Happy new you! 10 of the best UK wellbeing retreats for 2025

Get the year off to a positive start by booking a restorative break. We pick the best wellness retreats, with yoga, swimming, walking and more in pretty settings from the Highlands to Essex

My voyage of good cheer around Finland – the world’s happiest country

With clean air, vast green spaces and more saunas than cars, Finns have plenty of reasons to be cheerful

Like a luxury spa – for £20: where to enjoy Britain’s Turkish baths revival

In 1900, there were 600 Turkish baths in Britain and Ireland. Today, only a handful survive. We enjoy a revived hammam in Newcastle and take a look at 10 more around the country

Hiking Cheshire’s Baker Way: the joy of a less-known walking trail

They get less fanfare and footfall than the UK’s famous long-distance paths, but trails such as this – which starts in Chester and saunters through the local countryside – are just as rewarding

A cycling, walking and running break in France’s best area for trails

Bagnoles de l’Orne in Normandy is a traditional spa town reinventing itself with new hiking and cycling routes – and a focus on sustainable tourism

Medical tourism is booming. But is it a price worth paying?

The number of people flying abroad to have cosmetic procedures is higher than ever, but are the risks too high?

‘Plus-size people face a lot of barriers’: the campaigners helping larger walkers to enjoy the great outdoors

From being properly kitted out to planning a walking route up Mam Tor, our writer finds her feet and her tribe in the Peak District

Give it a rest, Keir? Readers on Starmer cancelling his holiday

We asked for your views on leaders forgoing a getaway when there’s business such as the riots to attend to at home

Scaling the fairytale peaks of Saxon Switzerland in Germany

The dramatic landscape was beloved of Romantic painters and hardcore climbers. But the spa town of Bad Schandau provides a gentler introduction for skinny-calfed explorers

How I found peace on a mindfulness retreat in south Devon

The Sharpham estate has been offering guests an escape from the stresses of modern life for decades. But could it help our writer to deal with his anxiety?