The ultimate wellness wish list: 12 of Australia's best day spas

The country's most indulgent facials, massages and body wraps.

The Mornington Peninsula has its fair share of upscale abodes where you can be buffed and polished. The new Aurora Spa at InterContinental Sorrento might just top them all thanks to its extensive menu of treatments paired with seriously slick surrounds. Sign up for the 10-step bathing ritual, involving pools of different temperatures. Or opt for an indulgent treatment inspired by your watery surrounds - algae body wrap, anyone? auroraspa.com.au

Also making the most of Mornington's mineral-rich waters is Alba, a design-driven haven where you can soak in thermal springs - there's a private rooftop salt and geothermal pool - and then try spa treatments that last from an hour to a full day. Our pick? The Anahata Ritual that polishes your body, wraps you in clay and then hydrates your face. Don't miss a post-spa meal at Karen Martini's on-site restaurant Thyme. albathermalsprings.com.au

Daylesford is known for its healing mineral waters, and The Spa at Lake House offers rituals that take soaking to new heights - quite literally. One hydrotherapy spa cabin is set in a magical treetop location, overlooking the award-winning hotel and restaurant. If you're not taking the waters, enjoy thermal steams, pink-salt body buffs and massages using volcanic rocks. lakehouse.com.au

The luxe design Sofitel Darling Harbour's lofty spa, overlooking the Darling Harbour in Sydney, is the perfect entree to a menu that takes its cues from the seasons. Visit in spring and your five-hour wellness journey might begin with a French clay wrap perfumed with rose petals, and end with a facial and healthful lunch. Shorter treatments are available, and all excite the senses. sofitelsydneydarlingharbour.com.au

If the bucolic countryside of neatly manicured Hunter Valley grape vines doesn't soothe your soul, then the spa at Spicers Vineyard Estate certainly will. Treatments take inspiration from your surrounds: try the Vino Spa Ritual, which includes a champagne sorbet full body exfoliation followed by a wrap infused with cacao and vanilla bean. Then try the facial using pure shiraz pressings, grapeseed and pomegranate. Good enough to drink. spicersretreats.com

Enter the spa at Crown Sydney and you'll feel like you're floating on a cloud - one decorated in pastels and marbles, and perfumed with the finest fragrances. Facials use luxe Swiss La Prairie products, while body treatments incorporate Australian aromatherapy brand Subtle Energies. If you're a frequent flyer, you'll love the two-hour "journey" that unites meditation, lymphatic drainage and marma body work to encourage a restful slumber. crownhotels.com.au

Byron Bay has long been a wellness mecca, with spas and healthful havens dotted from the beach through the rainforest hinterland. Sitting pretty within easy reach of both is Crystalbrook Byron's Eleme Day Spa, a cocoon of white that delivers cheekily named treatments like the Pin-Up Body Polish (an exfoliation using jojoba beads), and the Mistress of Radiance (a facial that will leave you glowing). crystalbrookcollection.com

The spa at the luxurious Qualia resort on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef is all about capturing your location - think treatment rooms that open to nature, with the sound of the ocean in the distance. The therapies do the same. Book the Whitsunday Escape, which takes you on a three-hour journey of bliss involving a mud wrap, rain shower, hair treatment and marine facial. qualia.com.au

Spa settings don't get much better than the one at Silky Oaks, enveloped by World Heritage-listed rainforest in Tropical North Queensland. Let the birds be your soundtrack while you try everything from crystal and sound therapy with Tibetan singing bowls to massages using basalt river stones and herbal mud baths. silkyoakslodge.com.au

Located in Yallingup in the Margaret River region of Western Australia, Injidup is a wellness wonder overlooking the sea. You can book in for express treatments, but we highly recommend one of the soul-salving rituals like the Indian Ocean Sojourn: body exfoliation, soak with a glass of bubbles, massage, facial and slathering of body "souffle". Does it get any more indulgent? injidupsparetreat.com.au

Macadamia, salt, clay... these are some of the products that are used to revive you in treatments at Saffire Freycinet's spa. The intimate space at this breathtaking east coast retreat is pared back in design, so as to not distract from the real eye-candy outside - the pink-hued Hazards are your backdrop, and they are spectacular. Book the two-hour Spa Saffire Rejuvenation for a scrub, steam, soak and facial that will leave you feeling brand new. saffire-freycinet.com.au

The practitioners at Adytum firmly believe self-care and wellness go hand in hand, and every ritual at the chic spa in Canberra's Braddon is a testament to that philosophy. Experience it as part of the 150-minute Journey to Vitality package, which combines a detoxifying facial with a deep-tissue massage to melt your knots away. Or sign up for the 90-minute Body Scrub & Wrap treatment, which employs a sugar scrub and a hydrating butter to help rejuvenate you from top to toe. adytum.com.au

Australian spas are a standout, but there are plenty of places to rejuvenate when you're travelling the world. Follow the lead of locals and catch a helicopter into Monaco from France, then sort out your jet-lag at Thermes Marins Monte-Carlo where you can sauna, steam and swim with views overlooking the riviera, and then choose treatments from a vast menu that features La Prairie products infused with caviar.

These highly efficient ingredients also star at the Clinique La Prairie spa in the Swiss town on Montreux, a place developed off the back of medical cell revitalisation treatments pioneered by professor Paul Niehans.

Here, your individual prescription for wellness directs you to some of the 50 specialists on call, able to help with everything from sleep improvement to weight loss. In between you can be massaged, wrapped, steamed, soaked and facialised while taking in sparkling views of beautiful of the 19th-century chateau's manicured gardens and Lake Geneva. cliniquelaprairie.com; montecarlosbm.com

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