Spas have become the holiday hotspot - new ones are opening all the time and we just can't get enough of them. And who can blame us? We all lead such increasingly stressful lives, the thought of being buffed, polished and massaged into a state of total relaxation is surely the ultimate in sybaritic delights. But how do we square blissing out in a spa with a family holiday? Most spas won't let children anywhere near them, pointing out that their clients understandably want to relax in a scream-free zone.

There is, however, a growing number of spa resorts where you can chill out while the kids are having an equally good time, albeit at a more frantic pace than yours! This new breed of resorts have managed to combine state-of-the-art spas with extensive facilities for children, including clubs and organised activities for all ages. So you can be pampered to perfection without a care in the world. Here is our round-up of some of the best for summer and winter hols on offer for the whole family.

Cyprus

Le Meridien in Cyprus is a five-star resort with excellent clubs and facilities for children of all ages, with extras, such as diving and discos, available for older kids. It's right on the beach, so there are lots of water sports, too. The thalassotherapy, or seawater, spa is huge and there's an extensive range of treatments. Seawater is full of beneficial minerals and, when you are immersed in it, these penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream - try the thalassotherapy programme that takes you through a series of pools, waterfalls and grottoes. There is a heavenly underwater massage and I recommend, too, the hot stone massage for total relaxation.

Le Meridien
Tel 00 357 586 2000
Fax 00 357 563 4222
www.lemeridien-cyprus.com

Slovenia

Slovenia has recently placed itself on the map for very good-value family holidays - but it is also a renowned spa centre. In Portoroz, you have the double advantage of an excellent seaside resort and excllent, reasonably priced spas. Two hotels offer particularly good facilities. The Morje has a wonderful specialist Thai spa, while the Grand Hotel Palace has a vast hydrotherapy spa and treatment centre. Both offer great kids' clubs on the beach with some of the best activities I've come across: including a pirates' ship, a day trip fishing (and cooking your catch), diving and more. For a complete change of pace, you can take a trip to Venice for the day, just an hour away by boat.

Grand Hotel Palace
Tel: 00 386 5696 9001
Fax: 00 386 5696 9003
www.hoteli-palace.si

Morje Hotel
Tel: 00 386 5692 3333
Fax: 00 386 5692 7070
www.hoteli-morje.si

Jordan

This has one of the best spas I've ever seen, specialising in Dead Sea treatments, with a fabulous hydrotherapy centre. My personal favourite is 'dry flotation'. After an exfoliating scrub with Dead Sea salts, you shower, are wrapped in layers of mud, plastic and blankets and then, at the touch of a button, the massage table disappears from under you to leave you floating on the surface of a warm bath while you drift into a state of total bliss. Being the lowest place on earth, the sun is filtered and, while you still need sun protection, sunbathing here is medically prescribed for people with skin or joint problems! The five-star Movenpick Hotel is designed as a traditional Arab village, on the banks of the Dead Sea, with a shallow lagoon for the children and five restaurants to choose from. Fantastic nearby family excursions include the rose-red city of Petra (they shot Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom there), the desert of Wadi Rum and just floating in the Dead Sea itself. Best time to visit: October to April.

Movenpick Resort & Spa
Tel: 00 962 554 6377
Fax: 00 962 554 6376
www.movenpick-deadsea.com

Thailand

Thailand has a reputation as a backpackers' paradise but Hua Hin - the Thai royal family's favoured resort - is a great place for a family holiday. Set in lush tropical gardens next to a perfect white sandy beach and the warm waters of the Gulf of Siam, the Marriott Resort welcomes families, providing a kids' club with lots of watersports, indoor and outdoor activities. The resort has elegant Thai architecture and six restaurants to choose from. The Mandara Spa offers the ultimate in tranquility and I recommend the Thai massage. You wear soft baggy pyjamas, while your masseur pulls, bends and twists you into various unimaginable positions using not only his hands but his feet, knees and whole body. It's a technique that's a cross between massage, pressure point stimulation and osteopathy and, though it may sound rather scary, it irons out the knots and tensions like nothing else I know. Best time to visit: November to February.

Hua Hin Marriott Resort
Tel: 00 66 3251 1881
Fax: 00 66 3251 2422
www.marriotthotels.com

Mallorca

The Son Antem in Mallorca offers sports - in particular tennis and two golf courses - as well as a spa. There is a small, self-supervised kids' club as well as baby-sitting, while older kids can play golf, hire a bike or spend time at the pools. The resort is not by the beach but there are several swimming pools, including warm thermal ones, and jacuzzis and saunas for the whole family. The spa itself has a holistic treatment area (showers, saunas, baths and steam rooms), and a wide range of face and body treatments. And, if you seriously want to get fit, they have a new medically supervised anti-ageing programme with doctors and coaches on hand to design your own individual programme.

Marriott Son Antem
Tel: 00 34 971 12 91 00
Fax: 00 34 971 12 91 02
www.marriotthotels.com

Emilia Romagna, Italy

This region in northern Italy is famed for its beautiful medieval towns, its food - and its spas. Mostly, these are strictly adults-only but the five-star hotel of Riolo Terme - a town named for its thermal waters - has a kids' club with its own swimming pool and organised events set in a beautiful park. Your treatments take place in a grand Empire-style pavilion and are based on natural and thermal therapies, with a particular emphasis on the local volcanic mud, rich in mineral salts, thermal waters and massage, as well as beauty treatments. The area has a wealth of great restaurants, spectacular scenery and the accessible seaside of the northern Adriatic coast.

Terme di Riolo Bagni
Tel: 00 39 546 71045
Fax: 00 39 546 71605
http://www.termediriolo.it