Wellness around the World BY ANTHEA G E RRIE
What differentiates the great spas of Europe from the many excellent institutions in the United States? Perhaps the answer lies in a focus more on regenerating body and soul than just pure pampering; Europeans think of a “cure” as a process including the elements of nature alongside the usual massages and facials.
From the harvest of the sea to hot mud matured in thermal springs and even the cells of specially bred Swiss sheep, nature is distilled to offer its essential benefits to clients, who are treated more like patients, in the pristine settings of European spas. When it comes to diet, the strict principles of Dr. Franz Xaver Mayr inform many clinics in the mountains of northern Europe, and although the macrobiotic diet might have been conceived in Asia, the world’s first spa to serve foods balancing the yin and yang was in Spain. Gourmet tastes are also amply catered to along France’s northern coast and near the thermal springs of Tuscany. Anthea Gerrie gives a rundown on a few top spas worth crossing the pond for:
