spa

THE Scottish capital is the perfect spot for a weekend break – and we’ve found an affordable but central hotel.

Here’s everything you need to know about staying at Novotel Edinburgh.

Where is the Novotel Edinburgh hotel ?

A beautifully-appointed city hotel, the Novotel Edinburgh Centre is extremely well-located, about a ten-minute stroll from the mighty castle and around 20-minutes from Waverley station (although it’s a very hilly walk).

What is the hotel like?

The property is made to feel like a home from home, with plenty of little nooks in the foyer to tuck yourself away in.

Hotel staff are attentive and everything is easy to find.

What are the rooms like?

Guests are well looked after here.

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We were greeted by refreshing fruit kebabs in our room, as well as cold water in the mini fridge, and a tea/coffee station.

There was ample room around our twin beds which meant we weren’t tripping over our luggage.

A shower in a separate room from the toilet made getting ready in the morning easy.

Classic family rooms cost from £168, sleeping up to two adults and two children.

Pets are allowed at an additional charge of £10 per day. See all.accor.com.

What is there to eat and drink?

The on site restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day.

The buffet breakfast will keep any adventurer well fuelled with everything from a full Scottish fry up, continental options and a waffle station to cereal, fresh fruit and pastries — there are options for those who are lactose intolerance, too.

There’s ample choice for dinner, too.

I chose a light meal option, the Superfood Salad Bowl (£16) which was packed with paprika roasted chickpea, quinoa, asparagus, beetroot, avocado and feta while my pal opted for a heartier meal of grilled lamb chops (£25).

What else is there to do at the hotel?

Guests have use of a pool, sauna, steam room and gym on site.

Whisky fans will have their pick of tours.

Although choose carefully; a well-established distillery is a better investment if you are fussy about your tipples, although these tend to be a little more costly.

But if you only want to learn briefly about the distilling process and get a few drinks in you, the cheaper options should have you covered.

Otherwise the city’s stunning architecture, modern shops and restaurants are all within easy walking distance

If is family friendly?

Kids aged under 15 stay for free at the hotel, and get free breakfast with every paying adult.

Is it accessible?

The hotel has nine accessible rooms and there is a ramp to the entrance of the hotel, along with handicap parking.

ONE of the oldest lidos in the UK is set to undergo a huge expansion with a new spa and children’s water play area.

Droitwich Spa Lido near Birmingham originally opened in 1935 and is one of the few remaining open-air, saltwater pools in the UK and now, it will get a £12.5million facelift.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

There will be several new features at the lido including a spa experience, a new brine pool, a new reception and a new water play area for little ones.

Other parts of the attraction will be updated, including reintroducing Art Deco features, enhancing the cafe and refurbishing the changing rooms.

Councillor Richard Morris said: “The Droitwich Lido is seen as one of the best in the country and when the public were consulted about the Town Prospectus the residents in Droitwich rated it the area they were most proud of after fighting for it to be reopened in 2007.”

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He added that the final design might evolve, but that the lido is expected to open in the first half of 2028.

Currently, the destination already includes a heated saltwater pool, children’s wet play area, sun terrace and a cafe.

The 40metre lido also sits on vast deposits of salt, which have been extracted from the ground for centuries.

In fact, the natural brine in the town is 10 times stronger than sea water and when the lido first opened, diluted brine was pumped from the local streams into the pool to keep it aseptic.

It was then heated to the temperature of the Mediterranean Sea and marketed as the ‘seaside of Droitwich Spa’, without actually being on the seaside.

The lido previously closed in 2000, but remained a popular attraction with many travelling to just see the once busy open air pool.

Then in 2007, the lido reopened having been completely refurbished, with the water still using a natural brine feed.

Previously, the pool was even named the fifth best in the country by The Times.

The pool is already open for the 2026 season and is heated to between 22C and 26C.

General swim sessions costing from £7.20 per adult for an hour or £9.40 for two hours and £7.20 per child per session.

Everyone craves a spa weekend getaway, but this destination is just a short flight away from the UK and it’s so worth the visit. People even claimed it’s quite “underrated”

Ditch the pricey spa breaks here in the UK and hop on a flight to this unmissable European city instead. If you’re on the hunt for a relaxing weekend retreat, then you’re in for a treat.

A spa weekend can work wonders, not only for your mental health but also for your body, offering deep relaxation, stress relief and improved sleep quality. Now, travellers are singing the praises of one European destination that boasts an “unbelievable” spa complete with indoor and outdoor bars, as well as water slides.

The destination in question is Bucharest, Romania. In a viral TikTok video, a popular travel account told followers to pay a visit to Therme Bucharest – and for very good reason.

In the TikTok clip shared with its 27,200 followers, the video opened with: “A cheap underrated European city break you need to visit.”

It continued: “No joke, I genuinely believe that a trip to this European spa can be cheaper than going to one in the UK nowadays.

“Therme Bucharest is located in Romania and honestly is one of the most underrated city breaks.

“The city itself is absolutely gorgeous and the spa is unbelievable. They have indoor bars, outdoor bars, the most gorgeous botanical interior, face mask that you can use, temples, aqua aerobics, saunas, water slides, it’s honestly massive.”

What does the spa offer?

Therme Bucharest offers three unique experiences to “suit your desires”.

Galaxy: Perfect for family entertainment as it boasts 1.7km of exhilarating water slides, a wave pool and interactive activities for all ages. This is the sole area where children aged 3-14 are allowed.

The Palm: An adults-only pool featuring a retractable roof, mineral pools, hydromassage beds, a pool bar, plus indoor and outdoor relaxation spaces.

Elysium: After a premium experience? This relaxation zone provides thematic saunas, a wide array of wellness therapies, bespoke spa treatments and fine dining experiences.

If you’re planning a visit, ensure you bring your swimsuit, flip-flops and a towel. You can pop to the shop for any essentials.

Ticket prices vary from £20-£50 per adult, roughly 100-250 RON. This depends on the length of your visit, 3 hours, 4 hours or a full day, plus the number of zones accessed (Galaxy, Palm or Elysium).

Spa tickets typically start around £22-£24 for basic access, with extra costs for sauna packages or full-day access.

How much do flights cost?

Amid the ongoing travel disruption around the world, flights from the UK to Bucharest generally cost around £40-£100 for budget airlines like Ryanair or Wizz Air, if you’re departing from London.

Nevertheless, average return prices are often near £169, with premium or last-minute flights potentially higher. Direct flight time is approximately 3 hours 10 minutes.

It was 6.30am, the cockcrow slot at Jubilee Park lido, and still not quite light. I hadn’t wanted to come this early – it was the only time I’d been able to book. But as I slid into the pool – heated to a delicious 29C – I realised it was a gift. Vapours rose dreamily into cool air laced with owl hoots and the whiff of dewy blooms, and I swam into a sunrise that became more vivid with every stroke. A man in the next lane paused to admire the reddening dawn too; he was hungover, he said, but had come to do his morning lengths nonetheless. A cure of sorts.

Bath, Harrogate, Buxton – Woodhall? This Lincolnshire village isn’t one of Britain’s headline spa towns. Most probably don’t know where it is – 18 miles (29km east of Lincoln, for the record. But at the turn of the 20th century, Woodhall Spa was among the most fashionable places to be seen, to be healed.

Those wellness-seekers didn’t come, as I had, for the 90-year-old lido (open April to November). They came for the springs. In 1821, a hopeful entrepreneur sank a mine shaft here, prospecting for coal. He discovered water instead, which was found to be high in iodine and bromine, thought to be beneficial for everything from rheumatoid arthritis to gout. The first proper bath house was built in 1838; trains arrived in 1855. Woodhall Spa was on the map.

The village’s Edwardian heyday is long gone. The railway has closed, the baths are no longer in use – the original building is now a beauty salon. But Woodhall Spa still has a deeply restorative feel. With its broad, leafy avenues, red-brick and half-timber villas, protective shroud of trees, numerous cafes and delis, and promise of simple, bygone pleasures, it’s like a safety blanket; a place to escape the world’s horrors for a few days.

Tina Delaney, a director at Woodhall’s Cottage Museum, agrees. She came here on holiday from Bedford six years ago and ended up staying: “My husband describes it as moving 100 miles north, 80 years back in time.”

The little museum occupies a rare 19th-century prefab of yellow corrugated iron and documents Woodhall’s history, from its early fortunes to its part in the second world war. The 1st Airlanding Brigade trained here for Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated plan to seize bridges in the occupied Netherlands; of the 2,500 men who left, fewer than 500 returned. Many became prisoners of war. Also, Squadron 617 – the Dambusters – were briefly stationed at RAF Woodhall Spa; the officers’ mess was in the grandiose mock-Tudor Petwood Hotel. I wandered there after the museum and sat on the terrace, looking out across the elegant gardens with a half of Petwood Bomber ale.

While officers hung out at the hotel, lower ranks frequented the Kinema in the Woods. This late-19th-century sports pavilion was converted into a cinema in 1922 and nicknamed the “flicks in the sticks” by airmen, who were shown top-secret reconnaissance films here. It is now a cinephile’s delight. The lobby is all rich reds and movie memorabilia, with separate counters for popcorn and ices. In screen one, deep-plush seats face a stage through which a Compton organ sometimes rises, played by the resident organist – but sadly not for my showing. There was an intermission, though, during which I devoured local-made Dennetts’ apple pie ice-cream.

When I emerged the owls were hooting again and I headed back to Bainland, an 18-hectare (45-acre) holiday park of reclaimed-timber lodges on the edge of the village, large but nicely done. My lodge was smart and cosy, set on a teeny lake. The next morning I breakfasted outside, listening to acorns smack the decking, watching mallards skim through perfectly reflected trees.

I was in no rush. My plan was to borrow one of Bainland’s bikes and make the most of Lincolnshire’s flatness. First, I headed north-east. The railway, so key to Woodhall’s former prosperity, may be defunct but its old trackbed forms part of the off-road Spa Trail, an easy ride (around three miles) to Horncastle, via ancient woods and excellent sculptures: there are steel Viking ships and oversized plants, nodding to Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist on Captain Cook’s first Endeavour expedition, who grew up near Horncastle. Banks also brought the canal to Horncastle, transforming it from backwater to busy market town. The canal, which I followed briefly, is quiet and unnavigable now; these days, the town’s main trade is antique and secondhand stores. I browsed around, wishing I had a bicycle basket to load with dog-eared books and comedy toby jugs.

I also cycled the Water Rail Way, a mostly traffic-free route following the former Lincoln to Boston Railway, by the River Witham. In the middle ages, Lincolnshire had one of England’s greatest densities of monastic houses – abbey-averse Henry VIII called it “the most brute and beastly shire” – and the greatest concentration was in the Witham valley. I started at one, Kirkstead Abbey, where the merest sliver remains, and rode northward for six miles to another, in Bardney, where there was even less. But it was a joyful pedal, along the river, fenlands spreading either side, dotted with more sculptures, swans and defunct stations that now serve only walkers and cyclists.

Finally, I followed the same route a few miles south to Tattershall, home to the enormous, light-flooded Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity and one of England’s first brick-built castles. My timing was good, arriving just as National Trust guide Nigel was starting a tour of the castle’s moated 33.5 metre-high Great Tower. It was constructed in the 15th century by Ralph, third Baron Cromwell, treasurer of England, who wanted a show-off home befitting his self-importance. Nigel described it as “ eight million bricks and a fashion statement” – exposed brick was avant garde at the time.

We climbed up the storeys, from the vaulted basement buttery (used as a prison during the civil war) to the turreted roof. A superlative lookout – and power move – for Cromwell, it’s still the highest point around; Lincoln Cathedral’s gargantuan towers, visible when it’s clear, are 18 miles away. I looked north towards Woodhall Spa, too flat to be perceptible amid the fuzz of green, hidden despite being so close. Indeed, the ideal spot to hide away.

The trip was provided by Bainland Lodge Retreats, which has lodges from £649 for four nights (sleeping two) and bike hire from £15pp. For more information see visitlincolnshire.com

PART of The Signet collection of boutique hotels, The Barnsdale fully embraces its rural surroundings for the ultimate laid-back stay.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Where is The Barnsdale?

The elegant countryside retreat just a stone’s throw from one of the UKs most famous reservoirs, Rutland water. 

It’s around an hour’s drive from Nottingham and Leicester.

What’s The Barnsdale like?

The Barnsdale has all the charm of a dainty cottage in the Cotswolds, but with the hospitality benefits of a 4* hotel.

A former hunting lodge constructed in 1760 that – despite the installation of modern amenities – still has an old world feel to it in the form of grand paintings and varnished wooden furnishings.

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Because of its rural location, this hotel is certainly one to visit during the summer months when you can take advantage of the green grounds.

What are the rooms like?

Each of the 46 rooms is decorated in a typically English style with pastel-toned walls, frilly cushions and patterned armchairs. 

The Classic is the smallest and cheapest of the bunch and worth it for the lower price. 

The only difference in rooms, bar the decorative tweaks, tends to be size and the view (the Royal Room has one of the best).

What is there to eat and drink?

The hotel’s 1760 Brasserie serves classic British favourites including seared scallops doused in butter and a mouthwatering 32-day dry-aged ribeye served with chips.

I opted for the Atlantic cod which was seasoned well and served with an unctuous vermouth sauce.

Anyone with a sweet tooth will love the sticky toffee pud – this one’s a real crowd pleaser.

What else is there to do?

People come for the outdoor Signet Spa where wood-fired hot tubs, a heated pool and a glass-walled sauna overlook fields of grazing Highland cows.

It’s a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, sipping on sparkling wine and admiring the creatures munching away on the grass.

The only downside to the spa being entirely outdoors is the unpredictability of the British weather.

Fret not, though – every spa guest is given a DryRobe and flipflops to plod around in.

When the drizzle hit, we persevered in our tub.

Big thanks to the staff member who swiftly came to the rescue with a couple of umbrellas.

Massages can often be overpriced, but not here. My therapist truly listened to my needs and pressure preferences, ensuring I enjoyed every one of those 60 blissful minutes.

How much is The Barnsdale?

Classic rooms cost from £85 per night with brekkie.

Is The Barnsdale family-friendly?

Extremely. Family rooms come with separate bedrooms with bunk beds and a main room with a double bed.

There’s plenty within the hotel to keep kids busy and entertained.

Is there access for guests with disabilities?

The main dining areas are wheelchair accessible, but there are no specific accessible bedrooms.

THERE’s a pretty hotel hidden in amongst the Buckinghamshire countryside which is perfect for a staycation.

Read on to find out more about Burnham Beeches Hotel and the nearby known for its royal connections that’s just a 15-minute drive away.

Where is the Burnham Beeches Hotel?

Tucked down narrow and windy roads in Buckinghamshire is this beautiful countryside escape.

The huge mansion was once a private Georgian home – and, quite frankly, I’d even go as far as to call it one of the county’s best-kept secrets.

You would never realise it’s there until you turn into the driveway and it opens up to the sprawling hotel with manicured gardens and a tennis court.

Burnham Beeches Hotel is a short drive away from Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead, but its location completely out of the way means you won’t hear any traffic.

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In fact, I couldn’t hear much aside from gentle cooing of pigeons, and the hoot of an owl after nightfall.

What is the hotel like?

The main building at the Burnham Beeches Hotel is grand, kept in the style of a manor home.

Inside, there’s a huge contrast in room design, each varying from deep blues with thick orange velvet curtains in the Arden dining room, to light and airy spaces like the pretty Evergreen Tea Room.

On the more modern side of the building, the first thing you’ll notice is the calming scent, which makes sense as it’s where you’ll find the main spa area.

The reception has modern check-in tablets that are very easy to use – but there is always staff around if you need any help.

What is there to do there?

Thanks to its location, the hotel is a great base for those wanting to see more of Windsor which is a 15-minute drive away.

Here, you can see the castle and take a stroll down The Long Walk. The pretty village of Burnham is just down the road as is Ascot Racecourse and Legoland.

Guests can also make the most of the facilities in the hotel too. Use of the Temple Spa is included with an overnight stay, and guests get complimentary robes, towels and slippers.

The spa has a gym, small pool, steam room, sauna and jacuzzi.

Spa treatments are available too from 30-minute relaxing massages to hour-long facials, manicures and pedicures. 

You can also hire out equipment to have a go in the tennis and pickleball court.

Or borrow one of the bikes free of charge, to explore the grounds and surrounding countryside.

What is there to eat and drink there?

When it comes to dining, eat in the plush Arden Room. Here, I tried the sharing Gambas al Ajillo, which is Spanish-style prawns, followed by a crispy duck salad.

The king prawn and chorizo linguine (which has a slight chilli kick) and smooth coconut and lime panna cotta was also delicious.

Whether you’re a pre-dinner drinker, or fancy a post-dining tipple, the sleek Verdure Lounge Bar is where you want to be.

There’s a huge range of drinks from cocktails to wine and a refreshing pint of Mahou on draught.

In the morning, find your way to the Brasserie where there’s a generous breakfast buffet waiting for you.

It has everything you could want, from continental options like yogurt and fruit, along with classic English breakfast offerings.

At each table was a Tiptree jam stand, and I’d recommend enjoying a pot with a thick slice of sourdough. You can refill your juice, tea, and coffee as often as you’d like, too.

A traditional afternoon tea is popular here, where guests can sample a selection of sandwiches, cakes, and scones alongside a cup of tea, or upgrade for a glass of Prosecco or champagne.

What are the rooms like?

There are 79 rooms and suites at the hotel all varying in size and design. Each comes with free Wi-Fi, heating, a hair dryer, television, tea & coffee making facilities and an ensuite.

I was lucky enough to stay in one of the beautifully designed Oak Character Rooms, which had nature-inspired wallpapers with an enormous dark blue velvet headboard with green cushions and a burnt orange throw.

Its two large windows looked out onto the gardens and let in lots of natural light.

The modern ensuite had a large shower with White Company toiletries.

For those who are bringing fluffy members of the family, you can book for your dog to come along too, from £35 (max weight of 15kg per room).

Is Burnham Beeches Hotel family-friendly?

Yes. The Hive Family Rooms can sleep two adults and either two children under 10 years, or two adults and one child over 10. You get all the normal amenities, as well as 24-hour room service.

Children are allowed in the swimming pool but must be accompanied by an adult if under 16.

Is there access for guests with disabilities?

The hotel offers accessible ground floor rooms, and while the spa facilities are not currently wheelchair accessible, a selection of treatments can be brought directly to the room.

To book an accessible room, call the hotel in advance.

Room rates start from £149 B&B based on two sharing. 

See here for more.