Best spa centers in the world

Brands like the Mandarin Oriental and Clinique La Prairie were among the big winners at an awards night honoring the best in luxury spa and wellness destinations around the world. If you’re planning a spa vacation abroad, take cues from the results of the World Spa & Wellness Awards 2014 presented in London this week, where the industry handed out 11 awards that singled out the best regional hotel and spa destinations around the world. Of the 11 winners, the Mandarin Oriental brand took two awards, with the spa at Mandarin Oriental Singapore named the hotel spa of the year for Asia and Australasia, and the spa at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas likewise taking the same title for North and South America. Some of the more unique spa treatments offered on the Singapore menu include orchid body scrubs, green tea and ginger body treatments and a warm bamboo stick massage. In a way that befits its glitzy setting, the Las Vegas hotel offers a “Diamond Magnetic Lift Body Treatment” that involves a luminous mud speckled with diamond dust followed by a massage that’s supposed to amplify the body’s energy, unload tension, and fight the signs of aging. Meanwhile, a spa that claims to be the first medical spa in Brazil also emerged a big winner, taking the award for destination spa of the year for North and South America. Founded in 1972, the Lapinha Spa is set across 550 acres of farmland in the municipality of Lapa and bases its therapies on the ‘healing power’ of the natural environment. Wellness treatments include anti-smoking, detox, weight loss and relaxation. Here are the winners of the World Spa & Wellness Awards 2014: Hotel Spa of the Year – Asia & Australasia The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Singapore Destination Spa of the Year – Asia & Australasia Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary and Holistic Spa Resort, Koh Samui, Thailand Hotel Spa of the Year – Eastern Europe Mandara Spa at Lotte Hotel Moscow, Russia Destination Spa of the Year – Eastern Europe Spa Vilnius, Druskininkai, Lithuania Hotel Spa of the Year – Middle East ShuiQi Spa & Fitness, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, UAE Destination Spa of the Year – Middle East & Africa Banyan Tree Spa Al Wadi, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE Hotel Spa of the Year – North & South America The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, USA Destination Spa of the Year – North & South America Lapinha Spa, Lapa, Brazil Hotel Spa of the Year – Western Europe & Scandinavia Espa at The Europe Hotel & Resort, Killarney, Ireland Destination Spa of the Year – Western Europe & Scandinavia Clinique La Prairie, Montreux, Switzerland Hotel Spa of the Year – Africa One&Only Spa Cape Town, South Africa Source: Relaxnews