We’d been having a relaxing few days in the Baltic states but it was time for some mid-week pure relaxation before we headed to Tallinn and Helsinki. This came in the form of the seaside town of Parnu.
Situated right on the beach it is a popular spot for lots of Europeans to holiday with white sandy beaches and a history as a spa town.
Parnu is known for its mud spas.
The most famous of which now houses the Hedon Spa Hotel.
And boy was it a good hotel. We don’t often review hotels much and I don’t really have the photos to back this up but we had such a nice time I thought I’d try and explain. Our room was overlooking the beach with a balcony right in the sun’s rays, it was beautiful.
We were there for about a day and a half in the end, starting with check in and straight into a mud sauna. Yes, you read that correctly a mud sauna. We changed and ventured to the spa in our robes – as per the instructions. It did feel a little odd to be walking around a hotel in a bathrobe but hey we weren’t the only ones.
Spa time!
Back to the mud sauna, basically you go into this private room which has a changing area, 2 showers and then the sauna. You can book the room out for up to 4 people, we had plenty of space with 2. They explain the mud is in the sauna and to basically cover yourselves in it and then sit in the sauna for half an hour before washing it off.
It was super relaxing and we could have easily stayed there for longer. They give you quite a lot of mud per person which makes it amusing to apply as you really have to layer it on. Also makes the washing off more intense! By the end we were slightly crispy set mud people with beautifully soft skin.
Highly recommended.
There is also a swimming pool and spa on site. The best part of the spa is called the Silent Spa that you pay extra for and is a 3 hour experience. We opted to do this on the full day we had in Parnu, the evening of our mud spa we had one of the best meals of our life – more on that to come.
The Silent Spa
After collecting your spa kit you’re ushered through into changing rooms and then through into the spa area itself. You work your way around using the kit they give you and instructions on the walls from foot spas to steam rooms, hot and cold saunas, Himalayan salt rooms and our favourite the salt water pool.
You basically float in salt water. It was such a fun yet painfully stingy experience. Stuart floated for the first time ever and I accidentally got some in my mouth. Not pleasant.
Each section is well thought out and it wasn’t too busy. You can go through a special door through to the main guest spa area where there was an inside pool jacuzzi and 90 degree sauna, then using the key fobs, you’re back into the tranquillity of the silent spa.
3 hours flies by, I can promise you that you will want to stay longer. Luckily for us, we had also booked a 60 minute couples massage to have afterwards. We waited in their sunlight room lounging under sun lamps with strange tasting water.
Our massages were the same, we were in the same room and both in paper underwear but the experiences we had were very different. My massage was delivered by a lovely lady and was utter relaxation, Stu had a muscular man who seemingly used a lot of force and didn’t deliver the instant relaxation Stu was after! Oops!!
Our beach break wasn’t all saunas and spas.
We did also go for a cycle along the promenade in search of a famous pebble path that goes out into the sea. Legend has it if a couple makes it to the end and back they’ll be together forever. We struggled to find it, eventually, the path looked blocked off so we’ll have to go back just to make sure.
The beachfront in Parnu was pretty, I can imagine it is busy in high season. We cycled a few kilometres to a lookout point to try and get some height. We got eaten by midges as we went but it was fun all the same.
I alluded to the meal before and here is what made it so great. The package we had booked – which gave us the room, silent spa and massages, also came with a three course meal at their onsite restaurant Akord.
Some of the best food ever
It was pretty fancy and we saw people getting meals out of boxes so were expecting tiny portions and to be hungry when we finished. Little did we know.
First, there was Estonian bread, I could have just eaten this and been happy it was so tasty. Then came a terrine – chef’s special. Then we had muscles and fish with lime sauce, smoked quail, a cider foam then the main course of venison steak and vegetables before artichoke ice cream. Really it was more like 7 courses but for some reason, half of them don’t count! We were stuffed!!
The meal was made all the more special by our waitress who delivered each course with an explanation and then finished with the word ‘Enjoy’ before letting us eat. She was cute and quirky and made us feel instantly at ease. It was our first experience of some form of fine dining and I’m so glad we did it there before our experiences in Bilbao a few weeks later.
With good food, wonderful surroundings, an excellent spa and amazing staff you can’t really go wrong. Hedon Spa certainly has 5 stars from me. It was the perfect mid travel break and we left we the weight off our shoulders and ready to tackle civilisation again.
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