With the opening of the Singapore-Germany vaccinated journey lane and the emphasis on wellness at this time, Mavis Teo trains the highlight on the subtle well being resort and spa trade within the European powerhouse.
Point out Germany, and the phrases that come to thoughts are BMW, beer, Beethoven (or Bayern Munich for the soccer followers) and maybe, the Black Forest. What’s little-known to many in Asia is that the Black Forest is house to Baden-Baden, a well-known spa city. Or that along with breweries, Bavaria additionally has a excessive focus of well being resorts. Or that wellness is an idea that’s deeply ingrained within the German lifestyle.
The trade is massive – there are over 350 spa cities and almost 1,000 spa resorts and wellness centres all around the nation – but it has remained below the radar to worldwide travellers.
The Romans had launched baths to Germany some 2,000 years in the past. Geothermal spots have been found, spa cities grew and flourished, and have become a gathering place for royalty, and the wealthy and highly effective. At this time, households and colleagues bond over retreats in wellness motels.
Even the German well being care system helps using spas, and docs refer affected person to well being resorts for a keep that may be claimed from insurers.
Over the centuries, wellness has grow to be a well-honed artwork in Germany. Restorative sizzling spring resorts are plentiful throughout the geothermal, mountainous areas of the nation’s south, which incorporates the Black Forest and the Bavarian Alps. To the north, along with spas fed by thermal springs, mineral-rich seawater from the Baltic Sea and North Sea is utilized in thalassotherapy.
Germany can also be blessed with a topography that types the right backdrop to a healing vacation. Within the mountains, one can count on crisp air and delightful snow-capped peaks in winter, or verdant meadows filled with wildflowers in spring.
Whereas Germany as a wellness vacation spot presently stays undiscovered for Asians, this may quickly change. In keeping with Frances Geoghegan, founding father of Therapeutic Holidays, a wellness journey specialist headquartered within the UK, “Medical Spa powerhouses like Lanserhof Tegernsee and Villa Stéphanie have put the nation on the map.”
She provides that these locations off er extremely bespoke and complete wellness options, which are a magnet for lots of the well-known and really prosperous from all over the world; and that as travel restrictions ease, she is getting extra enquiries even from Asia for wellness getaways.
Listed here are eight motels that faucet into the presents of Mom Nature and improve them with considerate programmes and state-of-the-art amenities. Moreover a well-appointed spa, these wellness motels tick all the fitting packing containers, comparable to luxurious lodging and among the most interesting meals within the land.
Ayurveda Parkschlösschen, Traben-Trarbach, Rhineland-Palatinate
Since journey to India seems to be like a distant risk for now, followers of Ayurveda drugs might contemplate Ayurveda Parkschlösschen, which is named the specialist for Panchakarma purification cures in Europe. At this lodge, such a programme begins from 10 days, and goals to assist company obtain high bodily and psychological kind by ridding the physique of poisons and metabolic waste.
Complementing it are yoga, stress administration and shorter programmes below the supervision of skilled Ayurvedic practitioners. Situated in a personal 4.5ha parkland surrounded by vineyards, grand outdated bushes and a gurgling brook, the lodge additionally options soothing massages and facials administered with its personal oil blends or merchandise from Ila Spa, a cult natural skincare model.
Meals are prescribed primarily based on particular person dosha (private structure). They’re made with seasonal and natural produce – and are scrumptious.
Schloss Elmau, Krün, Bavaria
Nestled deep inside Germany’s breathtaking Bavarian Alps and guarded by a panorama of snow-enveloped crags and darkish pine forests is a lodge inside a fortress that nourishes each physique and thoughts. A cultural hotspot and retreat for writers, artists and musicians, it was opened in 1916 by thinker and theologian Dr Johannes Müller, who would lecture on the healing powers of nature and the humanities to an viewers of intellectuals, counts and duchesses.
At this time, Schloss Elmau is run by his grandson, Dietmar Müller-Elmau, who can also be well-known for concert events carried out by musicians the likes of the late Yehudi Menuhin within the lodge’s 300-seater timber-framed auditorium. Schloss Elmau can also be house to 6 spas providing remedies that run the gamut from saltwater baths to Hammam scrubs alongside a medical facility.
Health buffs are additionally spoilt for selection with regards to actions. They embody mountain biking, yoga, pilates, snowboarding and tennis. Meals is taken critically right here, so it’d be a pity to be on a restrictive weight loss program. Govt chef Christoph Rainer on the Michelin-starred Luce D’Oro is alleged to offer company an unforgettable expertise.
Vitalhotel Alter Meierhof, Flensburg Fjord, Glücksburg
Situated very near the Danish border, Alter Meierhof in northern Germany instructions spectacular views of the Baltic Sea. And the views are the icing on the cake for lots of the magnificence aficionados who come to be pampered. The spa, Hof-Therme, options giant heated indoor and out of doors swimming pools that overlook the Flensburg Fjord and Danish coast. The spa menu right here has an Oriental and Center Japanese slant.
Moreover the Hammam Ceremonial remedy, the Rasul is one other extremely widespread spa treatment. It’s carried out in a steam chamber heated at 45 deg C to permit the pores to open and muscle groups to chill out. As you lie again within the mosaic-tiled, Arabian-themed room, mud wealthy in minerals is then massaged onto your pores and skin. For the spa’s facial remedies, Shiseido merchandise are used. Moreover Hof-Therme, one more reason to go to the lodge is the two-Michelin-starred French restaurant Meierei Dirk Luther.
Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt, Rottach-Egern, Bavaria
Situated simply metres from the banks of shimmering Tegernsee Lake and enveloped within the pure air of the Bavarian Alps, one can start to really feel the therapeutic powers of the Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt on the senses as one attracts near the lodge. Contained in the Main Accommodations of the World member, 4 Components Spa by Althoff (so referred to as as a result of its idea is impressed by 4 components of nature: fireplace, water, air, and earth) guarantees a complete expertise for each customer, together with youngsters.
If the indoor swimming pools and completely different sauna rooms within the all-suite 32,000 sq ft spa aren’t sufficient, company may even take a dip within the lake which the lodge has non-public entry to. Visitors also can count on extremely personalised and devoted health programmes to assist them obtain their targets.
After exercise, you’d deserve meal. Fortuitously, there are 4 eating places serving completely different delicacies and experiences. The jewel within the crown is the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant Überfahrt, which can also be one of many highest rated culinary institutions in Germany.
Kempinski Lodge Berchtesgaden, Berchtesgaden, Bavaria
Commanding 15,070 sq ft of ground area, Kempinski Hotel Berchtesgaden is a must-visit for all wellness lovers visiting the Berchtesgaden space within the Bavarian Alps. It boasts of amenities like a color remedy sauna, a meditation lounge with floating water beds, and a heated out of doors pool.
Whereas La Prairie is utilized in facials, some magnificence remedies incorporate wild herbs and flowers which have been fresh-picked and processed by hand. For the Thermal Alpine Herb Therapeutic massage, alpine vegetation comparable to wild calendula, arnica and chamomile are made into natural pouches which are steamed and utilized on the physique.
The Kempinski Lodge Berchtesgaden, located at 1,000 metres above sea stage, gives views that match the finesse of its spa remedies. From right here, company can feast their eyes on 360-degree panoramas and spectacular sunsets. And naturally, there are additionally gastronomic treats on the one-Michelin-starred Restaurant Le Ciel to savour.
Lanserhof Tegernsee, Waakirchen, Bavaria
Up above the spectacular glassy Lake Tegern, amidst the rolling forests of the Bavarian Alps, is a 226,000 sq ft medical facility that has been billed by many seasoned wellness vacation seekers as probably the most superior medical spa on this planet. The wooden and glass construction designed by famend German architect Christoph Ingenhoven is modern and trendy, and so are the suites, that are fitted with an influence shut-off machine to cut back electrosmog.
But Lanserhof adheres to the early Twentieth-century rules of Dr Franz Xavier Mayr, referred to as the daddy of fasting, who believed {that a} clear digestive system results in a clear invoice of well being. Thus, age-old ideas like detox and relaxation underpin the programmes right here. Spa and diagnostic remedies are a unique matter. Whereas there are the same old holistic remedies like massages and physique wraps, there are some with a futuristic really feel.
For one, there’s the PillCam, which as its identify suggests, is a capsule you swallow to movie your intestines. To maintain your thoughts off meals that’s forbidden when you detox, there are the fantastic Augustinus Bader facials and vitamin infusions. When meals is launched again into your weight loss program, scrumptious meals are made with natural produce and biophotonic meat (from animals raised in humane farms) to reboot your digestive system. Phrase has it that oligarch Roman Abramovich is an everyday.
Lodge Klosterhof, Bayerisch Gmain, Bavaria
Whereas this medi-hotel gives a complete suite of magnificence and physique remedies, well being each psychological or bodily is the primary focus right here. Companies on the Artemacur Well being Centre at Hotel Klosterhof vary from diagnostics to remedy. For points like ache administration, wholesome practices are built-in into on a regular basis life by specialists. There are additionally particular diet programmes for diabetics and people affected by coronary heart illness or most cancers.
A remedy price singling out right here for its reputation with company is saltwater flotation remedy, which is deeply meditative and stress-free whether or not performed privately or with a therapist. On this remedy, alpine brine from a prehistoric sea deep throughout the depths of the Bavarian mountains is used within the flotation tanks. The salt has been discovered to have a cleaning impact on the pores and skin and a restorative high quality that works wonders for drained and burdened minds.
Rooms are furnished with sustainable wooden like apple and Swiss pine. Our high choose is the two-storey spa suite with wonderful views of the Alps.
Villa Stéphanie at Brenners Park-Lodge & Spa, Baden-Baden, Black Forest
Villa Stéphanie is a 14-key wellness lodge positioned throughout the stunning historic spa city of Baden-Baden within the Black Forest that enjoys rave evaluations from company, significantly from London since direct flights to the outdated Baden-Baden airport take lower than an hour. It additionally boasts a fame as one of many world’s high medi-spas helmed by a famous person physician. Dr Harry König has amassed a devoted following all around the world for his apply of integrative drugs and wonderful bedside manners. He combines naturopathy with state-of-the-art gear and referrals to specialists.
Moreover medically prescribed remedies, one also can discover spa remedies from a Sisley Phyto Aromatique Facial to a Shiatsu therapeutic massage. What’s extra, there’s even a beauty dental surgeon on the lodge. On the subject of meals, each visitor will get a menu that comes below 1,000 energy a day tailored for them by a workforce of seven nutritionists. Spoiling company appears to be a rule right here – there’s even a settee within the elevate must you really feel so relaxed that standing turns into a chore. Wellness company, fret not should you can’t get a room right here.
Villa Stéphanie is instantly linked to the bigger and equally luxurious 100-key Brenners Park-Lodge & Spa by way of a hall, no much less – in order that company can drift again to their suites between remedies with out having to alter out of their Frette bathrobes.
(Fundamental and featured picture: Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt)
This story first appeared within the September 2021 problem of Prestige Singapore.
