Longevity wellness clinics are all the rage in Europe. Photo / Getty Images
Longevity wellness clinics are all the rage in Europe. Photo / Getty Images
Longevity wellness clinics are all the rage right now. Here are six of the best, writes Michelle Tchea
Longevity wellness clinics are all the rage in Europe and over the last few years, well-heeled travellers have been swapping glamorous winter holidays in the Swiss Alps for infra-red sauna sessions and hydrobaths - in the name of living longer. Here are the best clinics to check yourself into.
Clinique La Prairie, Switzerland
Clinique La Prairie has multiple outposts now open around the world, because people in China, Saudi Arabia and Thailand also want to live longer and now have a chance to learn the “secrets” without having to travel to the original outpost in Switzerland.
Located on Lake Geneva, in the city of Montreaux, the first Clinique La Prairie opened in 1931 and started as a preventative clinic - keeping people healthy and offering programmes that helped them understand ways to not only live longer but better.
The current longevity programme consists of multiple different-tiered wellness activities including Revitalisation, Brain Health and also the Master Detox - all of which ultimately are created to promote better health and longevity. Activities include anything from a brain MRI, consultation with over 50 different on-call doctors, cognitive assessment, as well as breathwork and aerial yoga for non-invasive and overall wellness under the one, albeit, slightly expensive programme - but the price for wellness and eternal youth is arguably worth it to the well-heeled travellers who visit La Prairie religiously each year.
Clinique La Prairie, Switzerland. Clinique La Prairie has been pioneering longevity treatments since 1931. Photo / Clinique La Prairie
Chenot Palace Weggis, Switzerland
On the lake of Lucerne sits one of the most popular longevity clinics: Chenot Palace Weggis. Not for the faint-of-heart, the 7-day Chenot Palace diet starts at 5500CHF (NZ$10,645) but it feels more like a holiday when you consider the services and amenities include an indoor pool, high-tech fitness centre, designer suites with views of the Swiss mountains and delicious cuisine prepared by chef Ettore Moliteo. The 7-day programme can be incredibly hard for many because under the guidance of Dr George Gaitanos, the Chenot diet is at its core a calorie-restrictive diet consisting of just 850kcal daily across three meals. There are good fats and some protein intake but it is not a food-driven retreat if you like to eat. The dishes definitely come out looking pretty - much like a Michelin-starred chef would conjure, but they are small so that the body is effectively fasting. Other activities include massages and hydrojet jacuzzis and mud baths.
The city of Geneva is where some of the world’s largest investments and deals are made - so it makes sense that there is a longevity and wellness clinic a short drive out of the city for those with highly stressful jobs to retreat to. Located in Genolier - on a hill and amidst tall trees that make for perfect hikes to test your endurance - is Clinique Nescens. The leading doctors here believe that the secret to longevity is a Cure Reset - a 7-day programme that restricts certain foods like carbohydrates and bad sugars (but it is not a calorie-restriction diet). There is also a strong focus on using high-tech toys to keep the body healthy, including Photobiomodulation Therapy which uses infrared light to stimulate cell production and tissue repair, Sensory Deprivation Bed Therapy which aids better sleep and BioCharger - a non-invasive technology that uses light, electricity and harmonic frequencies to rejuvenated the body.
Brenners Park Hotel and Spa, Germany
The perfect retreat post discos in Berlin and drinking too much beer in Dusseldorf (home to the longest bar in the world), travellers can find themselves in a suite at one of the country’s well-known wellness spas: Brenners Park Hotel and Spa in Baden-Baden near the Black Forest. Historically speaking, the city of Baden-Baden is known for its thermal waters and here you get all the water you can drink. The luxury hotel is attached to Villa Stephanie and this is where people visit for health and wellness activities beyond just a good jacuzzi session and massage. Doctor Harry König and his colleagues lead the team of experts who have formulated a 7-day programme of longevity. This includes multiple massages, vitality cuisine and also body analysis with Dr Konig who follows traditional medicine to help guests find the perfect solution to living better and longer.
Villa Stephanie at Brenners Park includes a vitality-focused 7-day programme led by expert Dr Harry König. Photo / Brenners
Lanserhof Spa, Germany
Perhaps living better for longer can be found at Lanserhof Spa in Germany. For more than four decades, Lanserhof has been fine-tuning their wellness programme which now includes naturopathy, energy medicine, psychology and chronomedicine. The programme starts with a consultation with experts to discuss your needs before a curated programme is created. The heart of the Lanserhof programme is cleaning and refuelling the intestines - so this includes exercise therapies focused on the gut and also access to the Lanserhof Energy Cuisine. There are classes on how to chew your food because experts at Lanserhof believe this could be the answer to living longer. Apparently, each bite should be chewed 30 to 40 times - maybe try testing this out if you are curious and if you can withstand the gruelling fasting programme.
From fasting to infrared therapy, these wellness clinics focus on living longer and better. Photo / Lanserhof
Anantara, worldwide
Luxury hotel brand Anantara is the latest luxury hospitality group to offer dedicated longevity programmes. Despite being part of a hotel brand, the programmes offered by the group are comparable to those at Lanserhof, Chenot and Clinique La Prairie but some say it is even better with a more relaxed vibe. While the longevity programme is mainly found in Southeast Asia like the newly launched Layan Life in Thailand, travellers can also get a small taste of the wellness offerings by Antara in their hotels like Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome. While the medical diagnostic programme is not on offer here, travellers to the Eternal City can have a small glimpse into an urban detox programme which includes relaxing in a Roman spa, hydrotherapy massages to increase blood flow and also consultations with a wellness guru for both four to seven days.
