Japan

The onsen is the centre of everything. Geothermal mineral water, taken in a fixed rhythm rather than as a treat, is the oldest continuously practised balneotherapy on earth, and the good properties build the day around it: an early bath, a long walk, a second bath before dinner, sleep. Guests who arrive sceptical of hot water as therapy tend to leave converted, largely because the effect on sleep is so immediate.

Shinrin-yoku, forest bathing, is the other pillar and it is a Japanese invention with a domestic research literature behind it. At the properties that do it properly this is a guided practice in genuinely old forest rather than a walk with a nice name, and in the Ise and Kyoto regions that means sacred woodland with a religious history attached.

Treatment traditions run alongside: shiatsu, acupuncture, moxibustion, and kampo, the Japanese adaptation of Chinese herbal medicine, which is prescribed seasonally rather than diagnostically. Expect these to be delivered with a precision and a lack of theatre that makes most international spa treatments look overproduced.

Washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine, is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list and is, by accident of history, close to an ideal wellness diet: fish, fermented foods, seaweed, seasonal vegetables, small portions, minimal dairy, minimal sugar and almost no bread. Nothing has to be modified to make it a protocol.

The practical consequence is that a Japanese wellness stay involves no sense of deprivation whatsoever. You are not eating a diet version of the menu, you are eating the menu, prepared by people for whom the seasonal ingredient is a matter of some seriousness. For guests who have found European clinic food punishing, this is the strongest single argument for the country.

Kyoto is reached through Osaka Kansai or through Tokyo and the Shinkansen, which is fast, punctual and genuinely pleasant. The Ise-Shima region, where the onsen resorts sit, is a further two to three hours south east of Kyoto. Build the transfer into the plan rather than treating it as a detail, and let the property arrange it.

Onsen etiquette is not optional and is worth learning before arrival: wash thoroughly before entering, no swimwear, no towel in the water, tie long hair up. Tattoos remain a genuine obstacle at traditional public baths. Properties at this level almost always solve it with private onsen attached to the room, but confirm rather than assume.

Season is everything and drives price. Cherry blossom in late March and April and the autumn maples in November are extraordinary and correspondingly expensive and crowded. Midsummer is hot and humid. The quiet months of winter and early summer are the value, and an onsen in cold weather is arguably the point.