Chodovar beer spa, Czech Republic
"Beer wellness land" sounds like the kind of place you try to get to when you're drowning your sorrows. And in a way, the Chodovar beer spa, in the west of the Czech Republic, is the sort of place where you can let go of any stresses and tension. Not by drinking beer, however, but by bathing in it. OK, and by drinking it. Known for their "curative" beer baths, the spa – which is attached to the historic independent brewery – aims to improve "complexion and hair, relieve muscle tension, warm up joints and support immune system of the organism". By organism, we presume they mean you. Cheers to that.
• Pivovarská 107, 348 13 Chodová Planá. Real beer spa bath, includes two 0.3l Chodovar lagers, £20, chodovar.cz
Yunessun spa resort, Japan
For those who simply haven't yet decided what beverage they would most like to bathe in, Yunessun resort in Hakone – 50 miles south of Tokyo – is the place to find out. The spa and amusement park offers visitors the chance to soak in wine, green tea, sake and coffee. With giant bottles of wine, oversized tea pots and five-foot high cups of tea situated on the sides of each pool, this resort is the kind of place that makes you feel like a Borrower.
• Hakone Kowakien Yunessun, 1297 Ninotaira Hakone-machi Ashigarashimo-gun Kanagawa-ken. All-day access to the full range of water attractions: adults £23, child £12, yunessun.com
Chocolate spa, USA
If you're going to find a bath of chocolate anywhere it's going to be at a place like the Hotel Hershey, Pennsylvania. Managed by the American chocolate manufacturer, the Chocolate Spa offers an entire repertoire of saccharine treatments, such as the intriguing chocolate fondue wrap and the chocolate sugar scrub. But the real treat has got to be the whipped cocoa bath, a 15-minute soak in a tub of foaming chocolate milk.
• 15-minute whipped cocoa bath, $45-50, chocolatespa.com
Totumo volcano mud bath, Colombia
Unlike the kind of volcano that's filled with molten lava, this small crater in Totumo consists of a "rejuvenating" pool of natural mud. The 15m mound (it's no Etna) has room for around a dozen people and the warm mud is believed to benefit the skin. There's a local legend that the volcano used to spit out lava and ash, until a local priest sprinkled holy water into it – banishing the devil within. For now, at least, it's a relaxing, albeit mucky, attraction for visitors to Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. Luckily, there's always a number of local women on site to help you scrub the mud off afterwards; be prepared to tip.
• El Totumo, 45 minutes drive outside Cartagena, entrance around £1.20
