l TRY an olive oil massage – it leaves you with silky soft, if somewhat slippery, skin (£50).

Kuoni (01306 747008,www.kuoni.co.uk) has five nights from £665pp, half board, including flights from Gatwick.

AUX GAZELLES, VIENNA

When the austere architecture of Austria’s capital gets a little too formal, exchange it for the heat of Arabia. You’ll find Aux Gazelles (overleaf, far left) down a sidestreet in the main tourist district: it’s got tea rooms and a caviar bar, but the main draw is the marble hammam: no-nonsense treatments are dispensed by burly ladies, interspersed with mint tea. You won’t find fancy massages on the menu, just varying degrees of strip, rub-down and soap – but you will emerge squeaky clean.

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l TRY the Spoil programme – with exfoliation, soak and full-body massage (£60).

00 43 1 585 6645, www.auxgazelles.at. Kirker (020 7593 2288, www.kirkerholidays.com) has three nights’ B&B from £658pp; Heathrow flights.

HAMMAM YALBOUGHA AL-NASRI, SYRIA

In the shadow of Aleppo’s ancient citadel is the 15th-century Hammam Yalbougha al-Nasri, carved from striking black-and-white stone. Here attendants summon you for a scrub-down with a loofah, a lather with olive-oil soap, and a massage that will leave you with spaghetti legs.

l TRY the full hammam package, a steal at just £5.

00 963 021 362 3154. Cox & Kings (020 7873 5000, www.coxandkings.co.uk) has an eight-night package to Aleppo, from £1,095 with Heathrow flights.

HARROGATE TURKISH BATHS, YORKSHIRE

Harrogate has been touting its healing spring waters since 1571. Not until the refurb of the Victorian-era Turkish Baths (above) a couple of years ago, though, was the Yorkshire town put back on the spa map. They’re a visual treat: jewel-toned brickwork, Islamic-style archways and painted ceilings. Just as in Victorian times, the idea is to work up a sweat by moving slowly through inter-connecting rooms: Tepidarium (warm), Calidarium (hot) and Laconium (roasting), finally cooling off in the Frigidarium. It’s a bargain, too, with sessions priced from just £11. Best of all, you can stay as long as you like.

l TRY a hot-stone massage (£52).

01423 556746, www.harrogate.gov.uk; admission from £11, treatments extra. The Balmoral (01423 508208, www.balmoralhotel.co.uk), near the Baths, has doubles from £120, room only.

THE SPA SUITE AT PORTO SANI VILLAGE, HALKIDIKI

Kids were born to stress parents out – but how can you unwind without worrying about what they’re up to? At family-friendly Porto Sani Village, in Halkidiki, the Spa Suite (above) does the trick – loungers look out to the main pool complex so you can keep an eye on the children while you relax after your customised treatment using cult French brand Anne Sémonin.

l TRY the Sani Royal Experience – £140 may sound like a lot, but you get two-and-a-half hours of child-free, body-melting bliss.

00 30 237 409 9400, www.saniresort.gr. ITC Classics (01244 355527, www.itcclassics.co.uk) has seven nights at Porto Sani Village from £659pp, with Gatwick flights.

RED LANE SPA AT BEACHES BOSCOBEL RESORT, JAMAICA

It’s not all breathless watersports and boring golf at Beaches Boscobel Resort. There are far more civilised pursuits you don’t even need to sit up for at the resort’s Red Lane Spa (above), with sophisticated treatments from facials to body wraps. The all-inclusive price balances out the middling cost of massage. And therapists have magic fingers.

l TRY the West Indian massage using warm stones and sand exfoliation. Guaranteed to erase all thoughts of playing giant chess from your mind (£84).

Virgin Holidays (0871 222 0304, www.virginholidays.com) has seven nights from £1,399pp, all-inclusive, with flights from Gatwick and transfers.

For more than 250 independent spa reviews log on to timesonline.co.uk/goodspaguide

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