Ask Joan: Let’s retire to the spa

Having just retired, we would like to spend several days at a luxury continental spa where we could have health, diet and lifestyle check-ups by qualified personnel. MH, Dublin.

Eastern Europe is where you will find some excellent hotels that operate spa, wellness and medical clinics. The Danubius Hotel Group has a number of hotels in Hungary and the Czech Republic that would suit your trip.

One of the best known is the Danubius Margitsziget in Budapest – it is actually on an island in the middle of the Danube. You could combine a city visit with the wellness and spa aspects of the hotel. Four nights half board with medical check-ups, laboratory tests, mineral baths, medical massage and more will cost from €508pps.

Lake Heviz in Hungary is a geothermal lake that has curative properties. A thriving spa and wellness industry has growth up around the area. A week in the Danubius Aqua resort with a medical check up and a selection of doctor ordered treatments will cost from €816pps, danubiushotels.com.

The Gastein Valley in Austria has a number of hotels focused on health and wellness, gastein.com. There is an Alpentherme, an aqua leisure centre with geothermal heat, and a healing cave under the mountain which is ideal for alleviating pain and inflammation, gasteiner-heilstollen.com. The valley is a lovely area for walking, hiking, cycling and enjoying nature. The nearest airport is Munich in Germany and there is a train to the Gastein Valley, see bahn.de

The Grand Park Hotel and Spa centre in Badhofgastein has a full range of medical, wellness and spa therapies to help you feel healthy and well, combined with lovely food. Prices depend on what you choose to do – a week with a full range of medical and therapeutic treatment will cost from about €1,100pps, grandparkhotel.at.

Our little family will have four days between a house swap and the flight from Toronto (July 5th-9th). Is there a family-friendly hotel we could stay in the city. We will not have a car for this final part, but are otherwise open to pretty much anything. Our budget is about €200 a night. AHC, Kildare. July is a good time to be looking for a hotel in Toronto as this business city has some great hotels. During the summer, prices fall way down for four- and five-star places and your will find some good discounts.

The Grand Hotel and Suites Toronto is a good example of a hotel that has great prices, about €200 a night for a suite and it has a rooftop pool and jacuzzi. Breakfast is included in the price, and free wifi, grandhoteltoronto.com.

The Hilton Downtown by the entertainment area of the city has an indoor/outdoor pool which would be ideal for cooling down in the summer. It would be in your price range and can be booked on Hilton.com.

We are driving from Ireland through France to southern Spain again this summer. Last year my nine-year-old spent a lot of the trip hanging out of the rear passenger window paying tolls. At home I have an eFlow tag. Is there any single electronic tag available that covers multiple European countries or should I start a "loose change collection box" now? MF, Dublin. Start the loose change box now – there is no Europe wide electronic toll collection system. France and Spain have a shared system Via-T, viat.es but you would have to have a bank account in either country and there is a monthly service charge, like here. Send your queries to jscales@irishtimes.com