Spa For The Course

How can you satisfy your own interests without upsetting your partner? A number of international resorts have cottoned onto the fact that men and women enjoy different things, yet don’t want to be apart from each other for too long.  There are a number of destinations offering activities to appeal to both sexes, including spa and golf, fishing trips and beauty treatments, horse-riding or shooting.  Here is our selection of the best multi-activity resorts.

Royal Parc Evian, France
www.RoyalParcEvian.com
00 33 45 02 68 500
The words “Golf”, “Spa” and “Children” do not normally sit well together, but Royal Parc Evian caters for all three, ensuring that the whole family enjoys the holiday to the fullest.  A short distance from Geneva, on the south bank of Lake Geneva, the Evian Masters Golf Course (18-hole, 6006 metres, par 72) caters to all standards from those who want to learn to play golf right through to professionals.  The Hotel’s Better Living Institute offers ? la carte nutritional, hydrotherapy, massage and relaxation treatments.  The Children’s Club looks after children from the ages of 2 to 18 years.  It has a nursery, creative workshops, a dance studio, multimedia room and theatre, a pool, restaurant, large indoor and outdoor play areas, and activities such as rollerblading, sailing, rafting, mountain biking and snowboarding.

Vale Hotel Golf & Spa Resort, Hensol, South Wales
www.Vale-Hotel.com  01443 667800
The Vale is home to the Wales PGA and has two championship courses.   The Lake Course has already staged numerous PGA Professional Championships and is challenging to golfers of every level. The new Wales National is almost 7,500 yards and, with water coming into play on a number of holes plus greens constructed to USGA standard, is destined to be ranked amongst the very best in the UK. Other golf facilities include a 20-bay all-weather floodlit driving range and expert tuition from three of Wales' leading golf coaching professionals.   The spa is Wales’ largest and offers an holistic or therapeutic experience, with treatments from the leading houses of Clarins and Elemis.  The menu includes massage, facials, body-wraps, hydrotherapy, reflexology and aromatherapy.  A combined golf and spa package makes for an ideal short break.

Lilianfels Blue Mountains, Australia
www.Lilianfels.com.au 00 61 2 4780 1200
Ninety minutes from Sydney, Lilianfels is considered to be Australia’s finest boutique resort, a mountain retreat with a spa and nearby golf.  It also has an award-winning restaurant, Darley’s.  You can hike, go for bike-rides, horse-ride, shoot, play tennis or try aqua-aerobics.

Golfers can enjoy views of the Blue Mountains National Park, whilst ladies can get ‘horizontal’ for the best part of five hours where they will be peeled, rubbed, massaged, oiled, steamed, bathed, revitalised, refreshed, manicured and pedicured to perfection.  Lilianfels is famous for its health club. In addition, there is a menu of naturopathy, herbalism and aromatherpy treatments. Choose from the three-hour relaxation health package, the 90-minute marine mudpack or the 30-minute soothing eye mask.   There are historical garden tours and a scenic railway nearby.

Montecastillo Hotel & Golf Resort, Jerez, Spain www.Montecastillo.com
Described as ‘overlooking one of the most beautiful golf courses in Europe’, the Montecastillo will please golfers and spa lovers alike.  The golf course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is huge.  The spa has many different types of massage and treatments with a large sauna, tennis courts, and a neighbouring equestrian centre.  The palatial 5 star hotel has a distinctly Andalusian feel with tiled floors, black wrought iron and plenty of arches. ‘Horse ballet’ takes place every Thursday.

Masseria San Domenico, Savelletri di Fasano, Brindisi, Italy www.MasseriaSanDomenico.com 00 39 080 482 7769
The Masseria is an ancient watchtower dating from the 15th century, built overlooking the Adriatic by the knights of Malta to ward off attacks by the Ottomans. Surrounded by more than 3,700 acres of olive groves and vineyards, its architectural glory has been restored and its facilities include a spectacular seawater pool, tennis courts, Thalassotherapy Spa, and a brand new 18-hole golf course. Places of historic interest nearby include Egnazia, Alberobello and Castellana.

The Inn At Fisher Island, Miami Beach, Florida, USA www.FisherIsland.com  00 1 305 535 6080
You can only get to Fisher Island by private ferry from Miami or Miami Beach. On such a small island, there’s a startling array of things to do.  The resort has two deepwater marinas, championship golf links, and 18 tennis courts offering clay, grass and hard surfaces. The Inn was built in the 1920s for the Vanderbilt family and accommodation includes restored 1 and 2-bedroom Vanderbilt cottages, courtyard villas with private patios and spas, or a choice of deluxe suites overlooking the Atlantic ocean.

The par-35 nine-hole golf course designed by architect P. B. Dye includes a double-ended driving range.  The links at Fisher Island has played host to the nationally televised PGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour Shout-Out Championships. One of the most fascinating holes is the 390-yard, par-4 seventh that plays along Miami's shipping channel, where yachts and cruise ships sail.  The Spa Internazionale offers the latest in European and American health and beauty treatments and the Kid’s Club enables parents to really take advantage of this and all the other recreational facilities. There is nearly a mile of private manicured beach.

AquaCity, Slovakia www.sacr.sk
Opened on 3 July 2004, AquaCity is a thermal spa resort in Slovakia, located in Poprad and set in the High Tatras mountain rang is built over a geo-thermal spring which provides the resort and its home town with an eternally renewable energy source.  The thermal pools (indoor and outdoor) are filled with crystal clear, mineral-rich water pumped from 2,000 metres below the earth’s surface, and there are spa facilities offering massage and beauty treatments as well more innovative health therapies, including Kryotherapy, where the body is subjected to temperatures of minus 160 degrees Celsius. Only ten minutes from the resort is Poprad golf course where the longest fairway in the world is under construction, a golfer’s dream, set against a mountain backdrop. 

The Aryani, near Kuala Terengannu, East coast of Malaysia www.TheAryani.com  00 60 9 653 2111
This boutique resort on the east coast of Malaysia looks like a Malay Sultan’s palace.  It’s peaceful and low-key.  Ladies can bliss out in the spa enjoying Malay beauty therapies said to have been practised by ancient princesses. Men can unleash the Indiana Jones in them on a jungle-trek to remote waterfalls.  There are also organised squid fishing trips.   The local night markets offer an unusual shopping

20 July 2005