Good Spa Guide Favourites - Treatments

Our relentless and selfless research is never done. We are constantly experiencing new treatments on your behalf. Here are some that might tempt you away from your usual massage or facial.

Thai Yoga massage

Why Thai (yoga) massage? We're recommending this massage treatment as we think it is one of the ones you are less likely to go for, and you'd be missing out. It can look a bit alarming from pictures, and perhaps not very relaxing. The therapist moves you around, and may stand on you at times. It can seem a bit too energetic for a massage.

But Thai massage is where exercise meets medical massage meets relaxation. It does you a lot of quantifiable good physically, and it will leave you feeling both relaxed and energised. Much like yoga.

Thai massage is often described as "lazy yoga" and is much easier and gentler than taking a class. Your blood flow is boosted during the massage, and you will actually feel this happening, in hot rushes. Stiff joints will be relaxed and muscles eased, and you will feel this happening, too. Imagine the feeling of lightness you have if you've been carrying a child or a pack on your back for a few miles and then they get down. That kind of weightlessness and relief gives you a clue of what you can hope for.

Insider tip: It's worth asking for a recommendation from a good spa, or an osteopath or chiropractor. Whichever way you go, go for a masseur whose qualifications are evident and apparent and publicised. It's not that private therapists are all dodgy, far from it, but this is a specialised technique and you will have a better experience if you are confident in your therapist.

Rasul/serail mud chamber

This is an unusual treatment, very sensual, quite unusual and something you can do on your own or with a partner, or friends. It's an affordable and interesting experience which feels very luxurious. It also leaves you feeling warm and cosy and deeply relaxed. It's like the best snooze you've ever had, in a hot country on a balmy evening, when you come round feeling absolutely and completely rested.

You will be given three different coloured muds: one for your body, one for your face, one for your scalp.

Your therapist either helps you to apply these, or you apply them yourself, or to each other if you are there with a friend or partner. This in itself feels primal and luxurious, like coating yourself with very rich, expensive face cream. When you are no longer recognisable, you go and sit for about 15 minutes in a small Turkish hammam or steam room. The tiles twinkle gold and blue and green, and the steam fills the chamber/room in bellows, with trickles of water running over your body and the tiles, and from the central taps. It's a wet, clay-coated experience that is somehow not sticky.

It is incredibly sensual and warms you through and through in a way which is almost impossible to experience in any other way. The heated minerals in the mud work deep into your open, steamed pores. Your muscles relax. It's fab.

Insider tip: Don't go in "cold". To get the best out of this treatment, go to a spa that has water facilities and spend some time swimming, sitting around in a Jacuzzi or hydrotherapy pool first. In addition, or instead of that, have a body polish or scrub beforehand to make your skin extra-receptive to the glorious mud.