There aren’t many finer things in life than a decadent spa day filled with lotions and potions, steams and scrubs, robes and rubdowns and soundtracked by Enya. Because, frankly, adulting is hard and seemingly every day new things to stress over pop up in your almost involuntary daily doom scroll. Spoiling yourself with a selfcare session is more important than ever. Probably why someone designated August as National Wellness Month in the first place.
While we would never advocate eschewing exfoliation or skipping a snoozy Swedish — after all something is always better than nothing — not all treatments are created equal. Hotel spas around the world are raising the restorative bar with unusual ingredients, creative techniques, cutting-edge tech and mind-blowing settings. We perused menus looking for the most interesting so that the next time the knot in your neck says “hello,” your skin’s thirsty or you have a terrible case of jetlag, you can head for a property’s pamper palace and treat yo self to something as singular as it is salubrious.
Palmaïa, The House of AïA
starsstarsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Cozumel Intl. Airport (CZM)
hotel 234 | location_city 4 outdoor swimming pools; Full-service spa; Fitness center | restaurant_menu 4
visibility Playa del Carmen Main Beach; Quinta Avenida; Mamitas Beach
Treatment: Temazcal Ceremony
Unlike most Mexican getaways, you’re more likely to have mezcal lathered onto your skin than drink it at this progressive jungle-set property in Riviera Maya. Its Atlantis spa wants to facilitate spiritual awakenings and one way they do that is by guiding temazcal rituals. Akin to a Native American sweat lodge and borrowed from pre-Hispanic cultures that once ruled this territory, the stone temple is darkened, heated with lava rocks and scented with copal. There is a song circle, intention honoring and a whole lot of perspiration. Sometimes to the point of hallucination, but who isn’t willing to endure a few visions on the way to being reborn?
Silversands Spa, Grenada
starsstarsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Maurice Bishop Intl. Airport (GND)
hotel 52 | location_city 2 outdoor swimming pools; Full-service spa; Fitness center | restaurant_menu 5
visibility Grand Anse Beach; Levara Beach; Seven Sisters Falls; Honeymoon Falls
Treatment: Psammotherapy
Ancient Egyptians used heated sand to increase circulation, reduce inflammation and alleviate pain. Flash forward to modern day Grenada where patrons of the Silversands resort can walk, err, detox like an Egyptian on a Gharieni quartz sand bed that operates on the same principles now known as psammotherapy. The magic table integrates heat, aromatherapy, inversion and undulating waves into whatever massage guests signed up for. It should definitely be the one that utilizes oil made from the locally sourced nutmeg that earned the Spice Island its nickname.
Hacienda AltaGracia
starsstarsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Juan Santamaria Intl. Airport (SJO)
hotel 50 | location_city 2 outdoor pools; 1 indoor pool; Full-service spa; Fitness center | restaurant_menu 5
visibility Parque El Carmen; Parque Penas Blancas; Parque Palmares
Treatment: Maderoterapia
New York’s holistic powerhouse THE WELL has assembled an extensive list of revitalizing spa experiences that juxtapose science and tradition while taking advantage of the Auberge property’s tranquil Pérez Zeledón location in the lush foothills of the Talamanca Mountains. After a coffee cleanse in a river pool or a forest bath next to a 700-pound crystal, try maderoterapia, a Central American massage modality using wooden tools to improve lymphatic flow.
Balneo Hotel Zsori
starsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Debrecen International Airport (DEB)
hotel 134 | location_city 1 outdoor pool; 1 indoor pool; Full-service spa; Pet friendly | restaurant_menu 1
visibility De la Motte Castle Noszvaj; Eger Lyceum; Eger Castle; Tisza-tó
Treatment: Fish Exfoliation
For the weirdest fishing trip ever, you’re the bait. Submerge your feet in a tank full of garra rufa, aka the doctor fish, which will softly nibble away dead and dry skin until your little tootsies are soft as silk and ready for polish. As it also allegedly speeds up blood circulation, it could be helpful after a long-haul flight.
Sparkling Hill Resort
starsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Kelowna International Airport
hotel 146 | location_city 1 outdoor pool; 1 indoor pool; Full-service spa; Pet friendly | restaurant_menu 3
visibility Fintry Estate & Provincial Park; Grahame Park; Silver Queen
Treatment: Fango
Though the Okanagan Valley’s Riesling and snowy winter scenes are reason enough to head to our neighbor to the north for vacation, the 40,000 square-foot KurSpa inside the adults-only Swarovski crystal-encrusted wellness escape seals the deal. Canada’s largest luxury spa is the only business that uses Indigenous Kislite clay, a volcanic mud sourced from the Great Bear Rainforest. After they paint your backside with the warm Fango clay and let you steep, further calm your joints and muscles and boost nervous and circulatory system function by repeating the hot-cold-rest cycle in the seven themed saunas and steams (i.e. rose, aqua meditation, classic Finnish), four pools and the igloo cold chamber.
The Hythe, a Luxury Collection Resort
starsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Vail/Eagle Airport (EGE)
hotel 343 | location_city Ski-in/ski-out access; Full-service spa; Ftiness center | restaurant_menu 2
visibility Vail Ski Resort; Red Sky Golf Club; Roaring Fork River
Treatment: Himalayan Salt Inhalation
Although ingesting salt is still frowned upon by cardiologists and nutritionists, inhaling it is another story. For ages, asthma and insomnia sufferers have hung out in naturally occurring salt caves in destinations like Poland. This Colorado mountain retreat’s man-made mineral block-lined lounge mimics those cool dry sanctuaries. With every gulp of microscopic salt particle-infused air, breaths deepen, stress lowers, moods lift and sleep should improve. While there, invest in another kind of Rocky Mountain high, a balancing CBD body wrap.
Mii amo Spa at Enchantment Resort
starsstarsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Sedona, AZ (SDX)
hotel 218 | location_city 1 outdoor swimming pool; Full-service spa; Fitness center | restaurant_menu 2
visibility Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village; Bell Rock; Slide Rock State Park
Treatment: Aura Photography
There’s no better place to dip a toe into the wacky pond of woo-woo wellness than amid the breathtaking red-rock cathedrals of Sedona where crystal shops and meditation labyrinths are commonplace and locals don’t bat an eye when people ask for directions to the nearest vortex. And the superior spot to spa is this pair of sister resorts in Boynton Canyon, a serene yet supercharged setting thanks to having aforementioned dimensional gateways at each end. While Mii amo is closed for a major overhaul until early 2023, its practitioners have set up camp at Enchantment to deliver a wide array of services from the relatively tame like cuppings and prickly pear butter wraps to the more experimental. Think soundbaths, past-life regression and energy soul journeyings. Get a picture taken of your aura to reveal the colors of your personal vibe. An in-depth analysis of what those hues mean, how they flow through and affect the seven chakras and how you can harness them to create physical, mental and emotional balance is included. Warning: the aura reader reports tears aren’t rare during readings nor is capturing other presences in your energy field.
Conrad Los Angeles
starsstarsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR)
hotel 305 | location_city 1 outdoor pool; Full-service spa; Fitness center | restaurant_menu 6
visibility Crypto.com Arena; Dodger Stadium; Melrose Avenue
Treatment: Rose Quartz Goddess Facial
At this elegant offering in downtown LA, everything’s coming up roses. Rose quartz that is. Celebrity esthetician Angela Caglia (Helena Christensen, Minnie Driver) personally trained the staff here to perform her depuffing, lipid-locking multi-stage masterwork. It’s a blur of chilled 18-carat gold-plated wands, botanical serums and sculpting rollers, eye mushrooms, gua sha tools, beaded face masks and chest blanket chiseled out of the love stone. The crystal is also embedded in the LED light therapy mask, which blasts skin with both anti-aging red and anti-acne blue lights. Full disclosure: you look less goddess and more demon in a Nicole Kidman-colored skin suit with the beaded gear on but you won’t care when you feel how incredibly cooling it is.
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