Euphoria is the 2021 Spa Guide winner for best fitness programme
In the ancient world, the Spartans were famed for their fighting prowess, with only the strongest, fastest and most focused surviving their rigorous boot camps. Fast-forward a couple of millennia and Euphoria, one of Europe’s best destination spas, sits on the Peloponnese town’s doorstep. The Spartan Spirit of Adventure programme here certainly ticks all the boxes for modern-day workout warriors. It places emphasis on exercising outdoors, proven to burn calories, boost mood and lower blood pressure more efficiently than a gym session, with plenty of HIIT for devouring visceral fat. But, best of all, it weaves in the region’s history, putting a 21st-century spin on the games played by those musclemen of old.
The approach is typical of Euphoria. It arrived in 2018, with an imaginative health-boosting concept that fused the Ancient Greek wisdom of Hippocrates with Traditional Chinese Medicine, and quickly established itself as the best short-haul alternative to Asia’s brilliant spiritual spas. Having already gained an impressive haul of accolades for its holistic excellence, it is turning its attention to fitness. Instead of standard box jumps in a boring studio, personal trainers will test leg strength by having you leap onto stone blocks on the mountaintops of Menelaia, an archaeological site. And, rather than enduring a mindless 30 minutes on the StairMaster, you can bound up and down the steps of a classical amphitheatre, the view as breathtaking as the physical effort.
