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10 invigorating escapes to kickstart your new year
Our top ideas to blow away the cobwebs and have a healthy start to 2024
If the stresses and overindulgence of Christmas have left you feeling like you need a reset, a January escape to blow away the cobwebs and kickstart a year of good health could be just what you need.
January can be a tough month. It’s cold and dark, so throwing a detox into the mix may just seem like a leap too far. But with a helping hand from an expert, a boost of sunshine, or a little luxury thrown in, a January detox or wellness break can be something we can really look forward to.
For some, a long walk on a sandy beach in Cornwall can be enough to get our hearts pumping to help flush out toxins. For others, spa facilities like steam rooms and ice baths offer more of a helping hand. Then again, medical spas, like Longevity Health & Wellness in Portugal, offer a more intensive style of detox, including treatments like colonic hydrotherapy and lymphatic drainage — although intensive detoxes should always be approached with caution.
Simply resetting our routines and regimes can help our bodies naturally detox in their own time. After Christmas indulgences, getting a little help with putting healthy food in our bodies and getting our bodies moving can do wonders for our overall health. And there’s help at hand for those things, too (scroll to number 6 for a gut health retreat).
Read on for a selection of invigorating escapes for a January reset, ranging from light-touch beach strolls to get your blood pumping to a spa break and a more intensive full-body detox – or perhaps you’ll find something perfect for you in the middle.
For a detoxing spa break: Carey’s Manor Hotel & Spa, Hampshire
If your body craves a proper detox post-Christmas, head to SenSpa at the beautiful Careys Manor Hotel in the New Forest. The spa facilities here are vast. Alongside a wide selection of traditional spa treatments, there are futuristic facilities, including the Alphasphere, a sensory experience designed for mental relaxation. Four thermal rooms are designed to promote wellness, including a herbal sauna that’s said to detoxify the skin. And if you follow a hot, scented shower with crushed ice, it helps your system remove impurities – perfect if Christmas's gorgeously rich food and drink has caught up with you.
With Good Housekeeping Holidays, you can spend two nights at Careys Manor Hotel & Spa with dinner and breakfast included for £270 per person. You’ll also have access to the spa hydrotherapy facilities in the evening.
To kickstart a new fitness regime: Ragdale Hall Spa, Leicestershire
If the New Year means a detox and a new fitness regime, you’re not alone – this is the time of year when so many of us treat ourselves to the best new gym kit and set off with great intentions. Getting into a routine is the secret weapon to success, and we love the idea of getting some expert help to set us on the right path.
At Ragdale Hall Spa in Leicestershire, you can combine detoxing in the Volcanic Salt Bath, Colourflow Cave, and a selection of invigorating steam rooms with kickstarting a new health regime. Heart + Soul fitness experts are on hand to prepare your perfect exercise plan and give you top tips on monitoring your progress in the months ahead. As a dedicated spa hotel, the food here is delicious and nourishing.
Spend two nights at Ragdale Hall Spa with Good Housekeeping Holidays from just £555 per person in January 2024. It includes two 40-minute spa treatments and use of the spa facilities, plus all your meals during your stay.
For a self-care pamper break: Summer Lodge, Dorset
If a quiet rural escape in January sounds heavenly, make tracks to Summer Lodge in Dorset. Despite its name, it is just as lovely in the depths of winter. There’s a heated pool to squeeze in low-impact cardio to get your body moving if you feel sluggish after the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Then book a pampering Elemis facial to restore glowy skin if overindulgences and central heating have taken their toll on your complexion. Afterwards, find a cosy seat near a roaring log fire, pick up a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine and relax.
Stay for two nights in January 2024 for £395 per person, including a three-course meal on one evening and a 55-minute spa treatment.
For a full detox: Longevity Health & Wellness Resort, Portugal
If your body’s crying out for a more intensive detox, you might be eyeing some incredible medispas that combine science and spa treatments.
Longevity Health & Wellness Hotel in Alvor, Portugal, offers regimes dedicated to health and wellness. For detoxing, guests begin with a complete holistic health check and nutrition consultation. Then, you can book colonic hydrotherapy for an intestinal and liver detox and infusion therapies designed to boost your body with the nutrients it needs, rehydrating and optimising your overall health and wellbeing.
Healthy food in the sea view restaurant is complemented with detox supplements, detox teas, and detoxifying and anti-inflammatory shakes, juices, and soups. With a range of classes from yoga and stretching to Pilates and core training, you should have a real spring in your step by the end of your trip and be ready to face 2024 head-on.
For an invigorating beach escape: Rick Stein’s Shepherd’s Huts, Cornwall
Beach walks can help blow away the cobwebs after Christmas, and what finer beaches than those on the north coast of Cornwall? Wrap up warmly and plan long, blustery walks along the sands of Constantine Bay or Watergate Bay.
To up the cosiness, stay in one of Rick Stein’s peaceful shepherd’s huts – there are six of them on the grounds of his pub, The Cornish Arms, near Padstow. They’re warm and welcoming, with underfloor heating and ensuite shower rooms.
There’s a kitchenette in the shepherd’s huts too, but when you book a stay in one of Rick Stein’s shepherd’s huts with Good Housekeeping Holidays, breakfast is included on both mornings, plus you’ll have dinner in The Cornish Arms one night, and fish and chips to enjoy from one of Rick’s fish and chip shops on the other.
For a detox in the sunshine: Pine Cliffs, Portugal
Don’t let the January gloom get to you – combine a healthy detox with time on the sunnier shores of the Algarve and get a good dose of vitamin D while you’re at it. Pine Cliffs — a Luxury Collection Hotel, is a five-star hotel in a prime position on this glorious stretch of coastline.
Divide your time between the beach and Serenity Spa – the detox programme there will help re-energise you in no time. Consider booking the Marine Detox Bath that targets body fat and cellulite or a lymphatic drainage massage to encourage your body to remove waste and toxins.
For a gut health reset: Goodwood Hotel, West Sussex
If too many Christmas indulgences have thrown your body into disarray, addressing your gut health can set 2024 off on the right track. Good gut health is said to encourage a healthy metabolism, support a happy brain, and even boost our stress resilience and immune system.
For a January detox focusing on your gut, check yourself into a lovely room at the Goodwood Hotel in January for a gut health reset. If you opt for the five-day Gut Health retreats (there are two planned in January), wellness experts are on hand to help guide you through the process as you feast on expertly curated nutritious and gut-healthy menus at Goodwood’s farm-to-fork restaurant. You'll also listen to daily group talks and take refreshing walks through the beautiful estate.
Even if you don’t opt for the full retreat, there are spa treatments available in the Goodwood Spa that target gut health, including a body brushing treatment to boost your lymphatic system, an abdominal massage to relieve bloating and improve your digestive function, and a castor oil compress to reduce inflammation with a heated compress over your liver to draw out toxins and encourage elimination.
For healing and rejuvenation: The Retreat at Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Iceland may be dark in January, but with the lure of the ethereal Northern Lights, it’s somewhere we can forgive a little bleakness. Plus, for a truly relaxing break, the Blue Lagoon is right up there among the world’s best places to relax and start 2024 on the right foot.
Although you can simply enjoy the water, booking a therapy can help maximise the benefits of this wellness water. Float on the warm waters in a therapeutic experience that releases spinal tension, or bob over to the mask bar to slather your skin with the revitalising silica and minerals that give your complexion a luminous appearance. However you experience the Blue Lagoon, you’ll feel utterly rejuvenated.
The Retreat Hotel at Blue Lagoon gives you access to the lagoon – some suites have direct access to the water – and you can join in morning yoga and access to the subterranean spa as a guest here.
For detoxifying acupuncture: COMO Metropolitan, London
It’s thought that the gentle insertion of needles at the body’s energy lines can bring a raft of health benefits, including detoxification.
Escape the bustle of London’s streets and head to COMO Metropolitan, booking yourself an acupuncture session to target your individual woes. The spa also offers lymphatic drainage massages for an extra detoxifying boost. Then treat yourself to a healthy dinner at Nobu, the hotel's flagship restaurant.
Feeling energised and ready for 2024, you might find yourself in the mood for some retail therapy to round things off nicely - after all, COMO Metropolitan is in the heart of Mayfair.
For stress and anxiety release: Gleneagles, Scotland
When we think of a detox, our minds turn to flushing out toxins from our bodies. But if Christmas has left us stressed or worried, a reset moment for the mind can be just as restorative.
Time outdoors and movement have been shown to relieve stress, and where more beautiful to take long hikes than in Scotland? If the Scottish weather in January doesn’t play ball, you can address your stress in the heavenly spa at Gleneagles. The Recovery treatment targets chronic stress and pain, using anti-inflammatory oils to target your tissues, tendons and muscle fascia and boost blood flow. The result? You feel renewed and recharged.
Tempting though the Michelin-starred restaurant may be, continue your restoration with a nourishing dinner at the firelit restaurant, The Dormy, before a long sleep in one of the beautifully cosy guestrooms at Gleneagles.
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