Spa Vacations

Spa vacations are available just about everywhere in the world. You will find suitable spa hotels in large cities and in remote wilderness, on beautiful beaches and in high mountains. You can even book spa and yoga cruises.

Virtually all cruise ships have spas. On most ships, there is a simply a spa onboard—just as there might be a restaurant, casino, or swimming pool. But some luxury cruise lines have ships with spas that are destinations in themselves, with all of the ship or a significant portion of it designed as a luxurious spa destination. There will be quiet areas, meditation rooms, spiritual yoga classes, and restaurants serving only gourmet vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Even the cabins have been designed as Zen-filled retreats.

If you are in the market for a health spa vacation that encompasses the history of this kind of vacation to "take a cure," then you may want to head to Europe. Here, people have been visiting thermal hot springs and mineral baths since the times of the ancient Roman Empire. The countries of Eastern Europe, Hungary and the Czech Republic in particular, became extremely popular beginning at the end of the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century and into the early part of the twentieth century, the wealthy aristocracy of the world came to places like the city of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic and the beautiful capital city of Budapest where hundreds of hot springs bubbled up from the earth.

In Budapest, you can stay in one of the finest five-star hotels in all Europe, the Four Seasons Gresham Palace, which boasts a wonderful full-service spa. You do not, however, need to be wealthy to enjoy spa vacations in this city. You can stay in one of the several Hungary hostels or pensions for only a few dollars a night, and still be able to visit the city's public mineral pools and baths.

The Gellert Thermal Baths were built in the years before World War I, and offer wonderful examples of the extravagant Art Nouveau-style of architecture that was so popular at that time. Entry is very inexpensive, and provides access to a number of thermal baths and small pools, saunas, plunge pools, and a warm-water swimming pool. There are massage services, and even a children's pool. The waters of these historic baths come from the mineral hot springs of Gellert Hill. You can find an even older and more historic health spa vacation like this on the Greek Island of Evia where the thermal waters were enjoyed hundreds of years before Christ, and in Istanbul, the magnificent Ottoman city that lies at the junction of Europe and Asia.

Today, most people looking for spa vacations imagine luxurious resorts, often in idyllic tropical settings. There are hundreds of places where this kind of experience is available. They range from Costa Rica eco resorts on the Caribbean and luxurious spa resorts used for honeymoons in Hawaii to exotic locations like the Seychelles off the Indian Ocean Coast of Kenya and the overwater bungalows of Bora Bora in the South Pacific. An example of this is the Maroma Resort and Spa on the Riviera Maya in Mexico. This beautiful and exclusive property is located near the Tulum Ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is set on a private jungle estate that combines a rainforest experience as well as a pristine beach with sugary fine sand. An equally luxurious health spa vacation in a very different location is available in beautiful mountains. For this, you might want to try the luxurious Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland, overlooking the crystal waters of Lake Geneva.