BY THIERRY PIOLATTO
If you want to benefit from the healing and preventive health programmes designed by “Pleine Santé”, we recommend trying all three thermal destinations in the Auvergne: Châtel-Guyon, Mont-Dore and Vichy.
The aim of the “Pleine Santé Thermal Resort” concept is to renew the classic idea of thermal cures by offering holistic care that focuses on prevention, wellness and a healthy lifestyle. Driven by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Thermal Federation (FTARA), this model combines traditional thermal treatments with a three-pronged holistic health approach: healthy eating, exercise and mental health. Today, six resorts and seven thermal establishments in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region have integrated this approach, including Châtel-Guyon, which focuses on overall health with its super-modern Aïga Resort Thermal & Spa complex; Mont-Dore, with its fantastic thermal centre in the heart of the Sancy massif and volcanos; and Vichy, the future city of longevity, with its holistic approach to nutrition and wellbeing. The palette of Pleine Santé offerings include a “Vitality” package with targeted thermal treatments (hydromassage baths, jet showers, mud wraps) to relax the muscles and boost blood flow, gentle or adaptive exercise sessions (aqua gym, stretching, Nordic walking), a “Nutrition Plaisir” package with balanced meals that combine delicious flavours with nutritional benefits, and a “Balance & Autonomy” package that includes group workshops (cooking lessons, conferences about chrono nutrition or sleep management) and sessions that focus on mental health (cardiac coherence, sophrology or meditation).
Châtel-Guyon and the Aïga Resort Thermal & Spa
The Aïga Resort Thermal & Spa has redesigned its offer by rolling out a 6-day “Preventive Health” package to help guests improve their physical and mental health, prevent the detrimental effects of stress and adopt better eating habits. This programme includes 10 thermal treatments in Châtel-Guyon’s thermal spa plus access to the wellness facilities (relaxation pool, steam rooms, whirlpool baths, herbal tearoom, etc.). The thermal baths, jet showers, mud baths and abdominal showers have been selected for their relaxing, anti-inflammatory and regenerative effects, to boost blood flow, relieve any muscle or joint tension and soothe the nervous system. Guests can add six adaptive exercise sessions to gently stimulate the body and improve their physical fitness, such as aqua gym, Pilates, yoga, Nordic walking, muscle strengthening and a personalised fitness assessment, as well as three nutrition-based activities, including a full metric impedance assessment to analyse their body mass, personalised advice and talks by a dietitian, and a hands-on healthy cooking workshop to teach participants how to prepare balanced meals that fulfil their requirements.
The list of activities also includes four workshops aimed at reducing stress, including sophrology, self-massage, cardiac coherence and forest bathing.
Dr Danielle Faure-Imbert, who is co-president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Thermal Federation (FTARA) and instigated the “Pleine Santé Thermal Resort” approach, explains, “In the future, we will see more and more viral invasions, and we do not know how to treat them. There are not enough doctors, and the ones we have are often far too busy to cope… Prevention is vital! It will encourage us to improve our health as well as allowing the national health service to save money: fewer examinations, fewer appointments, fewer treatments… But because healthcare is refunded in France, we are way behind other countries in terms of prevention. So much so that the director of the CNAM (France’s national health fund) said that ‘prevention is the major issue of the decade’. Preventive health applies to all ages: children, adults, elderly people… It involves fighting against anything that makes us sick: poor diet, sedentary behaviour and stress, which affects everyone. We thought that a thermal resort was well placed to roll out this new approach, as it already has cutting-edge facilities, physiotherapists, doctors, nutritionists and therapists on site. People who come for curative reasons can now add our preventive approaches. We extrapolated this concept by launching the Preventive Health concept alongside our partner thermal establishments because we need people to take control of their own health and do whatever they can to avoid getting sick. We also envisaged pairing up towns with thermal establishments so that visitors could have treatments in the thermal centres and pair them with other activities in the local towns, along three themes: nutrition, exercise and stress. In the Pleine Santé thermal resorts, they find ways to improve all three. It is really worth setting aside at least a week a year to take care of your health! We are only in the early stages of prevention!”
Mont-Dore: thermal baths, sylvatorium, volcanoes
The Thermes du Mont-Dore baths are renowned for their warm water and neo-byzantine architecture. They are a must-visit for history lovers: inspired by the great Roman baths, they blend byzantine and art deco features with a superb facade topped with rose windows. Fully renovated while preserving the building’s authentic charm, the establishment houses 13 springs (8 of which are exploited) at temperatures of between 32°C and 44°C, which are silicarich and can be used for rheumatology and the respiratory tracts/ENT. The special feature of Mont-Dore is the richness of its thermal water and gases, which are both used in the treatments. This complementarity allows for the treatment of issues ranging from joint pain to chronic respiratory issues. The centre developed a 6-day luxury wellness package that includes health and fitness assessments, daily demineralising thermal treatments, access to the facilities, movement and breathing sessions, and experiences in nature.
Séverine Thomas-Gardet, director of Mont Dore’s thermal centre, said, “We have two main focuses: rheumatology and the respiratory tracts, and we welcome around 8,000 patients per year. We decided to join the Pleine Santé venture, which led us to roll out specific preventive packages and workshops to complement our short stays, such as mobility recovery in water to preserve the health capital and enable guests to age well. We also offer activities such as tai chi, qi gong and yoga. Our economic environment, the Sancy massif, is in a period of growth as it offers a great many options for sport lovers, trail runners and skiers who, since their pursuits require a lot of physical effort, can come and recover or prepare for competition in our centre. It is worth noting that our area offers a host of original healthfocused options such as forest bathing (or Shinrin-yoku) in the Mont-Dore sylvatorium, a themed trail in the nearby Capucin forest.” We tried out this trail, which is designed to help you relax, focus on the trees and reap the benefits of the forest. With this peaceful walk and a visit to the dry spas set among the trees, time spent in this pine forest promises a 50% increase in NK (Natural Killer) cell activity, white blood cells that specialise in destroying infected and tumoral cells. It also lowers cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and blood pressure.
Vichy: queen of the thermal towns, Callou thermal baths, Célestins
Les Thermes Callou (Vy Resort Thermal & Spa group) houses 143 treatment rooms manned by a team of statequalified hydro therapists, physiotherapists and massage therapists. These thermal baths treat rheumatology, arthritis, digestive issues, excess weight and obesity. Fully renovated, they tie in with an overall push that aims to reposition Vichy as a shining example in terms of health and wellbeing, as well as being a Pleine Santé partner. The project – which of the Thermes des Dômes, the Vichy Célestins Spa Hotel, and the Ibis and Mercure hotels. The new 6 half-day “Pleine Santé Thermal Package”, which is available in the Thermes Callou and the Thermes des Dômes, invites guests to enjoy 3 thermal treatments per day (mud wraps, showers, baths), 1 tailored nutritional assessment and body mass analysis, 1 end-of-stay assessment, 1 healthy cooking workshop, 1 talk about healthy eating, 4 adaptive exercise sessions (exercise trail, yoga, stretching), 1 emotional management activity and 1 before-and-after questionnaire and personalised follow-up by a healthcare professional.
Jérôme Guillouët, deputy CEO of the France Thermes group, who is in charge of running the Vy Resort Thermal & Spa à Vichy, said, “We launched complementary programmes to develop the Pleine Santé offer, of which we are a partner, which includes specialised treatments that target the specific issues encountered by our young patients, because these treatments are primarily aimed at people who are still working, who have difficulty making time for a three-week stay and who do not necessarily suffer from chronic illnesses. They tend to go for packages that aim to help them age well and prepare for retirement in the best possible health.” The group wants to attract this new, younger clientele into these establishments, in the hope that they will discover a town that is in rapid “redevelopment”: plenty of building work, enhancements, trendy bars on the newly landscaped banks of the river, a town that has been on UNESCO’s list of Great Spa Towns of Europe since July 2021. Vichy hopes to become the “City of Longevity”, with town councillors who are getting behind preventive health and health in general, as well as sport, culture and soft mobility. The current projects involve the Vichy Lac neighbourhood, where 500 homes are being built, the development of the Montpertuis economic hub, the transformation of the banks of the Sichon, and improved railway infrastructures.
These three destinations in Auvergne offer a highly attractive and varied palette of activities and treatments, so we recommend that you take full advantage of everything this region has to offer, as you improve your health at the same time!
Adresses
Aïga Resort Thermal & Spa, 9A Av. du Général de Gaulle, 63140 Châtel-Guyon aiga-resort.com
Thermes du Mont Dore, 1 Pl. du Panthéon, 63240 Mont-Dore chainethermale.fr/le-mont-dore
Thermes Callou Vichy, Rue Callou, 03200 Vichy vy-resort.com
