The Best Wellness Retreats in the Netherlands to Visit

A Unesco World Heritage site, this 1912 fort is also a unique eco-chic hotel. Its one-time barracks have been cleverly converted into luxury barrel-vaulted rooms and suites with pretty views across the adjoining canal and farmland beyond. Rainwater, solar power and residual heat from the saunas warm the property. Wellness facilities embrace everything from hot stone to bamboo massages, plus ones for expectant mothers and tekya (palm root) brush hammams.

Just shy of the German border near Groningen, the Netherlands’ sole thermal waters – 36C (98F), mineral-rich and 0.5km (0.3mi) underground – were only discovered in the 1980s. Today’s modern parkland-edged Fontana Resort features indoor and outdoor thermal pools along with almost a dozen saunas with varying nude and swimwear times. Some saunas stray into steamy new-age territory with healing amethyst, fragrant sequoia and even re-creations of the Northern Lights. You might push the boat out, too, with cryotherapy.

Amsterdam’s glorious Conservatorium, a now-modernised late 19th-century Art Nouveau extravaganza, is among the country’s finest hotels. Its chic contemporary minimalism was achieved by much-lauded Italian designer Piero Lissoni. Inside, the award-winning Akasha Holistic Wellbeing – part urban retreat, part-wellness centre – offers a bewildering array of treatments from oenotherapy (wine-based) to reflexology, hammams to massages. Wraps, watsu (water-based massage), exfoliation and Ayurvedic treatments colour the picture, and you might tune your seven chakras, too. An 18m (60ft) lap pool and vast gym, plus fitness and yoga instructors, suggest an exhausting if not exhaustive stay.

Overlooking Lake Bussloo near Apeldoorn, the Bussloo strives to get you out of your head and back into your body. There’s a distinct new age vibe to this modern resort where gongs might reverberate through saunas, and balls of salt are almost ceremoniously crushed by the “priests” of pampering. Russian-style birch whisking is just for starters. How about floating in a saltwater Mexican-themed cenote, or sinkhole, or “fragrance journeys” with essential oils? Finish with a sound meditation in a groovy carpeted yurt.

Thermae’s eye-catching, partially glazed pyramidal building atop Cauberg Hill just outside Valkenburg – a charming historic town that has long lured travellers – is almost a landmark in itself. Accommodation includes two jacuzzi suites at the pyramid’s apex, and all rooms have thermal tap water. Yet, it’s the combination of three outdoor pools along with an array of saunas (culminating in the aufguss special where hot scented steam is conducted towards clients), treatments and massages that clinch cloud nine.

In the pretty countryside near Maastricht, this fastidiously restored former monastery and country estate boasts parkland and formal gardens. Beautifully appointed rooms and public areas range from opulent to grand-rustic. Spa and wellness facilities occupy the estate’s ancient cellars, where the 14m (45ft) Roman-style pool has sliding glass doors that open onto a terrace. Treatments mostly use Parisian brand Sothys products; try the signature Japanese-inspired hanakasumi using cherry blossom and rice powder.