SPA CASA VELAS AT HOTEL CASA VELAS
PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO
The all-inclusive, adults-only Casa Velas Resort is located in one of Puerto Vallarta’s more quiet zones, but despite this small haven’s intimate size it’s large enough to house the bi-level Spa Casa Velas, with a sweeping staircase and marble steps. At first, the spa areas seem tiny, but there are plenty of nooks and crannies to perform the 60-plus treatments on the menu, many named after gems from amethyst to onyx. Services begin at the unisex hydrotherapy pool, for a circuit to start detox (yeah, those margaritas catch up on you). After a soak, you’re led to the relaxation area where a warm, lavender-and-lemongrass infused compress is placed around your neck and a glass of antioxidant-filled chlorophyll juice and assorted local fruit and nuts are on offer. In fact, Casa Velas uses seeds, fruit, and herbs from their on-site botanical garden. The Herbal Ritual (80 min/$170) uses a handpicked cinnamon, clove, and spearmint combo designed to stimulate your senses. To get the full pampering experience, choose an outdoor spa cabana and let the sun caress your skin along with your skilled therapist. www.hotelcasavelas.com
—Chanize Thrope
SAN JUAN SPA AT RITZ-CARLTON SAN JUAN
PUERTO RICO
Located in beautiful Carolina, Puerto Rico, the San Juan Spa is nestled within the ocean-front luxury hotel of the Ritz-Carlton San Juan. At a whopping 12,000 square feet, the San Juan Spa provides the latest skin and body therapies with 11 treatment rooms. The spa menu is designed to help you relax, invigorate, and enrich your body with specific treatments. Of course, they have a fullservice beauty salon, a state-of-the-art gym, steam rooms, saunas, and whirlpools. They even have six massage treatments catering just to men including the Power Hour (50 min/$155) and The Men’s Massage (80 min/$220). However, I was particularly drawn to the Experience treatments that the San Juan Spa has to offer. The Experience treatments are inspired by Puerto Rican ingredients such as locally grown coffee along with tropical coconut and rich sea salts for an experience unique to the spa. I saw the Café con Leche Body Polish (80 min/$220) and knew right away that it was the treatment for me. As soon as I disrobed and relaxed on the table, the aroma of full-bodied Puerto Rican coffee transfixed me to the scents of my childhood mornings. The most gentle but firm hands scrubbed me with a nutrient-rich coffee scrub, detoxifying from my scalp to my toes. A massage with an application of warm leche de coco(coconut milk) soon followed. My senses went into overload, and I thought I was in heaven. That’s until the masseuse applied another layer of lemongrass lotion to further hydrate my skin with a full-body massage. It was bliss! I promised to return for the Sea Shell Indulgence (80 min/$220) and the Stress Melter Ritual (100 min/$270) to complete all three featured Experience treatments at the Ritz-Carlton San Juan Spa. www.ritzcarlton.com
—H. Luiz Martinez
Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North
UNITED STATES
FOUR SEASONS SCOTTSDALE SPA
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
I have to admit my whole Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North experience was a bit of a modern-day (gay) Cinderella story. I was munching on some delicious nuts and fresh local honey the Four Seasons team had left as a welcome gift as I took in a bit of the desert landscape on the patio of my Desert Garden Casita Room. I ducked in for a quick shower before my spa appointment, but when I came back into the bedroom there were about 20 tiny birds jumping around my room. I took a handful of granola and tossed it out onto the patio to lead them outside and laughed my way to the spa for a “spa party” they were throwing for hotel guests and locals. Upon entering the decadent Four Seasons Scottsdale Spa, I was handed a glass of Champagne (my kind of spa) and learned about their spa’s integration of local desert botanicals like desert sage, prickly pear, and jojoba. I booked a Healing Hiker’s full-body massage (80 min/$230) for the next day. After spending the day biking in the desert this full-body treatment was just the ticket. The therapist was strong at times and gentle in just the right ways. He integrated mountain arnica and sage to ease my muscles that were sore from discovering bumps and winding paths through cacti in the foothills of Pinnacle Peak. When my treatment was over, I ventured over to a small Jacuzzi and a waiter intuitively suggested a prickly pear margarita to help me cool off after my spa treatment. Be sure you finish all treatments and water play in time to catch the sunset from their Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Onyx’s Bar and Lounge on the first floor of the resort. www.fourseasons.com
—Jeffrey James Keyes
RANCHO MIRAGE SPA AT THE RITZ-CARLTON
RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA
Among the exceptional resorts in Palm Springs, The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage effortlessly rises to the top. It has good energy and good vibes (with great food and rooms to boot), and it’s obvious the back-bending staff truly love being there as much as the guests. Not one thing was overlooked when carefully creating the perfect resort experience (manicured lawns, beautiful views, crafty cocktails, adult pool, entertainment), so imagine the heaps of love poured into the Rancho Mirage Spa. The bi-level, stand-alone sanctuary is an unrivaled gem in the desert. As soon as you enter, the friendly staff greets you at the front desk before a dedicated spa butler guides you to the separate men’s or women’s wellness journeys on the second floor. Each area is equipped with sensory showers, steam, sauna and an outdoor deck with whirlpool and sun beds, should you want to laze under that trademark desert sun with breathtaking canyon views. The boutique spa menu pays tribute to the surrounding desert, where guests can create their own body scrub or body butter from dozens of oils inspired by indigenous ingredients like prickly pear and jojoba. I could feel my skin getting a much-needed refresh with the my Indigenous Desert Clay Wrap (75 min/$240), which used the healing properties of desert clay, not to mention a relaxing scalp massage and facial acupressure while under wraps. The Men’s Massage (80 min/$270) was the best decision I ever made after using the massive gym (with complimentary coconut water). The full-body massage was customized and hit all the sore spots that needed attention. While being beautified, both treatments were heavily detoxifying, a nice afterthought when I chilled by the pool afterward, feeling completely decompressed and rejuvenated. www.ritzcarlton.com
—Jimmy Im
ARCHIMEDES BANYA
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Do you dream of spa days replete with plush robes, herbal aromas, New Age music, and tranquil surroundings? Well wake up baby and smell the sweat, chug a beer, and let that belly loose! In the company of Passport’s typical array of pamper palaces, Archimedes Banya is not the prettiest boy on the block. If your spa indulgences have had you oleander oiled, salt scrubbed, hot-stone massaged, and crystal-healed to the edge of metrosexuality and the brink of hippiedom, Archimedes Banya offers a genuinely refreshing and invigorating alternative. It’s a spa that offers a sense of escape…from spa clichés. Located in an industrial area of San Francisco rarely explored by tourists, it’s a no-nonsense, old-school, Soviet-style schvitz, about as chic as your neighborhood YMCA. One of two large common rooms features a large multi-person Jacuzzi (complete with floating chess and checker sets), a frigid plunge tub, a steam room, a typical dry sauna, and an infernally hot, 16-foot-ceilinged Russian sauna with temperatures close to 200 degrees at the upper level of its three tiers of wooden benches (180 min/$46). It was here that I underwent Archimedes’ signature treatment, the detoxifying Venik Platza (Seven min/$46). My therapist, Max, a towel-clad twenty something Dolph Lundgren lookalike, escorts me upstairs into the Russian sauna and instructs me to lie facedown on my towel. Just the heat radiating from the wood already had me feeling something close to pain when Max began to lash me with a small bundle of leafy birch branches he’d soaked in water before our session began. The impact itself was light, but the wet branches directed and concentrated the atmospheric heat directly onto my skin with the wicked efficiency of a flame-thrower. Can the ligaments at the back of the human knee actually melt? Does the meniscus boil? These were the questions passing through my fevered brain as I called my seven-minute treatment to a halt after four and a half. I descended and exited lightheaded, Max guiding me by the arm into normal climes, now more a nursemaid than a temptation. He urged me into the cold pool, then sat me on a stool and poured jugs of cool water over my head as I trembled and felt my heart rate slow. Five minutes later, I felt a surprising surge of healthy energy, as if my body was celebrating its survival. Much of Archimedes is clothing optional, and all of it is co-ed except for women’s night, the first Tuesday of each month. Attendance normally skews male, but you will be surrounded by all manner of nakedness (hairy bears, svelte young women, wrinkled seniors, and couples on dates), and the Banya is busiest on weeknights when the facilities are open to midnight. Nudity is not permitted in the small indoor pool area, on the roof deck (which has unexpectedly dramatic Bay views), or the second floor café, where you can cool off with a decidedly un-spa-like mug of beer. www.banyasf.com
—Jim Gladstone
