Pull Quote… This year, we’ve curated a celebration of the best in European icons, both old and new. While Asia has long held the crown when it comes to pampering, says Daisy Finer
Introduction…… xxxxxxx Welcome to the 2025 Country & Town House Wellbeing Guide. This year, we’ve curated a celebration of the best in European icons, both old and new. While Asia has long held the crown when it comes to pampering pilgrimages, we don’t always need to travel so far in the quest for rest and regeneration. Closer to home – and without the air miles – Europe’s spa scene is quietly blooming. In fact, I believe the continent is entering a new golden age, offering one of the most progressive blends of diagnostics, detox techniques and holistic healing available today.
From mountain medi-clinics to regenerative rural retreats, this guide is here to offer direction and discernment for those seeking real health results. Stress, sleep, hormones, overwhelm… we are living through times of profound transition, where we are asked on a daily (or should that be hourly?) basis to process more information than our brains were ever designed to handle. Which of us signed up to be part-time nutritionist and full-time wellness strategist to our own nervous system, while also remembering 72 passwords and keeping up with whether bananas are friend or foe this week? There’s no official opt-out button for multitasking – which is why we need to create our own.
The call to press pause and nourish our deeper selves has never felt more urgent. We don’t need trends: what we crave are holistic, realistic and grounded approaches to wellbeing that can actually fit into our lives. These icons deliver just that. They are inspiring sanctuaries for those seeking balance, vitality and new ways to be. We know because all have been tried and tested by our close-knit team of experienced writers. Whether you seek restoration, transformation or simply space to breathe, these are the places we trust. The ones that stay with you. The ones where a quietly powerful human touch offers an antidote to the digital age. AI couldn’t make them up. And for that, we are so grateful.
Credit: demo testacing
This game-changing Greek retreat is tackling emotional health through a brilliantly balanced East meets West approach, blending heart-nurturing practices with a scientific outlook. A focused programme was just what I needed after a few hectic, rollercoaster months. An initial consultation revealed that my earth element was unbalanced: according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, this can show up as worry and anxiety – exactly how I’d been feeling. Cue a stress-releasing five days in the luscious Peloponnese countryside, filled with deep meditation, nurturing aquatic massages and neuro-fascia release treatments designed to ease tension stored in the body’s connective tissue. But what stayed with me most was the emotional release work with head therapist Vladia, who blends movement science and visualisation techniques to uncover and unlock trapped emotions through targeted massage. It was surprisingly powerful and left me feeling so much lighter. The healing Kneipp path and the serenity of floating in the indoor-outdoor pool, with its backdrop of pine trees, added a further sense of calm and restoration. The Byzantium-inspired bedrooms are super comfortable and the Mediterranean food exquisite, using local produce to create the likes of shrimp mille-feuille and octopus risotto. Overall, this is a beautifully curated reset – and a powerful reminder that true emotional harmony begins with reconnecting to your true self. By Harriet Compston
Book it: Five-day Emotional Harmony programme from €2,000 inclusive of 17 treatments, plus accommodation from €374 per night B&B. euphoriaretreat.com
Letting go of emotions, people and concepts is easier said than done. As someone who struggles to surrender control and accept life as it comes, I went to Lefay eager to find out if it could soften my grip. The new three-day Letting Go programme, rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, promises to restore your ability to go with the flow. First on the agenda was the Prima di Vera ritual, an energising body scrub designed to open meridians and dissolve emotional blockages. A breathwork session followed, which revealed how shallow breaths trap tension while deep, diaphragmatic breaths release it. Next was a combination of massage and guided meditation to ease overthinking. With mind and body more open, I wandered the herb garden, had a cooking lesson with what I found, and hiked along the lakeside, experiencing what Lefay calls a ‘return to wonder’. Then, the finale: water shiatsu. Floating in warm salt water, I felt I had surrendered to what Lefay was trying to achieve –no resistance, just a freer version of me. I emerged lighter, accepting that holding onto negative emotions only weakens my ability to embrace and enjoy the here and now. Note to self: stock up on bath salts – they might just keep this feeling alive. By Camilla Hewitt
Book it: Three-night Letting Go programme from €1,370, inclusive of all treatments and meals. lefayspamethod.com
If you thought modern spa food equals the ubiquitous chicken quinoa salad, then you haven’t come across Heinz Beck. If a foreign cook can please the Italians, that’s saying something. This German-born chef runs the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome – La Pergola – which has been going strong for over 30 years. He’s also the maestro behind the superlative food at Palazzo Fiuggi, a results-driven medi-spa just over an hour’s drive from Rome. I tried the Optimum Weight programme, designed to encourage sustainable healthy eating instead of the feast-famine yo-yo ride. I was surprised to discover that a seven-night stay of measured, regular meals left me 3.5kg lighter, despite the lack of starvation (maybe even because of it).
Days are punctuated by fluffy breakfast omelettes, well-timed fruit smoothie snacks, seed-packed salads sprinkled with pomegranates and deeply flavoured soups. Think cream of borlotti bean with goji berries and pumpkin seeds. There’s always enough protein to keep you energy-fuelled: chicken breast with parsnip puree and basil sauce, veal carpaccio with pesto and redcurrants. Everything comes with a surprise factor. Turbot is served with a nashi pear infusion. Minestrone with spicy puffed rice. It’s a melodious adventure that leaves taste buds humming – and, blissfully, lunch and dinner are both two courses.
By chance, Beck happens to be at Palazzo Fiuggi during my stay. As soon as I meet him, I feel I am in the presence of a genius. It takes a certain kind of brain – and heart – to not only cook with wild invention, but to care enough to work out and chart the quantity, calories, proteins, fats and minerals of every mouthful being served to every guest on every different programme. The calorie count of your meal plan is listed every day and is meticulous: 1,239 calories one day (with 78g of protein), 1,242 calories the next (with 77g of protein). ‘It’s not only about the creativity of the food, the knowledge of the flavours and knowledge of the ingredients. Behind what we are doing, it’s really structured. Nothing is improvised,’ Beck says. ‘I know everything about what we are doing here. Everything.’ I believe him.
Way before Tim Spector, there was Heinz Beck. For 25 years, he has been studying the nutritional impact of food – including research in 2006 into the oscillation of insulin in the body after eating. He is now the only professional chef to contribute to Nutrients, an American medical scientific journal. Its researchers are currently exploring oxidative stress in the body after eating. ‘This is really important because we all have low grade inflammation, and we have to keep it on a low level because it’s responsible for most cancer cells,’ Beck explains.
The anti-inflammatory menu at Palazzo Fiuggi is the result of over 1,000 recipe testings that Beck undertook during Covid. No red meat, sugar, salt or alcohol is used. Everything is ‘buono ma pochino’: good, but small. That, however, is no reflection of Beck’s mission. Next, he’s jumping aboard Orient Express to oversee menus for six of its trains – with 12 different itineraries – as well as five of its hotels, all in Italy. ‘Bravo’ doesn’t really cut it. By Daisy Finer
Book it: Seven-night Optimal Weight programme from €4,950, inclusive of all health assessments, medical and wellness treatments and food and drink. palazzofiuggi.com
There’s one crystal clear goal at the UK’s most results-driven wellbeing destination: improve metabolic health. Achieve that, and pretty much everything else falls into place: blood pressure lowers, fertility rises, type two diabetes can be reversed, menopause monsters and sleep demons tamed. Weight automatically normalises. I always thought my lifelong battle with the scales was down to weak willpower and greed, but at Combe I’m told it’s not my fault – I have an addiction to sugar. This requires a complete overhaul of my relationship with food. Sugar and starchy carbs are out, but there’s no depressing deprivation. The high-protein diet is delicious and plentiful. I eat way more than I would at home and still lose weight (it feels like a miracle). No wonder I keep returning, and every time I do I feel my spirits lift and my stress levels dive. The 18th-century manor with its nature-chic rooms and woodland walks is magical. Treatments are superb, the diagnostics incisive. Optional consultations with medical gurus – such as menopause whisperer Juliet Balfour – add nuance. Game-changing? Yes. For some, potentially even lifesaving. Return home feeling inspired and determined, knowing you can boomerang back for the inclusive three-night follow up. Clever. By Jane Alexander
Book it: Five-night Metabolic Health programme, inclusive of accommodation, treatments, meals, fitness facilities and a three-night returner’s retreat at 12 weeks. Early bird spots from £2,600. combegrove.com
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