- massage
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They offer a wide range of treatments including sports therapy, massage, acupuncture, herbal medicine and homeopathy.
I dropped in on a friend's recommendation after having injured myself biking. Their sports therapist soon had me fixed up and on my way.
Unit 10, Staveley Mill Yard, Kendal, Cumbria, LA8 9LR
www.staveleynaturalhealth.co.uk
01539 822244
Learn about traditional Thai massage techniques as applied to oil massage. We did this very well put together one-day course and apart from having a fun day, came away feeling relaxed and happy together.
Cold day in Nha Trang? Why not go and get completely covered in hot mud? We did and decided it was a very good plan indeed. Hot mud, hot pools and budget massages - perfect should you find yourself in Nha Trang in the rainy season!
www.thapbahotspring.com.vn/index.php?ha=home&site=en
It's the other side of town from the main hotels area, but its quite easy to organise a taxi + I think there are buses too.
www.vietnamtravels.org/nha-trang
We're obsessed with our weekly massages in Chiang Mai, and have been all over the place trying out new places. We still believe the massages just outside Wat Umong are the best in Chiang Mai. The cost is only 99THB (£1.60) a hour, and you can wander around the beautiful Wat Umong temple before and after...
Beijing bathhouses are fascinating places, and hours can be blissfully whiled away getting clean, being scrubbed and massaged, and lounging in front of someone else's choice of bizarre TV.
On top of massage, exfoliant and other treatments, many offer food and drink, and you can sometimes stay overnight at no extra charge.
Ranging from gaudy-baubley hangouts for China's newly-rich to the unassumingly traditional, my favourites are somewhere in between.
The best of these that I've been to is Hanjiang, with great staff, good treatments, basic surroundings and an interesting mix of clientele.
Xiaoyun Lu - from the junction with the third ring road, walk five to ten minutes northeast and Hanjiang is on the left side of the road.
What a fantastic booklet. It gives so much information about making the most of your holiday and doing something worthwhile.
We did loads of the stuff recommended in it and it helped us meet local people and ensure that our money was going to worthwhile places.
For example: teaching locals to read English (Brother Mouse in Luang Prabang - fantastic place!).
If you fancy a massage, go to the Red Cross in Luang Prabang. It's not luxury - none of your scented candles here - but a great massage and all the money goes to the Red Cross. The brave can even donate blood.
Stay Another Day Laos is available in guesthouses, travel agents, bars, restaurants - all over the place.
What a beautiful place to while away a few hours having a massage, a mud wrap, enjoying the thermal pools.
Ask anywhere in Rotarua and they will point you in the right direction
For the best and cheapest massage ever, head to the Vietnamese Traditional Massage Institute where all the masseurs are blind.
It costs about £2 for an hour.
85 Cong Quynh, Dist. 1.
Tel: 839 6697
A lido jutting out into the lake. Perfect when Geneva is hot and you are feeling envious of the ducks paddling around - you can join them. Entry is super cheap, there is a good cafe serving substantial salads and terrines and showers/ loos/ changing rooms. There are different sectioned off swimming areas, some deeper, some shallower (and with a pebbly beach for little ones). Super relaxing and quite fun to be bobbing around next to a family of ducks. It's open from early til 8pm and they also have a hammam and massage facilities (but think hammam is currently being refurbished and you definitely need to book for massages).
Quai du Mont-Blanc 30
1201 GENEVE
www.bains-des-paquis.ch/
I have been travelling in Thailand a while now and of all the places I have been this is the winner by far. Thailand is a friendly country but Chiang Mai is in a different league. The people are great and just hanging around the city is a lot of fun.
It is far less busy and polluted than Bangkok and much less commercial than Phuket and the islands.
There is tons to do. I have been trekking, done a cookery course, had loads of massages and spa treatments and the food is terrific. A wide variety of choice and at ridiculous prices.
Brilliant all round so my tip is go to Chiang Mai!
If you are finding the heat a bit too much there are plenty of enclosed air-conditioned bars with a western theme, be they Irish, English, Belgian or whatever. Here you can eat “comfort food” and watch replays of your favourite old TV shows and live football.
If you’re tired out by all this...get a massage. Make sure it’s actually a massage establishment and not a “gentleman’s relaxation” facility! There are plenty of small boutiques you can go in and get a 1or 2 hour leg rub for about 200 to 400 baht and some beautiful spas that will pamper you for the best part of a day for a few grand.
Pattaya remains one of the few seaside towns where anyone can do just about anything they want.... But at half the price!
Terme di Merano is a brand new spa centre opened last year in the spa town of Merano, in Italy near the Austrian border. It features a large number of pools (open air -even in winter - and not) and saunas, Turkish baths etc. in a stunning modern building and park from where you can see the mountains. You can book massages and treatments such as wine baths and hay baths...and the prices are reasonable.
The town is lovely, warm (it is set in a south-facing valley) and lively, the mountains around are gorgeous and the trekking fabulous.
The food, beer and wine are excellent (northern Italian and Austrian style food both available).
Just search on the internet for Merano Terme (or Meran in German) and you will find plenty of info.
The best possible Thai massage. Step out of a Hungarian street (Terez Korut) into a courtyard, and then into a charmingly shabby Bangkok environment - Thai pop music on the cassette, incense. Book an hour if you must, but an hour and a half of every muscle being given an extraordinary workout costs only 7,000 HuF. Charming girls - an experience not to be missed.
Terez krt 32 (through the arch)
tel: 06 20 8030 859
Trams 4, 6
Metro Oktogon
Just past the Muvizs cinema
Run by Cambodian women to western standards, Apsara is a wonderful place to get great Cambodian & Thai massages, with and without oil.
Nr. 17 on Street 63. Phone 092 294 025
I would also recommend the blind masseurs at Siem Riep who will ease your pain after the bumpy Cambodian road and your supporting these people is, in my opinion, more worthy than giving money to the many beggars.
If you are under 30 or wear the now British uniform of shell suit and trainers, head for north Goa. The south (as yet) is a bit more refined, a bit more expensive but, hey it's your hols!
For great food try "Sams Shack" on the beach outside the Holiday Inn, Mobor, or Edwins "Goan Village" in Cavelossim, somewhere new is the Riverview literally on the river behind the Old Anchor. The beach sellers are less hassle here, one of our favourites, Camilla has as she calls it, Paul Mcarries (Macca) autograph.
The best massage on the beach is from Abdul, about £7/£8 for a full hour of relaxation. We are back there in December, but don't come near us if you are in your shellsuit&trainers.
Want to chill out after a hard day's sightseeing? I visited the beautifully restored Arabian Baths, about ten minutes walk from the Giralda. For €28 you can spend two hours lounging in the baths and plunge pools, jacuzzi and steam room. The price also includes a 15 minute massage. Extremely relaxing!
C/ Aire 15, Seville;
tel: 955 010 025/26/24;
www.airedesevilla.com
Sultan's Inn: an inexpensive but lovely hostel with a nice terrace, showers and air-conditioning. I was very impressed with the price - I shared a room with a friend for around £12 per night each.
Chemberlitash Hamam: a spacious Turkish bath - the changing room, if I recall, is a corridor, but the actual hamam is large and one can spread out and lie on the marble slab in peace. In the smaller baths, there is no room on the central marble slab and you have to sit around, sweating and waiting for your turn for massage instead of lying down and relaxing.
Sultan's Inn (beware, there are many inns with Sultan in the name - so make sure you get this one): Mustafa Pasa Sokak No. 50, Kucukayasofya, Sultanahmet, 34700
Çemberlitas Hamami, Vezirhan Cad. 8 (off Divanyolu at the Column of Constantine; tel. 0212/522-7974; $25 bath, massage, and kese [a scrubbing using an abrasive mitt], including tip; $10 bath only; daily 6am-midnight with separate sections
If you're aching after the trip from the Thai border (or are just suffering from temple overload) try this EXTREMELY vigorous massage. Your eyes will water at the time, but it's worth it the next day.
National Road No 6A, then west to Caltex station
One of the best massages you can get in Bangkok is in the grounds of Wat Po. They will do you a one hour herbal massage which leaves you feeling wonderful, and it's amazingly peaceful there, despite the proximity of the traffic. A soothing respite from the heat of a Bangkok afternoon.
Wat Po is the temple with the huge reclining Buddha, next to the Grand Palace. The massage school is at the back of the Wat compound.
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