CONDE NAST TRAVELLER SPA AWARDS 2013

OK, so in manner of proper lifestyle blogger I somehow managed to get myself an invite to the Conde Nast Traveller Spa awards which were on Wednesday evening – and if you don’t believe me – here’s the invitation!

Sadly not me on the front:-

Lovely evening with some amazing spa’s winning major accolades – I want to go to all of them….

Here is a list of the winners, fyi just so that you can drool:-

The Spa Awards 2013

BEST DESTINATION SPA: COMO Shambhala Estate, Bali (Issue: Stress)
It’s hard to see how this slice of heaven, with its raging jungle backdrop and reassuringly calm manicured lawns – blessed daily by a priest – could get any better, but GM, Paul Liner has introduced even more effective packages. Weight loss, anti-aging, energy boosting are all here, along with the world’s most gifted visiting practitioners. It’s all about reconnection to the source. Suddenly your inbox doesn’t matter anymore. It’s the antithesis of hair-shirted spirituality, and the service is immaculate. It’s no wonder this holistic nirvana remains the reigning queen of Bali’s spas. The silence is so potent you can hear your own heart beat (a good sign).

BEST MEDI SPA: Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Switzerland (Issue: Physical Recovery)
An hour on the train from Zurich, mountain peaks visible from every room, Switzerland’s cure-all is both a spa in the traditional sense – with its own supply of therapeutic thermal water – and stingingly state-of-the-art. There are glorious new spa suites with their own sauna and steam room (and bidet-loos with their own remote control), and an ultra-modern medical wing staffed by 30 doctors and therapists specializing in physical recovery, with seriously heavyweight credentials – a new MRI scanner, up-to-the-minute dentistry equipment, an operating theatre and the latest equipment for cosmetic surgery as well as non-surgical laser cosmetic work. And then there’s that pure, delicious water, which fills the pools and the Kneipp stream in the huge wet area – walk in it, bathe in it, drink it. And the food is amazing as well. What a rocket charger.

BEST FOR THE WEIGHT LOSS: Clinic Buchinger Wilhelmi, Germany
‘This is not a hotel, it’s a clinic,’ is the tagline here. Rooms are sparse, soulless and have emergency- call buttons on every corner. It’s no0t, perhaps, a place to come if you are feeling fragile. Mobiles are banned in public and the whole outlook is incredibly controlled. A medical backbone gives the place pedigree: Dr Otto Buchinger’s therapeutic fasting cure was founded 80- years ago and cleanses the body to such a degree that it’s whacked into a miraculous, self-healing state. The minimum stay is 10 days, and you need to lay your body bare. After a few days, hunger pangs evaporate, grey cheeks turn rosy and you can leave your bed and hot-water bottle behind. Then it’s time for the food-reintroduction phase where you are sent home with copious folders on what to eat next. Then your stomach kicks into action. You leave sparkly eyed, as clean as a whistle inside and out, and gloriously shrunk.

BEST FOR ANTI-AGEING: La Reserve Geneve, Switzerland
Any spa that helps you lose three kilos in four days without a yelp of pain or a nanosecond of discomfort gets our vote. This grown-up hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva is very good at all of that. Its four-day Better Ageing Programme is aimed at retuning the body without agony. You start the day with room service, some wimpy tea and a big plate of perfectly ripe mangoes, pawpaw and other exotica. The incredibly pretty spa is large, lush and tranquil, with a swimming pool, endless treatment rooms, and highly trained therapists. Days are planned around your needs whether it is exercise, tennis, massages, balneotherapy, wraps & scrubs, and specialty lunches and dinners. On the morning of the fifth day, you’ll find you’ve lost weight, your blood pressure has slid way down and your spirits have soared. You’ll want to do it all over again, right then, right there.

BEST FOR BEACH ACTION: Florblanca, Costa Rica
Costa Rica is one of the healthiest places in the world – fresh air, fresh fish, the Pacific Ocean, howler monkeys and parrots, all with a backdrop of palm trees and tropical plants. Florblanca is a series of small private villas sandwiched between two of the best surfing beaches anywhere: Santa Teresa and Hermosa. You can explore the rainforest, or gallop on horseback across miles of beaches; there’s also a swimming pool, open-air yoga and Pilates in a studio with bats in the rafters, but everyone who has moved to Santa Teresa has come here for one reason – to surf. Learning to surf is tough, a workout like nothing else – almost like skiing without the chairlifts. But no matter how wiped out you are, when you catch a wave and ride it, overwhelming joy propels you right back out again. When you are too spent to continue, downtime consists of deep-tissue massages, reading by the pool and the occasional paddle in the sea.

BEST HOT SPOT: One & Only The Palm, Dubai
Hot and hassle-free, Dubai has purpose. Especially if you scurry to this retreat of glamorous super-serenity, far from the traffic jams. It’s finely tuned but also totally chilled out, with marble floors and arches, waist-high lanterns and huge bowls of water overspilling softly. The villa suites are smart, private and stylish and the main pool is a deisgn wonder. Staff are can-do and speedy and the ESPA spa is open till well into the evening. At the One & Only The Palm you hide away, uncoil, breathe then re-emerge feeling cured – it’s that simple.

READERS’ AWARD: UK – BEST BRITISH FIXER: Gleneagles, Scotland (Issue: Fatigue)
You probably think this grand golfing Goliath is too buttoned-up and smoothly polished for soul searching and emotion releasing. But the ESPA Life programme is as finely turned to your needs and as caring as the rest of the Gleneagles. It is geared to immaculate service and hearty country pursuits. You need to come clean – depression, IBS, low confidence – and naturopath Dr Louise Westra will help you create your programme, mixing treatments with personal training and nutritional know-how. Don’t expect an instant makeover, but you’ll go home calmer, sunnier, clearer, lighter in step and, crucially, with the determination and tools to keep on improving and moving.

READERS’ AWARD: INTERNATIONAL – BEST FOR FAMILIIES: Carlisle Bay, Antigua
There is no better place to flee than the Caribbean’s slinkiest, all-bells-and-whistles family outpost. Before you know it everyone will be pootling about building sandcastles in the warmest, freshest breeze. And herein lies the magic: the beach – you can eat on it, play on it and snooze on it. The spa is small but with a big punch, and Linda has healing hands; she will make you laugh, wrap you in hot towels and unknot anxiety. There are facials using super-brand Natura Bisse , and the Diamond Gel Cream is like a refreshing glass of water for your skin – rich but not heavy and moisturising but not shine-making.