WALLET WATCH A one-night, two-day stay, with four treatments, costs £650 per person. It includes four meals, cycling if you want, and spacious room with ensuite bathroom. Individual treatments: £90 per session of BTC; £65 for reflexology; £60 for massage; £45 for yoga; £50 for acupuncture.

St David's Hotel & Spa, Cardiff
(0870 4606040; www.thestdavidshotel.com)

USP Billed as Wales’s first purpose-built 5-star hotel, every room and suite (there are 132) has views or balconies overlooking Cardiff Bay, while the spa to one side of the hotel is state-of-the-art stuff. A huge menu of body and beauty treatments includes such esoteric ones as Tui Na — a massage of traditional Chinese medicine in which the therapist not only uses strokes to ease the muscles but also pinches and pummels the body. Hydrotherapy pool has pressure jets from ankle to hips and aqua beds where you can just lie under the water and be gently massaged.

WALLET WATCH The spa has a number of full day packages from £95. Also on offer are overnight spa breaks which include dinner, bed, breakfast and lunch, full use of the spa facilities and a treatment from £210 per person.

Titanic Spa, Huddersfield, Yorkshire
(0845 4103333; www.titanicspa.co.uk).

Top 5 London day spas

We've hand-picked five of the capital's best day spas for part-time pampering

BACKGROUND

• Top 5 serene retreats

• Spas for real people

• Top 10 breaks to get you out of a rut

Related Internet Links

• Read more than 240 reviews in our Good Spa Guide

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• Ayush Wellness Spa, St Helier, Jersey

USP A refreshing eco day spa set in a former textile mill. Huge pool, smallish gym and impressive "heat experience" treatments area. The Wuthering Heights scenery is a breath of fresh air, literally, in itself.

WALLET WATCH You can pay just for the treatments rather than a day rate. The cheapest facial is the 25-minute Reviver, £40. The "Pevonia journey" is the most expensive package at £295, and includes Heat Experience, full body polish, Moroccan cocoon with Rasul mud wrap to condition the skin, hot stones, face mask with eye treatment, and hand and foot treatment.

Westin Turnberry Resort Spa, Ayrshire, Scotland
(01655 331000 or visit www.westin.com/turnberry)

USP The spa at the Westin Turnberry Resort on the coast of Ayrshire offers Espa treatments in a first-class hotel, with two of Britain’s finest golf courses only yards away. The spa has a big gym, 12 treatment rooms, relaxation rooms and a 20m swimming pool, which has jaw-dropping views over the Irish Sea towards Ailsa Craig, an island that looks like an enormous muffin.

WALLET WATCH Not too bad. My wife had a 25-minute head massage (“invigorating yet soothing”) for £34. A facial (one hour and 20 minutes) is £90 or £65 for 50 minutes. My Ayurvedic extravaganza was £125.

Delphi Mountain Resort, Leenane, County Galway, Ireland
(00 353 95 42987; www.delphiescape.com)

USP Built in the wilderness of Ireland’s West Coast, it's the scenery and fresh air—not chocolate facials—that draw attention to this spa. A very different package to most of the hothouse pamper-palaces that increasingly litter the English countryside. Treatments and therapies are combined with a healthy dose of hiking and fishing among the bare-backed mountains and gurgling river that surround it.

WALLET WATCH A two-night weekend break at Delphi costs from £340 per person, including two lunches, one dinner, a massage a facial and all activities.

Ayush Wellness Spa, St Helier, Jersey
Hotel De France, Jersey (+44 (0) 1534 614000; www.defrance.co.uk)

USP Located in Hotel de France, one of Jersey’s finest hotels, Ayush Wellness Spa is the first UK destination spa dedicated to Ayurveda – the 5,000-year-old healing science and its principles. The spa combines authentic Indian therapies with luxurious treatments in stunning surroundings - 17,000 square feet of stone, wood and open glass walkways overlooking landscaped gardens and a fabulous infinity pool. Overall, the spa has an incredible feel of space and tranquillity.

WALLET WATCH Taking into account the quality of treatments and facilities, Ayush offers excellent value. A two-day retreat including yoga, treatments and two night’s bed and breakfast starts from £175. Longer programmes from three to 21 days are available. Treatments on an individual basis range from £30 for a body exfoliation, £50 for a dosha specific facial and £110 for a two-therapist massage.

For more than 240 reviews of spas worldwide visit Times Online's Good Spa Guide

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