Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa, Phuket, Thailand

The gate sign says 'The Evasons', plural. You head to the Evason Hideaway and Spa, as opposed to its neighbour, the 'ordinary' Evason Resort (as if any Evason could be called ordinary). Seclusion and space seem to have been the marching orders for the Hideaway's architects, landscapers and designers. It's a world of its own in here. The pale sandstone and pavilions of the reception-restaurant areas give way to a woodbrick-paved avenue off which the villas - single-storied and double - are hidden. Once within your compound's adobe walls you never really need to re-emerge. It's all in there. A Pool Villa Suite, for instance, has an 11-metre pool with shade sala and sunken tub; two self-contained, fully separate rooms (for one or two couples, or for parents and kids) with two of everything; and 345 sq metres of compound space. However, do beware of the slippery-when-wet outdoor stone floor. Somewhere there is a butler on call; as are your meals, should you wish to do the Full Garbo recluse thing.

Eventually, you might poke your head outside and take the short walk to the beach. Or head to the Six Senses Earth Spa, a cluster of beehive domed, ochre-walled treatment rooms. Spas are proliferating at such rate that soon we might need to re-badge Planet Earth as Planet Spa. With ever increasing competition, top spas are having to deliver better treatments than ever, while striving to differentiate themselves from their "sounds-similar" competition. The Evason and Soneva resorts have an advantage, being old hands, so to speak, in the luxury spa business with their long established, in-house Six Senses Spas.

The "laying on of hands" has long had spiritual connotations. So it's not surprising that the secular ritual of a spa massage can, at its best, take you to other, ineffable places. The Six Senses Earth Spa enhances that possibility. Its domed massage pavilions resemble a Native American pueblo floating amid lotus ponds. Once within your silent, tranquil dome, the ritual is familiar: nominate the massage you want and the pressure (go for "strong"), then surrender to the moment and your masseuse's hands. Where you'll go depends on where you're at, as they say.

Among the many "pluses" here is the skilled and sensitive treatment - at around 4500 baht for 80 minutes, you'd expect nothing less. One "minus" is the curious policy of not massaging the front torso for either men or women. This unnecessarily coy, if not patronising, approach is not the norm at comparable spas. Be that as it may, in the right hands, the experience here can be almost transcendental. Then, too soon (no matter how long a good treatment is, it always ends too soon), you gently return to Planet Earth.

Of the numerous treatments available, the top-of-the-line offering is the Ultimate Experience Spa Package, which features six nights in a Pool Villa with breakfasts, plus Bangkok airport transfers. Its spa treatments include scalp massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, holistic massage, herbal body glow, milk bath, foot acupressure, Thai massage and more. All for 63,860 baht per person, twin share. Or, there's the more affordable three-night Rejuvenation Spa Package.