Longevity. We might keel over if we hear this word one more time. That’s if we haven’t already fainted at the cost of holidays that benefit our health.
Following my breast cancer journey and all-clear in March last year, I searched for breaks to support my wellbeing holistically. But finding that many well-publicised destinations charge upwards of £1,000 per night, I was halted in my tracks – until I discovered some I could afford, in places that deserve to be better known than they are.
I’m now a fierce advocate for the traditional spa spots of Central Europe, where culture, history and nature add up to a healing approach that has passed the test of time – 2,000 years in the case of Budapest. (Now that’s longevity.) This way also often favours natural resources – mineral waters and muds, gas and clean air – over the drugs-and-knives method we’re more familiar with. Although I opted for a lumpectomy (with no further medical intervention) I was thrilled to find these holistic treatments that have, I instinctively believe, helped me remain not only cancer-free, but vibrantly healthy, too.
Czechia
Nové Lázně (below), Mariánské Lázně
At the prescribed 9.10am we form a loose queue outside Room A3, ready to file in for our morning carbon-dioxide injection. The woman next to me is eager for her turn: the back pain she’s endured for decades is, she tells me, abating after just three inoculations. I agree – the boulders in my shoulders are softer, and the hypodermic needle really doesn’t hurt. Soon after, I’m feeling pelvic tingles while lying up to my chest in a plastic body bag full of CO2 (officially a ‘dry gas bath’), creating a natural Viagra effect.
Such therapeutic protocols at the medical spas in the town of Mariánské Lázně don’t bear out our concerns about the dangers of carbon dioxide. Just over two hours by train from the capital, Prague, here the air is so pure, the government has awarded it ‘climate spa’ status. It’s been bubbling up through marshland since time immemorial. Over the past 200 or so years it’s been prescribed by doctors to relieve cardiovascular and circulatory disorders, thanks to its profound dilatory effect on blood vessels even through clothes and skin.
The town’s 40 springs rely on natural gas, local peat mud and mineral-rich water: the holy trinity of resources that underpinned the ‘golden spa age’ of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and still meet our need for natural healing today.
Nové Lázně, Mariánské Lázně
Back then, European royalty came to find cures for their rheumatic, metabolic and digestive disorders, blended with a cultural programme of concerts and sipping mineral water – the local custom – while strolling the belle époque town of parks, fountains and colonnades. King Edward VII came to Mariánské Lázně nine times to keep a check on his girth and gout. I soaked in his bath (his panelled and tiled marble Royal Suite at the Nové Lázně is unchanged), which was filled with mineral water bubbling like champagne.
Today the medical spa routine is much the same. Most guests start with a doctor’s consultation and spend the following days on a gentle merry-go-round of prescribed treatments (typically three per day), mineral-water drinking (best before meals and while walking, as movement helps better absorb the sodium, calcium and so on). There’s time to wander the gracious park; also to experience the full suite of hot-cold, steam-sauna options that include the Roman Baths: pools grand and columned enough for an emperor.
It’s not all historical. Ensana Hotels, which manages seven three- to five-star properties in Mariánské Lázně, has technically innovative treatments to meet modern demands, with AI-driven robotic massage and targeted laser therapy. While you dunk your hands in hot paraffin to ease arthritic joints, you may also pulse your pelvic floor back to youthful tightness sitting on the Swiss-precision PelviPower chair. Although natural cures work best over time – which we all lack – if you don’t have one or two weeks, you can check in for a few days at the Nové Lázně, tasting the waters around town while drinking in its neoclassical history, its healing resources and the sheer elegance of this five-star hotel and spa. Its proportions alone help you decompress even before you’ve stepped out into the ‘climate spa’ town beyond, where music from fountains and concert hall windows also soothes the fresh air.
From £159 a night, half board, with two daily treatments, to £285 a night, with a full doctor-prescribed programme; ensanahotels.com
Hungary
Rudas Thermal Bath, Budapest
The magical Rudas Thermal Bath, Budapest
No survey of Central European spa-going is complete without a mention of Budapest. With its ‘spa capital of the world’ moniker, the city attracts some four million guests to its famous baths each year.
Gen Z go to ‘sparty’ (official term) through the night in an immersion of sound, light, fire eaters and – literally – many mineral water pools, at the elaborate Széchenyi Baths. But I recommend a more sombre experience at Rudas Thermal Bath, mineral water-wallowing in temperatures of 38C, just as the city’s Ottoman invaders did.
In the hallowed half-light, you can admire its dome, pierced with coloured shafts of light from roundels overhead; wander through the stone arches and try different-temperature corner pools; and experience the hottest steam room I’ve ever sweated in. All remain perfectly intact almost 500 years after the baths were first built.
From £20 for a day’s use. Check before visiting as sometimes the spa is men only; en.rudasfurdo.hu
Slovakia
Thermia Palace, Piešt’any
Thermia Palace, Piešt’any
Spa town Piešt’any has a back- to-the future approach, tailoring its mud and mineral water legacy to address today’s health issues. It’s strong on weight-loss and mobility problems using sulphurous muds and 69C waters.
The Thermia Palace hotel’s spa (below) is an Art Nouveau masterpiece of stained glass, where dips benefit the body’s metabolic processes. Food is delicious – prescriptive, if on a weight-loss programme. The dining room is a conscious copy of the Titanic, built shortly before the doomed ship was launched.
From £192 a day, half board, with two daily treatments; ensanahotels.com
Poland
Wieliczka Salt Mine Health Resort, Wieliczka
Wieliczka Salt Mine Health Resort, Wieliczka
In Wieliczka, near Krakow, is the world’s first spa set in a salt mine. It’s a masterclass in breath work: no effort, all the results. Dating from the 1700s, in 1996 the tunnels and chambers were transformed into a tourist site and a medically classified clinic for ‘subterraneotherapy’: support for respiratory issues. The salty atmosphere generates a microclimate of high humidity and purity, rich in micro elements such as sodium chloride and magnesium. Explore the labyrinthine corridors (above), work out on the treadmills and settle down, if you fancy, for a health-giving sleepover.
Overnight stays from £40 (bring your own food); wieliczka-saltmine.com/health-resort
Sophie Benge is the author of Healing Sources: Spas And Wellbeing From The Baltic To The Black Sea, published by Prestel
