Spa-La-Lands A new year…a new you! Every now and then, you need to get away and totally rejuvenate. Translation: Put on a terry cloth robe, some spa slippers and completely relax. Here’s a round-up of some of my favorite spas both in the US and abroad. Getting the Most out of the Coast of Maine While it may seem eons away, chances are you’re sending in your kid’s sleep-away camp deposit now, if you haven’t already. While you’re at it, consider booking a spa weekend for just yourselves once you’ve dropped your child off. Right on the water in Kennebunkport, you’ll find The Breakwater Inn and Spa (www.thebreakwaterinn.com) where you can divide your time between treatments and ocean walks. Stay in the spa building itself and once you put on that terry cloth robe in the morning, it’s just a matter of shuffling over to the treatment rooms. Enjoy it, the kids will be dragging home the bags of laundry soon enough.  Apres-Ski Spas There’s still plenty of winter to ski and fortunately, many great spas that go along with the slopes. If you’re heading out to Telluride, Colorado, you can dismiss your worries about suffering from the change in altitude. At the Golden Door Spa at The Peaks Resort (www.ThePeaksResort.com), indulge in the half-day Altitude Adjustment Treatment. The experience begins in the Oxygen Inhalation Room and is followed by a Mountain Salvation Massage, an O2 Repair Facial and a manicure and pedicure. After that, you’ll be ready to take on the Black Iron Bowl.  MTOQ/St.Pierre-EricSpeaking of taking on new challenges, if you haven’t skied in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, this is the year to do it. Continental now flies directly there, from Newark in about 90 minutes. Along with the French food, the French language and the all-around joie de vivre, you’ll find some wonderful spas including Spa Le Scandinave (www.scandinave.com) where visitors spend their time alternating between body warming (dry saunas, outdoor hot baths, steam baths) and refreshing cold plunges in an outdoor pool with waterfalls or in a river that runs through the woodsy retreat. Each warming/cooling cycle (which is repeated three or four times), is followed by some serious relaxing in a solarium, the zero-gravity pavilion, on terraces, or in front of an outdoor fireplace. From there, one can have a Swedish or hot stone massage. European Spas We all know that Europe’s always on the cutting edge whether leading the way in fashion, food or other passions. Think Baden-Baden, hydrotherapy. They were doing this in the 60s, decades before everyone else. And of course, the Swiss, for centuries, individuals have gone to the alpine country’s well known spas and lakeside respites to recuperate tired bodies. Even further back, the Roman baths…you get the picture. |
For the ultimate spa experience today in Paris, book the two-night package at the U Spa at the new Hotel Fouquet Barrière (www.fouquets-barriere.com). At this spectacular Champs Elysée sanctuary, there’s a wide section of innovative and exotic treatments such as the Red Liana Slimming Treatment where the body is wrapped in an intensely scented Peruvian red liana and Amazonian berry paste or the Primeval Sea facial which uses Pacific red seaweed and Atlantic marine extracts to achieve deep, anti-aging hydration.  The common ingredients in the new Petite Sérénité Spa at The Sentidos en Rio Real (www.rioreal.com) in Marbella, Spain, resemble the supplies you’re more apt to see in a Spanish kitchen: olive oil, mint, chamomile, local flowers, herbs, native plants and local citrus fruits, just to name a few. These, combined with Andalucian methods, create several new and very innovative therapies. Consider getting the Malaga Flower Exfoliation which utilizes sea salts mixed with jasmine and geraniums to create a great body scrub. It rejuvenates the skin and leaves your skin feeling soft for an amazingly long time. Two spas stand out in Switzerland. In Lausanne, the new Cinq Mondes at the Beau Rivage Palace (www.brp.ch) is a great choice for couples seeking some serious away time. Their couples-only suite features a double Japanese bath (Bain Japonais), two massage beds, a private Hammam and a garden with a view of Lake Geneva. Couples are recommended to choose identical treatments which may start with an Aromas and Flowers Japanese Bath, a neck and scalp massage and tea service followed by a body scrub and a massage. About an hour away from Zurich, in Weggis, Switzerland, exclusive privacy at spas is taken to a new, sybaritic level. The Relais & Châteaux Park Hotel Weggis (www.parkhotelweggis.com) offers private Spa cottages. They can be used individually or with a small group of up to four individuals for private relaxation for two hours or longer. Each cottage is equipped with a blossom bath, a sauna and steam bath, a Kneipp spring or hydro-therapeutic pool for healing, a solarium, a treatment table, foot bath and invigorating shower. The spa prides itself on its ancient Tibetan massage treatments and therapies. True Island Escape Imagine arriving at your destination and being welcomed not with a tropical drink, but with a soothing botanical foot treatment which includes a coconut milk soak and sugar scrub in a foot bath filled with fragrant blossoms. Aaaah. Such is just the beginning of your stay at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort (www.fijiresort.com). Guests stay in Fijian-style, thatched roofed bures scattered among palm trees on a former coconut plantation on the island of Vanua Levu. The resort’s spa is dedicated to using natural ingredients such as coconut oil and milk, cane sugar, dilo nut oil, rich clay as well as hibiscus flowers and herbs from the garden. You can enjoy the resort’s wondrous treatments in the privacy of your own guest room or in the thatched spa. Absolutely all of the details are natural and very sensual including local bamboo reeds offering privacy for the shower and changing room and shade cloth screens and sheer curtains with tiebacks made from local shells. Our Travel Editor, Susan Farewell, is the Editor-in-Chief of FarewellTravels.com, which is an online boutique travel magazine.
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