Spring break? It's time to treat yourself

Anyone enthusiastic about fast cars might identify Spa as the home of the Belgian grand prix race track. But to most people it Belgium's most recognisable brand of bottled water: blue labels for the still variety, red for fizzy. What has long since been forgotten is that Leamington Spa, Buxton Spa and the other places in Britain noted for their water owe their names to this small Belgian town.

Anyone enthusiastic about fast cars might identify Spa as the home of the Belgian grand prix race track. But to most people it Belgium's most recognisable brand of bottled water: blue labels for the still variety, red for fizzy. What has long since been forgotten is that Leamington Spa, Buxton Spa and the other places in Britain noted for their water owe their names to this small Belgian town.

Spa was the original spa. Located to the east of the country, not far from the German border, its natural springs were first noticed by the Romans. Some soldiers, ailing from the bad food they had eaten, were cured after drinking the local water. Pliny the Elder wrote up the event in his diary, describing the fountain with the words "sparsa fontana". These were wrongly taken to mean "the fountain of Spa" and the area around the spring got its name.

A 16th-century book on the curative properties of Spa's water turned the place into a centre for cures. When the Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, visited the town in 1717, it began to flourish as a health resort. Visitors, many of them English, poured in, to benefit from the minerals in the spring water.

There are plenty of relics of those glory days in modern Spa. A spring was named for Peter the Great, and although the building that housed it has been reconstructed, the table where he sat to take the waters still exists. Modern visitors can pause there while they sip a glass of spring water with its sulphurous smell and metallic flavour. In the same building, covered up in preparation for a planned restoration, is the Livre d'Or. This fresco, painted at the end of the 19th century, depicts many of Spa's famous visitors. These included Charles II, the Duke of Wellington and Benjamin Disraeli - though they did not take the waters at the same time, despite what the painting might suggest.

In recent years, Spa has had the decaying air of a town that has failed to reinvent itself to keep pace with modern life. But now, it is undergoing something of a renaissance. The Baroque-style building where visitors used to enjoy the waters has closed. If the planners and conservationists can agree, it will be turned into a congress centre. A smart new complex, the Thermes de Spa, has been built at the top of a hill in the town centre. It is linked to a new Radisson SAS hotel at ground level by a glass funicular. It opened this spring, and the hope is that visitors will once again come back to Spa to benefit from the healing properties of its water.

They won't be expected to drink it, though. As long ago as 1850, to keep up with trends in other European spas, a bath house was built in the Belgian resort. Visitors began to bathe in the water instead of swallowing it. Treatments of a different kind were developed. Anyone who visited Spa after 1868 could have a "bain carbogazeux" - a long, soak in warm, fizzy water, generally reckoned to be good for the circulation. In 1910, the latest thing was a "douche de Spa", a gentle massage carried out while the body is assailed by fierce jets of water. This eliminates toxins, although whether these were a matter of great concern 100 years ago is unclear.

These treatments are still available in the newly-opened thermal centre in Spa. The bain carbogazeux even takes place in the original copper tubs, retained because they protect the bather against bacteria. As one of the many attentive staff observed, although technology has moved on, very little has actually been invented.

All visitors to the centre can use the pools, both indoor and out, with their massage jets, showers and jacuzzis. There are also saunas and steam rooms, with an ice-cold plunge pool nearby; a fitness room; and a relaxation room, complete with subdued lighting and gentle music. These facilities are very pleasant and, for the moment at least, more relaxing than those on offer in the rather sparcely kitted-out treatment rooms, where improvements are still ongoing. When these are made, the whole experience will be far more luxurious one. Luxury is very much the order of the day at the Château des Thermes in Chaudfontaine, some 20 miles away, and the site of Belgium's only hot spring. This is a spa centre in the modern sense of the word, with the emphasis on pampering rather than health. The swimming pool is open-air, but since it is naturally heated to 39 degrees, it can be used all year-round.

There are saunas and steam rooms here, too, and modern consulting rooms with a variety of treatments on offer, from a manicure to a session in the Spa Jet, the only one of its kind in Belgium, and an object of great pride at the Château. This capsule can be programmed to give different massages, as well as providing sauna or steam treatments. An excellent buffet lunch is available at the Chateau and can be eaten at the poolside, and dinner is served in the more formal restaurant.

The Château recently changed hands and it is now family-run. There is great attention to detail, and numbers are limited for the comfort of the clients. With the Château des Thermes setting the standard, the whole Spa region is set for a luxurious future.

TRAVELLER'S GUIDE

TREATMENTS

The Thermes de Spa (Colline d'Annette et Lubin, Spa; 00 32 87 77 25 60; www.thermesdespa.com) open daily from 9am-8pm, Friday and Sunday until 10pm. Children under 6 are not allowed. Entrance costs €17 (£11), and allows two and a half hours' access to the pools, including the saunas, steam rooms and relaxation rooms. Treatments start at €22 (£15) for a bain carbogazeux. Half-day packages start at €70 (£47) for a massage, bain carbogazeux and access to all the pools.

The Château des Thermes (9 Rue Hauster, 00 32 4 367 80 67, www.chateaudesthermes.be) is open Monday-Thursday and Saturday from 10am-8pm, Friday from 10am-9pm, and Sunday 10am-6pm. Children under 12 are not allowed. Entrance costs €18 (£12) for three hours, €30 (£20) for a day. Treatments start at €15 (£10); a session in the Spa Jet costs €45 (£30). A variety of packages is available from €80 (£53).

ACCOMMODATION

There are plenty of hotels in the region, although at the moment, the only packages that combine accommodation and treatments in Spa are available through the new Radisson SAS hotel at 39 Place Royale (00 32 87 27 97 00, www.radissonsas.com). Spa Getaway packages start at €123.50 (£82.50) per person, for one night's half-board accommodation and entrance to the baths. Other hotels in the town can pre-book sessions at the Thermes de Spa, but these will be charged at the advertised rate. These include the Auberge at 3-4 Place du Monument (00 32 87 77 48 33, www.auberge-spa.be) where double rooms start at €77 (£51) and singles at €60 (£40); there is a 5 per cent reduction on the room rate when thermal treatments are booked. Rooms at the Hôtel Cardinal, at 21 Place Royale (00 32 87 77 10 64, www.hotel-cardinal.be) start at €82 (£55) for doubles, €62 (£41) for singles.

From the end of May, rooms will be available at the Château des Thermes in Chaudfontaine, and half-board accommodation will cost around €109 (£72) per person, including access to the pool, sauna and steam room. Visitors can be collected from the railway station in Liege, 10 miles away.

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