How Costa Blanca is Putting the Spa in Spain

Bea Geenen can recommend a great way to start the day. It involves covering herself - and her husband, if he's handy - in mud, then steam-blasting it off. A close second is wrapping herself in algae and sweating it out beneath a hot blanket. Then she heads off to work.

"It's a fantastic way to get going in the morning or to relax on your day off. It's great for couples too," says Bea, a house doctor (she advises people on how to spruce up their property to sell it) who lives in Alfas del Pi near Benidorm.

Bea is a spa junkie. It's an addiction she feeds at least once a month, or whenever a new spa emerges on the coast. And she's not alone as the Costa Blanca is fast developing a reputation for being the spa capital of Spain - the region that puts the spa in Spain.

In the 400km stretch between the vast Marina d'Or holiday village two hours north of Alicante airport, which boasts the Europe's largest 'scientific spa', and the new spa at La Manga Club, the famous sports resort two hours south of Alicante, luxury spas are sprouting up by the handful to satisfy the demands of the growing numbers of tourists visiting this popular eastern Spanish coastline.

In 2002-2003, passengers numbers at Alicante airport rose by 56.4%, compared with 26.5% at Malaga airport. Given a perfect year-round climate, and cheaper property prices than on the Costa del Sol, more British and Irish people than ever before want to spend holidays, and own holiday homes, in the Costa Blanca.

Combine this with our general increasing awareness of the need to keep healthy, and the fact that certain areas of the Costa Blanca, particularly around Torrevieja's natural salt lakes, are deemed by the World Health Organisation to be the healthiest places to live in the world, and you can see why spas on this coast are big business.

"We are seeing a big increase in the number of luxury spas opening on the Costa Blanca, mainly due to the huge numbers of tourists who come here and because people are far more aware of the need for 'wellness' and stress-relief," says Inés Terrón, director of the Health And Beauty Centre at the five-star Hesperia Alicante Golf & Spa Hotel www.hesperia-alicante.com with an 18-hole golf course overlooking San Juan beach. Prices start at 129 euros for a day at the spa where treatments range from subaquatic massages to seven-day Like A Queen programmes for women who know they're worth it.

"Women work more than before and they want a healthy balance and a good level of living, so they use spas like ours as a form of stress relief and to treat themselves," says Inés. But men, too, are queuing up to be pampered, she says. "About 40% of our clients now are men. They particularly like massages and facials."

Bea Geenen, who says winter is her favourite spa-sampling time as all those hot wraps can feel cloying in summer, cites the Marriott La Sella Golf Resort's holistic Alanya Spa www.alanyaspa-denia.com in Denia as her number one Costa Blanca spa.

"The service is highly personalised and impeccably organised so you feel like you have the place to yourself. They treat you like a special guest from start to finish," she says. Bea recalls with particular fondness the Turkish baths, "with a blue ceiling which twinkles like stars, and atmospheric music".

A close second for Bea is the algae wrap at Salux Hills spa in the the five-star Hotel Melia Altea Hills www.solmelia.es, located in a nature reserve three kilometres from the picturesque town of Altea, one of the fastest-growing areas of the Alicante province.

"The algae wraps are incredible," Bea smiles. "They scrub you down, cover you in algae and lay you on a heated water bed, wrapped in a hot blanket for half an hour. Afterwards you feel fantasic."

Should you be seeking tranquillity in the coast's tourist hotspot of Benidorm, the four-star Hotel Spa Levante Club www.luxor-benidorm.com, next to the town's popular Levante beach, offers various programmes lasting two to five days for slimming, detoxing and general wellbeing. "The Levante is cheaper than many spas on the coast and everything takes place in one huge room," says Bea. "There is a huge hot tub, Turkish baths and you can walk across Japanese stones which prick your feet to improve blood circulation. A lot of couples go there and it only costs about 30 euros a day."

If you are already frazzled once you arrive at the airport, or are looking for a way to prepare yourself for the flight home, try the Beauty Farm Centre at the five-star Hotel Spa Sidi San Juan www.hotelessidi.es, whose programmes start at 99 euros and have such dreamy names as Day In The Clouds (for women) and Care of the Modern Man.

Down the coast, La Manga, a five-star resort favoured by golfers, tennis players and footballers wanting a spot of sun-drenched training and relaxation, benefits from its unique setting beside the warm waters of the unique Mar Menor seawater lagoon next to the Mediterranean sea.

At the new La Manga Club Spa www.spa.lamangaclub.com the local mineral-laden mud from the lagoon comes in handy for body scrubs, or you can treat your body to something more salubrious, says the spa's Idoia Carrillo. "Our most special treatments are the caviar facial and the chocolate body wrap."

Nearby at the three-star Entremares Hotel Balneario Marino www.entremares.com, guests at the Roman-style spa can indulge in a hot mango or strawberry among the range of aromatic showers on offer. Treatments also use the Mar Menor's natural ingredients including algae, which is rich in minerals, vitamins and amino acids, and "magic mud", which acts like blotting paper on your skin to absorb the toxins. The hotel also has four 35 degree Mediterranean seawater swimming pools and offers current five-night packages with five treatments included from 225 euros.

Inland from the Mar Menor, near the city of Murcia, spas tend to be more traditionally Spanish, based around natural hot water springs. They are favoured by local residents as a therapeutic place to enjoy the weekend, with less lavish - usually three-star - hotels onsite.

Around Archena, 75km south west of Alicante airport, the area is becoming known as 'Spa Valley', with new developments of apartments starting at £60,000 just 500 metres away from the 19th century Balneario de Archena www.balnearioarchena.com, a spa set in a Mediterranean forest with views over the Ricote valley.

The water here is famous for its medicial and therapeutic qualities and has a natural temperature of 51.7 degrees. Just further north is Fortuna-Leane www.leana.es, the oldest spa hotel in Murcia, dating back to 1860, and the perfect place for a warm dip in winter with an average water temperature of 33 degrees.

In nearby Cofrentes, the spa centre www.balneario.com/cofrentes claims to be one of the biggest and most modern in Spain, with high-tech clinics for various ailments as well as a wide pampering programme. If you're looking for more tangible results from your spa time though, head to Marina D'Or www.marinador.com in Oropesa del Mar, north of Valencia, which offers the most high-tech medical tests available in the world, they say, able to detect any illness so that preventative measures can be taken.

Should the thought of hepato-biliopancreatic tests or polysomnographies fail to tickle your fancy on holiday, then go along to Marina d'Or's vast 40,000m2 seawater spa and soak up the lavish surroundings, including Gaudi-style mosaics and marble columns adorning what must be the largest swimming pools and hot tubs in the world.

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