Island living casts its spell
Barbara Gunnell enjoys a diet of wine, swimming and song on a new 'restoration' holiday to the island of Zakynthos
Comfort zone
Katharine Viner dons regulation robe and slippers, and destresses in style in the Chilterns.
The simple pleasures are the best
A three-day break at health farm Ragdale Hall left Jill Tilden blissed out
Carry on indulging
Rory Bremner settles in at an Aman resort, the holy grail of luxury hip hotels, where he's given a naked scrub down with olive soap in the steam room followed by a four-hand massage.
Arabian nights in Club Mud
John Ardagh gets spoilt rotten in Tunisia with massages and algae wraps.
Treat body and soul to holiday healing power
Rain therapy in Australia or a spice massage in Bali? Liz Bird selects her 15 top treatments.
A taste of heaven and hell in the frontline fight for my waistline
Anthony Browne, the Observer's health editor, roadtests two very different types of health farm in Ireland, which offer treatments ranging from pampering and gastronomic over-indulgence to colonic irrigation.
Feelgood factory
During her visit to the spa town of Abano Terme, Tessa Boase finds pampering works wonders for mind and body.
Stop the world
Places to refresh your body and your mind from a headhunter's hut to a Japanese farm.
Ten ways to leave your lover… breathless
Don't say we didn't try to help - you now have exactly one month to plan a Valentine's Day to set pulses racing, Joanne O'Connor offers advice.
Salt of the Earth
Lucy Elliott samples the treatments available at the Dead Sea's Zara Spa.
Alternative therapies around the world
Five completely different ways to relax and detox.
Roll in the barrel
The world's only wine spa has been uncorked near Bordeaux. Gillian Rhys takes the plunge.
Steamed up in Turkey
It was after about three-quarters of an hour of being pummelled and washed and scrubbed like a baby by my middle-aged Turkish masseur that he leaned over and whispered: "You like?"
The full treatments
From Baden-Baden to Budapest, and Henlow to Hua Hin, Joanna Israelsohn picks 20 of the best places to pamper yourself around the world.