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The Best Wellness Retreats in the Netherlands to Visit

Among the best wellness retreats found in the Netherlands, Château St Gerlach draws inspiration from across the world for its treatments
Among the best wellness retreats found in the Netherlands, Château St Gerlach draws inspiration from across the world for its treatments | © imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo

The traditionally open culture in the Netherlands makes it receptive to spa and wellness techniques from across the world. Saunas adopt Scandinavian and Russian rituals, occasionally seasoned with new-age crystals and chanting. There’s often a nude day, too, for saunas in particular and occasionally for thermal pools as well. From Amsterdam to Maastricht, here’s our pick of the best wellness hotels in Holland, bookable on Culture Trip.

Fort Resort Beemster

Resort, Luxury

Fort Resort Beemster room with headboard and carpet with wall mounted lamps
Courtesy of Fort Resort Beemster / Booking.com

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.

Fontana Resort Thermen Bad Nieuweschans

Resort

Thermen Bad Nieuweschans outdoor pool with cafe and forest beyond
Courtesy of Thermen Bad Nieuweschans / Booking.com
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.

Conservatorium Hotel

Hotel

Conservatorium Hotel room with large windows, sofa and flowers
Courtesy of Conservatorium Hotel / Booking.com

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.

Thermen Bussloo Wellness and Hotel

Hotel

Thermen Bussloo Wellness and Hotel with modern chic decor including wood floor, desk and blankets
Courtesy of Thermen Bussloo Wellness and Hotel / Booking.com

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 2000 Hotel

Spa Hotel

Thermae 2000 Hotel sauna with stars in ceiling
Courtesy of Thermae 2000 Hotel / Booking.com

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.

Château St Gerlach

Spa Hotel

Château St Gerlach room with floral wallpaper, robes and carpet
Courtesy of Château St Gerlach / Booking.com

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.

This is an updated version of an article originally by Tom Coggins.

About the author

Freelance travel writer, copywriter, copyeditor and photographer. I've contributed features to most of the UK broadhseet newspapers and quality travel magazines. I'm also a contributing photographer to AWL Images, a specialist travel picture library.

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