NOB HILL SPA AT THE SCARLET HUNTINGTON
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
The City by the Bay is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, welcoming over 18 million visitors a year. People flock to this beautiful city to see, photograph, and Instagram the many beautiful vistas and attractions such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Twin Peaks, and Nob Hill. After seeing the sites, and climbing the steep hills to marvel at the view from the top, you should head to the Nob Hill Spa and revitalize your tired body. This sanctuary of bliss in the center of the city is the perfect place to spend a half-day at the spa. Located at The Scarlet Huntington hotel, this refuge of pampering offers a wonderful array of rejuvenating treatments, personalized service, and skyline views. Start you day at the indoor infinity pool, then head for the steam and sauna before beginning your treatments. On a recent visit, I booked the Enrich Body Treatment (80 min/$220) that is designed to rejuvenate dry, out of condition skin. The sensual fragrance of exotic flowers such as tuberose and ylang-ylang combined with vanilla will transport you to nirvana almost instantly. An intensive salt and coffee body exfoliation stimulates the circulation and revives dull, tired looking skin. Hands and feet are given special attention with applications of rich vitamin E oil to cuticles and heels and a freshwater mud mask to soften and condition the skin. Your body is then layered in hydrating and mineralizing marine algae applied with long, gliding strokes using a blend of four highly nourishing plant oils. All this is culminated with a scalp massage designed to dissolve stress. We highly recommend that you reserve a table on the terrace for lunch where you can enjoy a selection of salads, sandwiches, and vegetarian treats. The prawn and lobster spring roll with daikon, carrot, mint, cilantro, crispy romaine, and sesame dipping sauce is one of our favorites. Pair this with their Sparkling Watermelon Refresher with lime and mint, then spend a hour working on your tan before your head out to enjoy cocktails with friends in The Castro, SoMa, or a new favorite neighborhood you discover earlier in the day. www.nobhillspa.com
—Christopher Perry
Cool Spa at Sri Panwa Phuket
SEA WELLNESS SPA AT HOTEL CASA DEL MAR
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
At a spot called the Sea Wellness Spa, located within the oceanside hotel named Casa del Mar, it’s not surprising to find treatments based on the sea. Step inside this Santa Monica retreat to a world of healthy refinement, where wood walls, silk curtains, soft lighting, and original art give you a relaxing feeling before you even start your treatment. It’s all designed with a green approach (some of the wood, for instance, is repurposed from an Amish barn) that lets you experience, in the spa’s words, “eco-luxury.” Using the Pacific (the very word means “calm”) as an inspiration, the choices include such indulgences as a “Sea Blossom Sojourn” (120 min/$325), which starts with a body polish of sea minerals and neroli blossoms, then continues with a massage using warmed Himalayan sea salt stones, and finishes up with an orange blossom facial and marine masque. Want to feel good enough to eat? Body wraps and facials incorporate everything from ginger/coconut/sugar (60 min/$205, 120 min/$265) to chamomile (30 min/$145) to grape stems/white tea (60 min/$205). A firming facial uses peptides derived from sea products (60 min/$205), while the gentleman’s facial (60 min/$190) leaves your skin glowing and relaxes you completely with scalp, neck, and shoulder massages. You can choose a traditional massage (30 min/$130, 60min/$190, 90 min/$270) or couple’s massage (60 min/$210, 90 min/$290 per person), but if you’re really in the mood for a splurge, why not go for the caviar facial treatment (60 min/$220, 90 min /$330)? Who knew this favorite food of the jet set contained proteins that nourish your skin? While the five treatment rooms are well designed with comfort and relaxation in mind, you’re on the edge of the most beautiful body of water in the world, so why not get your treatments on the oceanview terrace? In this soothing spot that combines cutting-edge advances in treatment with the natural assets of the spa’s location, there’s no doubt that you’ll soon come to learn the true meaning of the word “pacific.” www.hotelcasadelmar.com
—Rich Rubin
QUA SPA AT CAESAR’S PALACE LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Chalk up standing nude in the middle of a snowfall as one of those ‘only in Vegas’ experiences, but it’s part of the unforgettable ritual at Qua Spa, a full-service spa and Roman-style bathhouse at Caesar’s Palace. Perhaps the most luxurious spa in all Sin City, Qua entices with its expansive clothing-optional bathing areas for both sexes where the eye candy on a busy afternoon is jaw-dropping. The bathhouse features three pools (the Tepidarium, the Caladium and the Frigidarium) of varying temperatures, a steam room, public rain showers, an upscale lounge and, yes, the appropriately named Arctic Ice Room where visitors can chill in the buff while snowflakes decorate their body. Meanwhile, the list of upscale treatment options are long and sumptuous and include a breathtaking array of services for both singles and couples such as the tantric Kama Sutra with Shirodhara, deep-tissue surrender, traditional Hawaiian lomi lomi (a healing-based massage), facials, waxing services and more. Try the signature Fiji ritual ($235), a deep pore-cleansing exfoliation using a coconut creme scrub, followed by a soothing wrap and scalp treatment with coconut oil. Next, the body is painted with coconut body butter for hydration, nourishing and repairing damage to deep skin layers. If ever you wanted to escape the cacophony of the slot machines in Las Vegas, Qua Spa is the place to do it. www.caesars.com/caesars-palace/things-to-do/qua
—Jason Heidemann
SAHRA SPA AT THE COSMPOLITAN OF LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
In Vegas, it’s easy to drink like a fish, pig out like royalty, party like it’s 1999, and bake under that hot desert sun. I’m quick to admit my inhibitions run loose and my morals are (temporarily) on the back burner. Among the several brain cells I kill over a weekend (with no regrets), there’s one that’s still wired to good judgment, which leads me directly to the 43,000-square-foot Sahra Spa at The Cosmopolitan. While it’s an unexpected sanctuary, it’s still as Vegas as you can get: imaginatively detailed Moroccan-themed design, towering walls, cascading water, exceptional service, and that trademark bling The Cosmopolitan is known for. There’s separate men and women’s water journeys, Sahra suites, lively Violet Hour salon, and Epicuren and Kérastase grooming products are free to use in the changing areas. The core of Sahra Spa is its hammam room, a modern take on the centuries-old ritual that promotes healing. Centered with a heated motherstone slab, the somewhat sensual room also includes two whirlpools, steam rooms, and stone loungers, which can all be used privately with a treatment. Get the standard scrub down with the Hammam Soap Ritual (50 min/$185) that includes a body buff using traditional Turkish Kese Mitt, a steam, and body-lotion application. I also recommend a Sahra Signature Massage (80 min/$255), which I’ve received on several occasions. It’s interesting to note that most masseuses have been here since the spa opened in 2010, and most rubdowns I’ve received have been nothing short of knackering. It’s a truly indulgent way to take a break from your Vegas vices. www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com
—Jimmy Im
Spa Nalai, Park Hyatt New York
GREAT JONES SPA
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
Great Jones Spa, with its alluring three-and-a-half story waterfall display, opened to a competitive landscape of popular Manhattan day spas in 2004. For $55 guests can enjoy the atrium and water lounge, jumping from sauna to steam to hot tub to cold plunge pool (in no particular order). I booked a massage and luckily remembered to bring a comfortable pair of swim trunks to hang out in at the wet lounge. The Chakra-Light Steam was my favorite part of the spa, because it was empty when I walked in and at first glance it seemed like a normal sauna with an assortment of twinkling lights on the ceiling. The longer I sat in the steam room the more the lights changed. I later learned the color harmonics, as they call them, are used to regulate the hormonal metabolic process and impact the mood. After I had enough of the steam and colors, I ventured into the River Rock Sauna, an impressive four to five tons of river rock that fluctuates between 150 and 194 degrees Fahrenheit. When it was time to cool off a quick dip in the cold plunge was just the ticket. I could only take the intensity of the frigid water for a moment before leaping back up into the peaceful atrium and taking a moment to pause for a lavender tea. I literally could have spent all day bouncing between the variations on cold and hot in the spacious basement of the Great Jones Spa, but by the time I finished my tea it was time for my Swedish massage (60 min/$145, 90 min/$205). Fernando greeted me for what I would ultimately consider the best massage of my life. I’ve never had a treatment that was so delicate and intricate. Fernando’s magic hands found each and every muscle up my legs, across my back, and even the tiniest sections along my cervical spine. Without asking for direction or chatting about the weather or who I am and what line of work I’m in, he intuitively discovered every centimeter of tension in my body and firmly worked to eliminate it. By the time he had finished, I felt as if I had floated in a pool in Miami, rested on the sandy beach in the Turks and Caicos, and floated on a cloud all without leaving Manhattan. After I said farewell to Fernando, I contemplated marching right back upstairs to book another appointment for the same treatment the next day. Too decadent? Maybe I’ll wait and go back next week. www.gjspa.com
—Jeffrey James Keyes
SPA NALAI AT PARK HYATT NEW YORK
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Upon entering the 40th-floor Spa Nalai at the two-year-old Park Hyatt New York, you’ll be greeted by an impressive New York view. On my visit, clouds ominously traipsed Central Park, and as rain covered the floor-toceiling windows, I enjoyed chocolate cookies and tea before heading to the massive indoor pool. In my private en-suite, I quickly showered the chlorine off my skin, put on my robe, and lay down for my Fire & Ice Facial (60 min/$350). My esthetician is a perfect mix of Zen and New York realness. Quickly describing what I can expect from this strong treatment and any problems she’s experienced. “Hope you don’t have any cuts, or you didn’t just shave,” she says while brushing is Clinical products on my face. The skincare line is known for its “clinical” strength products that some people may find to be intense, but luckily I already use them at home. Using a glycolic treatment that includes sugar-cane extract to smooth and polish the skin, the facial uses a warming mask that feels like an in-flight hot towel. Any discomfort is assuaged with a cooling mask that tightens pours, rejuvenates, and makes the whole treatment feel like you’ve just walked ten blocks in a New York City winter. Feeling readyto-go cool, I change, stock up on some iS Clinical, and, of course, grab some cookies. www.parkhyatt.com
—Joseph Pedro
