Two breaks to help you lose weight
Ultimate Boot Camp, Devon, UK
If you've ever yearned for a taste of army life, then this is the weight-loss holiday for you. Ex-Royal Marine physical training instructors put you through a no-nonsense boot camp designed to ensure maximum weight loss in a week.
How they rate it
This camp is "definitely run on military lines," says Susan D'Arcy in The Times, who said that at first she felt like "Goldie Hawn at the start of Private Benjamin".
Your morning starts at 6am with hill sprints. During the week you take part in 'boxercise', circuit training, pilates, cycling and hiking. There are also more military-esque activities. These include pretending to be part of a unit of soldiers searching for a hostage and the "endurance course", which involves scaling walls and traversing half-flooded tunnels.
But while the structure of the week is military in style, the leadership is "always supportive and laced with humour rather than machismo or bullying". And the accommodation is a luxury complex with private rooms and double beds, rather than a barracks.
The menu
There is no choice of food, but the meals are "very tasty" and you rarely feel hungry throughout the week.
The cost
Seven nights for £1,275 per person all inclusive (0845-680 1621; Ultimatebootcamp.co.uk). Courses are single-sex only.
Savvy Beach House, Goa, India
Set on a secluded beach in Goa, this resort's 'Total Body Balancing Retreat' will help you lose weight without feeling deprived or harassed.
How they rate it
This is the "regime to go for if you want to feel less flabby of body and mind", says The Sunday Times Travel magazine.
After a full medical, checking everything from bone density to blood-sugar levels, you are told your biological age. You then seek to reduce this during your stay, using a combination of nutritional instruction, hypnotherapy, yoga and Ayurveda (a 5,000-year-old technique which claims to bring your body back in synch with its 'natural rhythms'). This is "posh pampering", where you'll have your own private palm-topped suite and a butler on call. But despite all the luxury, previous guests have lost as much as a stone in a week.
The menu
The carefully-balanced meal plans are made up of fresh fruit, vegetables and juices alongside broths, soups and 'super foods' – such as barley, seaweed, beetroot, spinach and rosehip. No two meals are the same. The chefs strive to ensure your diet doesn't deprive you of delicious flavours.
The cost
From £1,050 per person per week, including food and treatments, but not flights (020-8619 1234; Savvyoflondon.com).
What the travel writers are saying
The Independent has listed what it thinks are Britain's 50 best hotels. For luxury you will struggle to do better than Chewton Glen in the New Forest – a "true English classic", says Rhiannon Batten. It has a 3-AA-rosette restaurant, a "lavish" spa and 130 acres of grounds to explore. "Utter decadence". (Rooms from £313 a night, call 01425 275341; Chewtonglen.com).
If your budget doesn't stretch to that then try Berkeley House in Gloucestershire. "A regular on the pages of style bibles", this guesthouse "has interiors that will have even the most style-savvy of guests drooling with desire", says Sian Williams. (Doubles from £100, call 01666-500051; Lenaproudlockescapes.com.)
For something a bit different, try The Pool House in Ross-shire, Scotland. "For one-off quirkiness with lashings of (slightly kitsch) style", it's hard to beat, says Batten. The hotel has a seafaring theme and some of the bathrooms have elaborate Victorian baths. The dining-room ceiling is painted with hundreds of stars and there is a dedicated whisky room. (Doubles from £190, call 01445-781272; Pool-house.co.uk.)