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Spa Review |
SHA WELLNESS CLINIC, SPAIN Visited by Lisa Agasee Location: SHA Wellness Clinic, Verderol 5, 03581 El Albir, Valencia, Spain. +34 902 995 335. www.shawellnessclinic.com Facilities: The SHA Wellness Clinic is the world’s first macrobiotic retreat. It opened a year and a half ago and has already earned the accolade of ‘Best Spanish Spa’ by readers of SpaFinder – with its A-List status confirmed when Naomi Campbell and Kylie Minogue recently visited. Located 45 minutes from Alicante, overlooking the Spanish Mediterranean Sea, the clinic offers alternative health practices, natural therapies, healthy-ageing treatments, and medical as well as aesthetic medicine. Guests can enjoy the therapeutic benefits of the Dead Sea salt water in the Flotarium – as well as the Aqua-Lab, which features a hydrotherapy circuit with powerful massage jets, alongside individual hydro Massage beds, where strategically placed jets gently massage the whole body underneath the water. The stunning spa offer a wealth of treatments, including nine different massages, wraps, facials and energising baths. It even has an Oxygen Bar, which helps release toxins from the body and activate skin cells. With natural therapies such as Acupuncture, Reiki, Hydro-Colon Therapy and even Laughter Therapy, SHA aim to find the cause or root of an illness - and not simply treat the symptoms. Each guest is given a personal programme for the duration of their stay, which includes a basic medical check up, Aesthetic consultation and one to one Macrobiotic consultation with inspirational counsellor Virginia Harper, who gives her assessment using an Oriental diagnosis. She prescribes a combination of nutrition and lifestyle to achieve optimum results as well as recommending one of the three tailored Menu plans, which range from weight loss to a la carte. Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow have been two of the most famous devotees of the macrobiotic diet but any preconceived thoughts of strict and boring meals here are immediately dismissed by the varied, gourmet Mediterranean menu overseen by world leading macrobiotic expert and Director of Natural Medicine at SHA, Michio Kushi. Ambience: SHA radiates peace and tranquility. The spa is built over 25,000 square metres, interconnected with bridges and designed in harmony with the landscape. Numerous gardens, large windows and spacious terraces connect guests to the surrounding nature. The mountain-view from the fifth-floor terrace is stunning - and with its white-canopied day beds surrounded by infinity pools and fountains, the design is Hollywood chic. The staff and therapists are friendly and attentive, going out of their way to make you feel that nothing is too much trouble. The spacious rooms are stylish, comfortable and tastefully decorated in neutral tones. Whilst the beds are so sumptuous that one guest even arranged to ship one home. Treatment Tested: Deep Tissue Massage, 100 Euros / £90 for one hour. After some Chinese Bancha tea at the Spas Tea Bar, I was led to an immaculate treatment room that smelled evocatively of aromatherapy oils. My therapist pinpointed every knot and ache in my back, neck, shoulders, legs, arms and hands which she kneaded away expertly during the Deep Tissue massage. Afterwards my body felt lighter and more relaxed and I almost floated back to my room.
Award winning low fares airline Monarch offers flights to Alicante from Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester airports with fares, including taxes, starting from £46.50 one way (£76.99 return). For more information or to book, visit www.monarch.co.uk |
