers who have the latest technology on hand to tackle your concerns. Meanwhile, the executive chef Phillip Schnabel, who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants, serves up three gourmet meals every day, devised to ensure better health and weight loss. Exactly the kind of souvenir that we want to bring back home.
Spa treatments from £140 | Accessible
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details Healing Holidays has seven nights’ full board from £5,699pp, including a Detox & Weight Management programme and transfers (020 7135 2436; healingholidays.com/sundaytimes). Fly to Innsbruck
5. Palazzo Fiuggi, Italy
Fiuggi is a quaint medieval town an hour’s drive from Rome that has been famous since Michelangelo claimed that its mineral springs cured his kidney stones. Its pulling power was further enhanced in 1913 by the arrival of this art nouveau masterpiece, which was quickly adopted by Italian royalty as somewhere to entertain Hollywood stars. Scoot forward a century, via a £25 million renovation, and the palazzo is back in the limelight with wellbeing cuisine by Heinz Beck, who runs Rome’s three-Michelin-starred La Pergola, a glamorous spa, a cutting-edge medical centre and forested hills to hike, all of which puts plenty of dolce into this vita.
Spa treatments from £165
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details Healing Holidays has three nights’ full board from £2,699pp, including a Wellness Break programme and transfers (020 7135 2436; healingholidays.com/sundaytimes). Fly to Rome
Asia
6. RAKxa Integrative Wellness, Thailand
Since its launch in 2022 this 85-acre, adults-only contemporary retreat on a wilderness island on Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, a 50-minute drive from the city centre, has taken the spa scene by storm. It has three vast and beautifully designed wellbeing complexes. One is devoted to traditional holistic practices and another houses a gym worthy of Olympians. But it is its medi-spa, which can call on top doctors from the capital’s renowned Bumrungrad International Hospital, that elevates RAKxa’s wellness to unbeatable. Sixty-two stealth-wealth suites and impressive fine dining are the icing on the cake (yup, guests even get to eat cake here).
Spa treatments from £135 | Accessible
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details Healing Holidays has five nights’ full board from £4,799pp, including a Detox programme and transfers (020 7135 2436; healingholidays.com/sundaytimes). Fly to Bangkok
Latin America
7. SHA Mexico
The Caribbean cousin of SHA, the award-winning Spanish temple to wellness, is a striking contemporary resort that lies just beyond Cancun’s party zone and promises personalised health programmes at its swanky six-storey wellbeing clinic. More than 30 experts, specialising in everything from cardiology to psychology, lead a team of therapists, nutritionists and fitness trainers who will create your schedule, which might include ancient practices such as acupuncture or cutting-edge alternatives such as ozone IV drips to reduce inflammation. In between appointments you can enjoy two vast infinity pools, a lap pool and an enviable stretch of upmarket Costa Mujeres beachfront. Dining is equally five-star, a fusion of Mediterranean and Asian flavours that elevates healthy cuisine to haute levels.
Spa treatments from £204 | Accessible
Read the spa review in full and book a stay
Details Healing Holidays has seven nights’ full board from £5,299pp, including a Rebalance & Energise programme and transfers (020 7135 2436; healingholidays.com/sundaytimes). Fly to Cancun
Additional reporting Harriet Walker
The full list of the World’s 50 Best Spas, in collaboration with Healing Holidays, was first published on October 13, 2025
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