How Costa Blanca is Putting the Spa in Spain

Bea Geenen can recommend a great way to start the day. It
involves covering herself - and her husband, if he's handy - in
mud, then steam-blasting it off. A close second is wrapping
herself in algae and sweating it out beneath a hot blanket. Then
she heads off to work.

It's a fantastic way to get going in the morning or to relax on
your day off. It's great for couples too, says Bea, a house
doctor (she advises people on how to spruce up their property to
sell it) who lives in Alfas del Pi near Benidorm.

Bea is a spa junkie. It's an addiction she feeds at least once a
month, or whenever a new spa emerges on the coast. And she's not
alone as the Costa Blanca is fast developing a reputation for
being the spa capital of Spain - the region that puts the spa in
Spain.

In the 400km stretch between the vast Marina d'Or holiday
village two hours north of Alicante airport, which boasts the
Europe's largest 'scientific spa', and the new spa at La Manga
Club, the famous sports resort two hours south of Alicante,
luxury spas are sprouting up by the handful to satisfy the
demands of the growing numbers of tourists visiting this popular
eastern Spanish coastline.

In 2002-2003, passengers numbers at Alicante airport rose by
56.4%, compared with 26.5% at Malaga airport. Given a perfect
year-round climate, and cheaper property prices than on the
Costa del Sol, more British and Irish people than ever before
want to spend holidays, and own holiday homes, in the Costa
Blanca.

Combine this with our general increasing awareness of the need
to keep healthy, and the fact that certain areas of the Costa
Blanca, particularly around Torrevieja's natural salt lakes, are
deemed by the World Health Organisation to be the healthiest
places to live in the world, and you can see why spas on this
coast are big business.

We are seeing a big increase in the number of luxury spas
opening on the Costa Blanca, mainly due to the huge numbers of
tourists who come here and because people are far more aware of
the need for 'wellness' and stress-relief, says Ins Terrn,
director of the Health And Beauty Centre at the five-star
Hesperia Alicante Golf & Spa Hotel www.hesperia-alicante.com
with an 18-hole golf course overlooking San Juan beach. Prices
start at 129 euros for a day at the spa where treatments range
from subaquatic massages to seven-day Like A Queen programmes
for women who know they're worth it.

Women work more than before and they want a healthy balance and
a good level of living, so they use spas like ours as a form of
stress relief and to treat themselves, says Ins. But men, too,
are queuing up to be pampered, she says. About 40% of our
clients now are men. They particularly like massages and
facials.

Bea Geenen, who says winter is her favourite spa-sampling time
as all those hot wraps can feel cloying in summer, cites the
Marriott La Sella Golf Resort's holistic Alanya Spa
www.alanyaspa-denia.com in Denia as her number one Costa Blanca
spa.

The service is highly personalised and impeccably organised so
you feel like you have the place to yourself. They treat you
like a special guest from start to finish, she says. Bea
recalls with particular fondness the Turkish baths, with a blue
ceiling which twinkles like stars, and atmospheric music.

A close second for Bea is the algae wrap at Salux Hills spa in
the the five-star Hotel Melia Altea Hills www.solmelia.es,
located in a nature reserve three kilometres from the
picturesque town of Altea, one of the fastest-growing areas of
the Alicante province.

The algae wraps are incredible, Bea smiles. They scrub you
down, cover you in algae and lay you on a heated water bed,
wrapped in a hot blanket for half an hour. Afterwards you feel
fantasic.

Should you be seeking tranquillity in the coast's tourist
hotspot of Benidorm, the four-star Hotel Spa Levante Club
www.luxor-benidorm.com, next to the town's popular Levante
beach, offers various programmes lasting two to five days for
slimming, detoxing and general wellbeing. The Levante is
cheaper than many spas on the coast and everything takes place
in one huge room, says Bea. There is a huge hot tub, Turkish
baths and you can walk across Japanese stones which prick your
feet to improve blood circulation. A lot of couples go there and
it only costs about 30 euros a day.

If you are already frazzled once you arrive at the airport, or
are looking for a way to prepare yourself for the flight home,
try the Beauty Farm Centre at the five-star Hotel Spa Sidi San
Juan www.hotelessidi.es, whose programmes start at 99 euros and
have such dreamy names as Day In The Clouds (for women) and Care
of the Modern Man.

Down the coast, La Manga, a five-star resort favoured by
golfers, tennis players and footballers wanting a spot of
sun-drenched training and relaxation, benefits from its unique
setting beside the warm waters of the unique Mar Menor seawater
lagoon next to the Mediterranean sea.

At the new La Manga Club Spa www.spa.lamangaclub.com the local
mineral-laden mud from the lagoon comes in handy for body
scrubs, or you can treat your body to something more salubrious,
says the spa's Idoia Carrillo. Our most special treatments are
the caviar facial and the chocolate body wrap.

Nearby at the three-star Entremares Hotel Balneario Marino
www.entremares.com, guests at the Roman-style spa can indulge in
a hot mango or strawberry among the range of aromatic showers on
offer. Treatments also use the Mar Menor's natural ingredients
including algae, which is rich in minerals, vitamins and amino
acids, and magic mud, which acts like blotting paper on your
skin to absorb the toxins. The hotel also has four 35 degree
Mediterranean seawater swimming pools and offers current
five-night packages with five treatments included from 225 euros.

Inland from the Mar Menor, near the city of Murcia, spas tend to
be more traditionally Spanish, based around natural hot water
springs. They are favoured by local residents as a therapeutic
place to enjoy the weekend, with less lavish - usually
three-star - hotels onsite.

Around Archena, 75km south west of Alicante airport, the area is
becoming known as 'Spa Valley', with new developments of
apartments starting at 60,000 just 500 metres away from the
19th century Balneario de Archena www.balnearioarchena.com, a
spa set in a Mediterranean forest with views over the Ricote
valley.

The water here is famous for its medicial and therapeutic
qualities and has a natural temperature of 51.7 degrees. Just
further north is Fortuna-Leane www.leana.es, the oldest spa
hotel in Murcia, dating back to 1860, and the perfect place for
a warm dip in winter with an average water temperature of 33
degrees.

In nearby Cofrentes, the spa centre www.balneario.com/cofrentes
claims to be one of the biggest and most modern in Spain, with
high-tech clinics for various ailments as well as a wide
pampering programme. If you're looking for more tangible results
from your spa time though, head to Marina D'Or www.marinador.com
in Oropesa del Mar, north of Valencia, which offers the most
high-tech medical tests available in the world, they say, able
to detect any illness so that preventative measures can be taken.

Should the thought of hepato-biliopancreatic tests or
polysomnographies fail to tickle your fancy on holiday, then go
along to Marina d'Or's vast 40,000m2 seawater spa and soak up
the lavish surroundings, including Gaudi-style mosaics and
marble columns adorning what must be the largest swimming pools
and hot tubs in the world.