Unique Spa Treatments to Start the New Year off Right
With the new year right around the corner, many of us are looking for ways to enhance our wellness and to recover from the stress of the holidays—and what better way to start 2020 than with a relaxing and renewing spa treatment? Whether it’s a belated gift for someone else or you want to treat yourself, check out these unique spa treatments to start the new year off right.
From detoxifying bathing rituals and body scrubs to a raindrop experience and bespoke cultural treatments, there’s something for everyone on this list. Read on to discover and book your next spa adventure!
Hawaiian Lomi a’e at Four Seasons Hotel Lanai at Koele, A Sensei Retreat (Hawaii)
Imagine walking down an orchid path through the vast Koele Gardens at Four Seasons Hotel Lanai at Koele to your own private 1,000-square-foot spa hale. There, you’ll carefully cut a few leaves of the Ti plant to be used in your custom treatment, whether it’s a relaxing native Hawaiian Lomi a’e massage or rejuvenating facial. After taking a dip in the Ofuru tub or relaxing in the infrared sauna, a Sensei practitioner will lead you to the body-temperature outdoor pool where they’ll guide you through low-impact movements to stretch, open and align your body. Set against the sounds of the jungle, you will learn how to listen to your body in the most luxurious way possible.
Taino Bathing Ritual at Zemi Beach House (Anguilla)
Set inside a 300-year-old Thai House that was transported from Thailand to Anguilla in the 1980s, Zemi Thai House Spa features a variety of holistic treatments that incorporate local culture like the Taino Bathing Ritual, a five-step treatment that pays homage to Anguilla's native Taino Indians who layered their bodies with herbs, fruits, muds and salt, then laid in the sun to dry before bathing to detox the body. The five-step wellness treatment includes layering your body with the island’s natural resources and laying in the sun to dry before bathing to detox the body.
Spa Profile: Zemi Thai House Spa
Sensasiones Taínas at Sanctuary Cap Cana Resort & Spa (Dominican Republic)
At the Castle spa of Sanctuary Cap Cana Resort & Spa in the Dominican Republic, guests can gift a loved one the Sensasiones Taínas (or “Taína Sensations”). This captivating and exotic, indigenous-inspired treatment includes an exfoliation with a hand-carved clay stone, followed by a massage with a serum that activates body temperature, promoting relaxation.
Spa Profile: Sanctuary Spa at Sanctuary Cap Cana Resort & Spa
Three-Part Therapy Session at Spa at Gothic Eves (New York)
At the Spa at Gothic Eves, guests can be gifted a three-part therapy session and entrusts the practitioner with choosing crystals that match the ideal vibration of his/her subtle energetic centers, based on both intuition and knowledge of the physical properties of various crystals. This process restores balance by tapping into clients’ subtle fields, channels and bodies, and the crystals bring the guest back into balance through forced resonance.
The Raindrop Experience at Isabella Spa & Salon, Belhurst Castle (New York)
The Raindrop Experience at Isabella Spa & Salon at Belhurst Castle combines the gentle application of nine therapeutic grade essential oils to the body with reflexology and massage techniques to bring about structural and energetic alignment. The treatment is based on ancient Lakota Indian ceremony and healing techniques to bring balance and restore energy.
Wine Wrap at Park West Spa (New York)
The elegant Park West Spa nestled on the shore of Canandaigua Lake boasts a Wine Wrap that brings out the best of the Finger Lakes region. The tantalizing body wrap treatment utilizes the powerful antioxidant and exfoliating properties of local grapes. The wine wrap is the perfect treatment for sun damaged, dry, and aging skin as it removes dead skin cells, deeply hydrating and fades age spots due to overexposure to the sun.
Maple Walnut Sugar Scrub at August Moon Spa (New York)
Inspired by the bountiful resources of the Finger Lakes Region, August Moon Spa’s Maple Walnut Sugar Scrub utilizes a local ingredients for its NY state’s finest scrub. The spa treatment gently exfoliates to promote soft and moisturized skin.
Chinese Ming Dynasty Gua Sha & Ear Reflexology at Ape+ Canary at The Strathallan (New York)
Stationed at downtown Rochester’s luxury hotel The Strathallan, this spa offers treatments as Dermaplaning through light feathering strokes, traditional Chinese Ming Dynasty Gua Shua & Ear Reflexology to tense muscle and detox the skin, and the O2 Lift that brings clarity to troubled skin and purifies clogged pores.
Bourbon Bubbler Treatment at Griffin Gate Marriott Resort & Spa (Kentucky)
As Kentucky produces 90% of the world’s bourbon, the Griffin Gate Marriott Resort & Spa in Lexington offers a “Bourbon Bubbler” treatment for guests to embrace bourbon’s warmth from the outside in. The treatment begins with a full-body brown-sugar scrub infused with pecans, ginger, and bourbon, followed by a Vichy shower and a moisturizing shea butter body-cream treatment to ensure guests leave with skin as smooth as their favorite bourbon. Afterward, guests can sip the property’s exclusive Private Select single barrel bourbon from Maker’s Mark.
Spa Profile: The Spa at Griffin Gate
Temazcal Stone Steam Bath at Hilton Playa Del Carmen (Mexico)
This holiday season, gift the gift of reconnecting the mind, body and spirit with all-inclusive Hilton Playa Del Carmen’s SPAzul’s Temazcal Stone Steam Bath. Led by a local Shaman, this Mesoamerican treatment is known as the “bath of emperors,” and features a unique healing process designed to cure both psychical and spiritual aliments in a preventive way through a purifying herbal steam bath, and leading guests to a profound realignment with nature and earth.
Spa Profile: SPAzul at Hilton Playa Del Carmen
Tequila Sunrise Massage at Panama Jack Playa Del Carmen (Mexico)
In the heart of Playa Del Carmen, all-inclusive Panama Jack Playa Del Carmen’s Aura Spa offers a signature, culturally-inspired Tequila Sunrise Massage with herbs, warm blue agave oil, and candle wax, topped off with a rain shower to make guests feel as giddy as they would if they had just finished off an actual Tequila Sunrise. Afterward, guests receive a virgin Tequila Sunrise cocktail to complete the experience.
Spa Profile: Aura Spa at Panama Jack Resorts Playa del Carmen
Zen Spa Mexican Journey at Hyatt Ziva Cancun (Mexico)
Framed by 270 degrees of Caribbean Sea, all-inclusive Hyatt Ziva Cancun’s Zen Spa transports guests to an exotic oasis of luxury and rejuvenation, offering divine therapies and indulgent pampering. Featuring seven 2 ½-hour “Around the World” journeys designed to give spa-goers a taste of the most pertinent countries in the spa world, the signature “Zen Spa Mexican Journey” includes a Kukulcan Massage, Xtabentun Facial, and Tequila Exfoliation. This restorative treatment combines ancient Mexican techniques and Mayan plants to relieve sore muscles while the skin is renewed by the Xtabentun, a sacred Mayan liqueur. Following this, guests enjoy a tequila exfoliation to clear the body of any impurities.
Spa Profile: Zen Spa at Hyatt Ziva Cancun
[Images courtesy of properties]
Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk