A Spa holiday or balneotherapy includes a spa cure that is to say with spring or fresh water and a spa hotel for your accommodation. Spa means Sanitas Per Aqua an it is defined by the International Spa Association(ISPA) as places "devoted to enhancing overall well-being through a variety of professional services that encourage the renewal of mind, body and spirit."
Called balneotherapy as well as spa, it is a care of hydrotherapy which does not use sea water, unlike thalassotherapy. Most of the time balneotherapy centres or spa are located in the mountains and far from the sea: in the Alps, the Pyrenees, in the forests or near the cities. Considering the recent and current keen interest for natural medicines, an urban balneotherapy was born. Spa and balneotherapy centres appear in the cities to alleviate the pains of working people.
Between beauty parlours and health centres, these new urban spas are very fashionable. We both offer you these kind of spas and genuine spa holidays or spa weekends with an accommodation for trips which give you a complete change of sense.
Take your time to chose and compare in order to find the spa holiday which best corresponds to your budget and yearnings.
Most of the spas and balneotherapy centres have similar spa packages:
Medically supervised balneotherapy and spas stays: back pains, beauty, stop-smoking, sleep, postnatal, lose weight, healthy legs…
Special products to discover spa and balneotherapy features: short stays and spa break with some care allowing you to discover the balneotherapy benefits on a few days, spa and golf packages, spa weekend, health spa break and introduction to balneotherapy
Jet shower and underwater shower, affusion shower, bubbling baths, alga wrap and mud wrap, aquatic gym, hammam or steam bath are called humid spa care and are provided in every spa
Special care to help you losing weight and slimming, in particular treatments and massages for anti-cellulite cures are one of the care you can have in a spa. Most of the time associated to dietetic diets on full board in many spas and balneotherapy centres, slimming cures have demonstrated their efficiency.
Aesthetic care combined with thalassotherapy care for your body and face
You will find all these treatments in every spa holiday or spa weekend in France or in other countries. But their quality may vary from one spa to another. Do not hesitate to ask our advice or to read one of the internet users’ opinion and their grading of the resort on our website. Most of the time their viewpoint is really relevant.
Balneotherapy is a natural medicine since its soothing effect combined with the staff of the spa who take care of you makes it possible to feel deep relaxation. This quiet atmosphere in spas helps some people replacing some drugs (soporific, analgesic or anti-inflammatory medicine) with the benefits of sea and water treatments.
Balneotherapy is a practice as ancient as thalassotherapy with healing properties even if it is not as recognized as thalassotherapy. Everybody knows the Roman public baths which enabled to maintain some hygiene in the big cities of the Empire. Each Emperor had his own baths built to enjoy the benefits of balneotherapy.
Today balneotherapy has grown thanks to modern techniques and offers its bubbling baths or jet sprays but its soothing effect remained the same, if not more efficient than in the past. When we talk about spa rather than balneotherapy it refers to a more luxurious concept about stays in luxury spa hotels in France, Tunisia, Morocco, Thailand, Bahamas and Caribbean or in other heavens on earth situated all over the world and enjoyed by privileged few.
To put it shortly Spa means...
Using spring water

Not necessarily on the seaside

Not necessarily in a specialized centre