Destination Spas
The Alvear Palace Spa & Fitness Center,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
One big downside to being a landmark building is abiding by renovation restrictions, so the Alvear, Buenos Aires’s most venerable hotel, simply purchased the building next door to house its new 8,000-square-foot spa. While maintaining the same luxe standards as the ornate hotel, the spa offers a soothing, more modern atmosphere, done up in dark and light Argentine Caob and Lapacho woods and structural columns embellished with glass Bisazza mosaic tiles. Water is the theme here, with a hydromassaging Ludic pool tiled in the mosaic glass, and a Water Sensations Path—guests who walk it will experience a range of water temperatures on the skin and a massaging, pebbly terrain underfoot. Those who prefer to stay dry might try the Exclusive Radiant Treatment, a firming and lightening facial designed specifically for the spa by top-notch skincare line La Prairie. alvearpalace.com
The Spa at the Carneros Inn,
Napa, California
The owners of this famed inn gave visitors the perfect finish to a day of winery touring when they installed outdoor Huichica baths on their property. The custom-designed, stone-decorated hydrotherapy tubs are inspired by the nearby Huichica Creek, believed to possess supernatural powers by the Native Americans who once inhabited the area. Carneros, long a favorite retreat for wine aficionados, has recently completed a major update, adding an indoor-outdoor pool, a motion studio and outdoor treatment rooms. And, befitting a spa set in a top foodie destination, even the treatments here sound delectable—wraps, facials and massages are based on wine traditions and incorporate local ingredients like Chardonnay oil, hand-pressed olive oil, goat milk and goat butter, which is used in the decadent (if slightly odd-sounding) Warm Goat Butter Massage. thecarnerosinn.com
Six Senses Erawan,
Naka Yai, Thailand
Not only does it inhabit its own private island off Phuket, but this 33,000-square-foot spa, which is scheduled to open in December, has an indoor-outdoor layout that renders those ocean-wave noise machines superfluous.
Guests stay in private villas where personal butlers take care of everything—from checking in and unpacking to running a bath. In keeping with Erawan’s dietary focus, all food is locally produced and organic (nearly everything on the island but the trees is edible), one of its two restaurants serves raw food only, and guests can go foraging in the on-site “mushroom hut” and hand over their finds to the chef for their next meal. The spa is divided into four areas devoted to regional healing and stress-relieving techniques—Ayurvedic, Jamu-Jamu (Indonesian), Thai and Traditional Chinese Medicine—so a visit can be health-focused or just sublimely sybaritic. sixsenses.com/sixsenses-erawan
Aquapura Spa,
Douro Valley, Portugal
Nestled along the banks of the Douro River, this 41-room inn has opened a 22,000-square-foot spa with panoramic sauna and steam rooms, an indoor pool and 10 naturally lit treatment rooms. Those who prize privacy can opt to stay in one of the 16 spa guest rooms, each with its own hot tub as well as extra space for in-room massages or facials. Complexion issues are addressed in a no-nonsense manner with the Switzerland-based Karin Herzog skincare line, but guests can also try more colorful fare. Options range from pepper and cinnamon aromatherapy to the four-handed Hawaiian lomi lomi rubdown and the Aquapura poultice treatment, which uses medicinal plants to ease tensions while heat from herb-infused poultices that are placed on the skin burns away bad spirits within the body. aquapurahotels.com
