Germany has some of the most amazing spas and hotels. It is one of the only countries in the world that has whole villages dedicated to wellness, that have turned themselves into incredible spas and treatment centres.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
They’ve created a booming economy and an amazing culture around health and well-being.
Why you need to visit a German potato spa, surprisingly the most healing kind.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
The most healing type of treatment, you might be surprised to find out, is a potato-based treatment found in Wendland’s Rundling Villages. We visited the Kartoffel (Potato) Hotel (Kartoffel is potato in German) in Lubeln and found the astounding health benefits that potatoes can give you.
The Amazing Health Benefits of Potatoes.
These beautiful circular villages usually have longstanding traditions and links to their land. The Potato Hotel is singularly unique among them though, using locally grown produce and traditional knowledge about health in a truly unique way. Let’s just say that you’ll never underestimate a potato again.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
The Potato Hotel is run by a family from Hamburg who, after a successful 30 year career in the city, bought land in Wendland and transformed it into a spa retreat for locals.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
The family created a barter system that allowed locals to take advantage of the houses and helped maintain them. Coming from the village and beyond, the local farmers stayed for the weekend and paid in their own crop, usually hay and oats which helped feed the horses on the property. Eventually, potatoes were added to the mix of currency. And with the abundance of potatoes on hand, the entrepreneurial matriarch, after thinking about it at length, began to experiment with them. She soon realized that the potato had countless uses: food, drink, body products, and much more. With this notion, she hatched a plan and thus, the Potato Hotel was born. It was only a matter of time before the press caught wind of it.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
She became a connoisseur, developing an encompassing knowledge of the vegetable. This would be the beginning of one of the most impressive spas you will ever visit.
Amazing Health and Comfort at the Potato Hotel.
The Rundling is a beautiful place, arranged around a village green with meticulous attention to detail. The buildings have steep triangular roofs, just barely peeking above the trees. Long driveways lead from the village green to beautiful houses in the Bavarian style and decoration.
The region is great for hiking, sightseeing and especially for cycling, providing long, flat stretches with amazing landscapes. Wendland’s unique villages are in the lengthy process of being recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
The Potato Hotel is the first of its kind in Germany, now in its 27th year. It has been a Culinary Heritage site for 20 of those years, proudly using only local produce and recipes. Their menu alone offers thousands of different styles and dishes based on six local types of potato.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
The Hotel has some 1300 recipes, in fact, and uses six of the 5,000 different types of potatoes there are in the world. At our suggestion, they have added a simple poutine from our travels to Quebec – an essential for any fan of cheese and potatoes! But potatoes make for much more than great food!
Every room in the hotel has an individual design and potato name. They have 25 guestrooms, with 100 beds.
Your stay is customized, as are the potatoes and treatments that can relieve your stress, recharge your batteries and send you home feeling better. Skin treatments are a specialty of theirs, but potato can be used to do amazing things.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
Their philosophy is summed up by the quirky and jovial owner: “If it is good for you to eat, it is good for your skin too!” The Potato Hotel has developed over a hundred treatments using potato. It is a good source for minerals and vitamins like B6, B12 and Beta-carotene.
Potatoes purify the skin, which makes them great for massages and scrubs. They tighten the skin by cooling and stretching it. They are also great for the muscles and they neutralize the balance of the body. The Hotel has developed amazing treatments including facials, massages with potato oils, muscle rubs and body scrubs. They listen to your needs and preferences and arrange your stay accordingly.
Courtesy of Shutterstock
The Potato Hotel uses cooked and raw potatoes, sometimes sliced thin and soaked in water or vinegar, or mashed hot and cold, all depending on what you need and your skin type. While boiled is the healthiest way to it eat, there are lots of ways to use it in amazing therapies. The treatments are complemented by an incredible menu, balanced to your needs and preferences during your stay.
Courtesy of The Potato Hotel
The setting of the Potato Hotel is beautiful and full of tradition, and the villagers are very welcoming and warm. You can even purchase a variety of local products that the family has made from their trusty crop: bread, sausages, schnapps, noodles, body lotions and salad dressings are only a few great options!
So if you are looking to get away and really treat yourself, to boost your health and try something new, you have to go to Germany’s Rundling Villages for a fantastic potato treatment!
Here’s How You Can Bring Germany’s Potato Spa To Your Home
Making your own potato mask is extremely simple and will give your skin some positive regeneration. This mask helps reduce dark spots on the skin, pesky blemishes and oily patches.
- Start by grating a medium raw sized potato.
- Squeeze what you have grated, getting the juice out of it into a bowl.
- Mix the juice with what’s called Fuller’s Earth (multani mitti), to create a thick paste. Fuller’s Earth incredibly aids in removing dirt from the skin, blemishes and oily spots.
- Spread the paste all over the contents of your face and let it dry completely.
- Remove with cool water or a damp cloth.
Bringing the relaxing effects of the Potato Spa home with you is an excellent way to bring more serenity into your life. Everyone needs time to unwind especially if they can’t make it to a spa, and you can do that all while taking care of your delicate skin with the amazing healing qualities of potatoes.
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A xenophile at heart, she lives to travel and loves to share her experience on Trip Jaunt (formerly Weekend Jaunt), an online travel community and hub she founded in 2010. She hopes that you will feel inspired to discover the world as well! Helen is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association and the Academy of Canadian Film and Television.
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