Best for detoxing

Themae del Parco Forte Village Resort, Sardinia, Italy

Forte Village is a sprawling village-style resort with accommodation ranging from private villas and modern hotel rooms to lower-budget family bungalows; it attracts rich Italians.

The thalassotherapy spa (water-based treatments using seawater and marine derivatives to restore the body's natural balance) is in a green enclave set apart from the bustle of the resort. Facilities include saunas, Turkish baths, plunge pools and an enormous circular mosaic steam room (be warned, it is accessed by both male and female changing rooms). You can make use of the resort's gym, 17 tennis courts, bikes and Ricky's windsurfing school. Thalassotherapy programmes start at around £60.

Treatments: Marine mud wraps, mineral-rich sea-salt scrubs and thalassotherapy pools, including a cellulite-busting saline bath and dense black 'sea oil' solution pool. A spell here will leave you relaxed but invigorated.
How much? Departing May 15, Exclusive Italy (020-8256 0231) has seven nights' half-board in Hotel Il Borgo for £1,245pp including flights and private transfers.

Best on a budget

Les Sources de Caudalie, Bordeaux, France

A great choice for those who want a quick getaway, don't want to blow the budget but, like the French, don't believe in deprivation in the name of relaxation.

The spa is only part of the offerings at this luxurious 50-room hotel in the middle of the stunning Graves vineyards of the Chateaux Smith Haut Lafitte. They encourage a glass of wine with your meals and even use the left-overs from their winemaking in the spa treatments.

Treatments: Vinothérapie uses the beautifying and anti-ageing benefits of grapes. Crushed cabernet body scrubs (grapeseed oil, Bordeaux honey and organic essential oils) are claimed to leave skin clear and smooth while sauvignon massages, (grapeseed oil, organic oils) are designed to relax. The wine barrel bath involves you wallowing in a wooden wine barrel full of exploded, chilled grapes. It is said to improve circulation, help eliminate cellulite and either relax or rejuvenate, depending on your needs. Intoxicatingly good!
How much? Essential Escapes (020-7284 3344) has three-night breaks from £415pp room-only including flights and transfers. Body scrubs from around £45; wine barrel bath around £30.

Best for sand, sea and spa

The Molton Brown Spa at the Isle de France, St Barths, Caribbean

This "boutique" spa used to be the squash court, so the rooms are a little on the small side, but they are more cosseting than claustrophobic (a minimalist mix of dark wood and pale limestone).

Treatments: Mollycoddling, beautifying face and body treatments using Molton Brown products. The shiatswe body massage, around £80, is deeply relaxing, even if you're only coming from the pool or the sea.
How much? Wentworth Travel (01344 844541) has one week's B&B from £1,904pp.

Best for jet lag

The Oriental Spa at the Oriental Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Nicknamed "the temple of wellbeing", this spa is often used as a safe-house for those seeking respite between long flights, sightseeing, temple visiting and shopping trips. The hotel is located on the banks of the Chao Phya river and the spa is a short boat ride away on the opposite, quieter side, adding to the feeling of escapism. Teak walls, a lily pond with koi carp, Chiang Mai antiques, the smell of incense and exotic oils hanging in the air, and a meditation room with a magnificent golden Buddha.

Treatments: The menu offers a blend of ancient Thai herbal remedies and modern Western treatments, but the must-have is Thai massage - the lazy person's yoga.
How much? Tropical Locations (020-7229 9199) has three nights' room-only for £849pp including a 90-minute Oriental massage.

Best for eco-relaxation

Sámas Spa at the Kenmare Park Hotel, County Kerry, Ireland

Ireland's first luxury spa has a grass roof and is hidden in a thickly wooded, isolated corner of an Atlantic estuary. What this property doesn't have is what makes it special: no board rooms, no corporate rates, no weddings - which means there are fewer airs and graces and everyone is here to really relax.

Treatments: Separate male and female spas allow everyone to let it all hang out, with treatments in keeping with male and female needs: there is a fierce rock sauna in the men's area; and a more civilised, less intense laconium (dry heat) in the women's.
How much? Double rooms from around £140pp B&B (00 353 64 41200, parkkenmare.com). Ryanair (0871 2460000) flies Stansted-Kerry from £39.19 inc tax. Three-hour treatment packages from £88.

Best for escaping the rat race

The Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall Hotel, Co Durham

Seaham Hall puts most other UK hotel spas in the shade. It has 20 large treatment rooms, a superb wet area with state-of-the-art hammam, crystal steam room, a sauna big enough for a couple of rugby teams, galvanised metal icy plunge pools and a huge ozone-cleansed pool.

Treatments: The Kai Zen-Hada facial from Kanebo costs £75 for 90 minutes; the hot volcanic stone massage from Elemis costs £75 for 75 minutes. There are four couples' suites where you and your partner can be massaged, exfoliated or balanced alongside each other.
How much? Treatments start at around £25, double rooms from £195 a night including a room-service breakfast and full use of spa facilities. Train travel with GNER (08457 225225).

Best on safari

Earth Nature Spa at Earth Lodge, Sabi Sabi, South Africa

One of the first places to combine spa and safari. You get up at the crack of dawn for walking or Jeep safaris, while afternoons are spent being massaged at The Earth Nature Spa, then snoozing in the Zen meditation garden.

Treatments: Packages have great names: the buffalo thorn spa escape, the jackal berry transformation, and the zebrawood detox deluxe. Beauty tamers include eyelash tinting, manicures and pedicures. The six-hour Marula day spa package costs £135.
How much? Steppes Africa (01285 650011) has four nights all-inclusive for £2,795pp.

Best for aching limbs

The Beauty Farm at La Ferme de Marie, Megève, France

This small luxury alpine hamlet is near Mont Blanc - in winter, it is a chic but laid-back ski resort. The spa building is made of smooth, glaciated boulders said to emit a healing energy. The 10 treatment rooms are decorated with warming wood beams, cream stones and terracotta tiling.

Treatments: Facials, wraps and body treatments use Les Fermes de Marie's own line of products - Edelweiss - made from mountain herbs and flowers. There's also hydrotherapy, steam and saunas, jet showers, whirlpools, massages, a glass-walled swimming pool, fitness and stretching classes, and a small gym. The après-ski scene involves a rubdown and a good back massage, a nourishing body pack (based on oats, cut grass and cinnamon), followed by a milk bath and snooze in the super-snug relaxation room.
How much? Erna Low Body & Soul Holidays (020-7594 0290) has five nights' B&B from £785pp including flights, car hire, Spa Discovery programme (massage, body gommage and cream bath, moisturising facial) use of pool, sauna and steam.

Best original spa

Danubius Thermal Hotel and Health Centre, Margaret Island, Budapest

Situated in the middle of the river Danube, in the heart of Budapest, this old-school spa hotel has been a focal point for Hungarians and Europeans seeking the curative effects of its natural hot spring water for over 100 years.

Treatments: Don't expect a chi-chi paradise with towelling robes and slippers, particularly as the air hangs heavy with a thick smelly fog from the sulphurous natural waters. Many treatments follow a consultation with a doctor, though there are massage and beauty treatments, balneotherapy (water-based treatments) and mud wraps.
How much? Erna Low Body & Soul Holidays (020-7594 0290) has three nights' half-board from £520pp including flights, a Winter Warmer spa programme (refreshing massage, hydro-massage, aroma bath, Thai massage, head and neck massage, personal trainer session or facial treatment) plus use of indoor pool, thermal baths, sauna and steam room, gym and exercise classes.

Best for novelty value

Huvafen Fushi Resort, North Male, Maldives

The top-notch Aquum Spa at Huvafen Fushi opens with a splash on March 20, featuring the world's first spa with underwater treatment rooms. The resort has 44 bungalows with their own freshwater pool, and the 18 beach bungalows have their own private beach. Two of the eight treatment rooms are submerged in the Indian ocean and accessed by steps.

Treatments: A full menu of Elemis' body-nourishing scrubs, different massages, anti-ageing face and eye boosters are on offer, and exclusive signature rituals and treatments, as well as indigenous treatments to the Maldives, are also being devised. You can lie back and think of England in the Lonu Veyo, a communal, natural salt mineralising flotation pool (another first for the Maldives) designed around the traditional Maldivian bathing house using the natural benefits of the sea.
How much? Between March 20 and April 7, Roxton Bailey Robinson Worldwide (01488 689700) has a special introductory price of £1,150pp for two sharing a beach bungalow with plunge pool (normally £2,100), including flights and transfers.

· All prices are based on two sharing including flights and transfers, unless otherwise stated. The Spa Directory by Suzanne Duckett is published by Carlton at £12.99.