From Italian wine soaks to maple sugar scrubs, these spa treatments mix bliss with local bounty
Experience a sense of place while getting pampered — Photo courtesy of Charday Penn / Getty Images
Spas treatments are leaning local, incorporating locally sourced ingredients into massages, facials and scrubs. Consider a blissful body treatment that uses honey harvested from beehives maintained by a California resort or an ambrosial soak in a wine bath in Tuscany.
Here are 10 spa treatments that offer a sense of place along with pampering.
Massage with orchid mist at Fairmont Orchid, Kohala Coast, Hawaii
Spa Without Walls at Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii — Photo courtesy of Fairmont Orchid
The Fairmont Orchid is a gorgeous resort on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.
The spa is tucked between a floral fantasy of purple orchids and yellow hibiscus, with lily ponds and waterfalls dropped in for good measure.
Book a traditional Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage. With the Pacific surf and birdsong as your soothing soundtrack, a wave-like motion from your therapist’s hands and forearms will release all tension. A fragrant mist, made with the island’s wild orchids, takes your bliss to the next level.
Honey-infused body therapy at Carmel Valley Ranch, Carmel Valley, California
A body treatment with honey from Carmel Valley Ranch hives — Photo courtesy of Carmel Valley Ranch
Carmel Valley Ranch is nestled in a rambling patchwork of gardens and vineyards. The resort has an apiary of Italian honeybees, with numerous programs that allow guests to explore beekeeping.
At Spa Aiyana, the Bee Beautiful body therapy utilizes honey from the resort’s beehive in the body buff, purifying mask and buttery massage cream. It’s a luscious experience that would make Winnie-the-Pooh envious.
Maple scrub at Mirror Lake Inn, Lake Placid, New York
A sugar body scrub made with locally sourced maple syrup — Photo courtesy of Mirror Lake Inn
The Adirondacks are a maze of rugged mountains, freshwater lakes and old-growth forest. Maple trees flourish here, providing an abundance of maple syrup when the trees are tapped for sap in early spring.
Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa is a cozy, family-owned hotel, situated in front of its namesake lake, with a spa that celebrates the region’s bounty. Its signature treatment, the Adirondack Maple Sugar Body Scrub, uses local maple sugar as the base for a total body exfoliation. You’ll enjoy the hydrating benefits long after the sweet maple sugar is washed away.
Exfoliate with Blue Mountain Coffee at Sandals Resorts, Jamaica
Sandals resorts in Jamaica offer exfoliating treatments made from Blue Mountain Coffee — Photo courtesy of Sandals Resorts
Jamaica’s Blue Mountain scenery is sublime. The island’s prized Blue Mountain coffee beans are grown here, creating a beverage that is smooth with a rich, almost creamy body.
Sandals has several properties scattered across Jamaica. Each resort’s spa menu offers a Blue Mountain Coffee Scrub. Exfoliation with antioxidant-packed coffee grinds will leave your body feeling as smooth as silk.
Mayan rituals at Fairmont Mayakoba, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
The spa at Fairmont Mayakoba embraces Mayan traditions — Photo courtesy of Fairmont Mayakoba
Immersed in a mangrove jungle with lagoons and cenotes, Fairmont Mayakoba is a tropical, seaside paradise. At the resort’s indoor-outdoor spa, the region’s Mayan heritage are incorporated into numerous treatments.
The Cha Chac Rain Ritual starts with the burning of copal, a smoky-sweet incense derived from tree sap that Mayans traditionally used to clear negative energy and elicit calm. Next, a healing body mask of cornmeal, clay and oats is applied. A purifying massage, using oil infused with locally sourced sage, is the grand finale.
Garden fresh facials at Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, Savusavu, Fiji
Fijian ingredients take a star turn at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort — Photo courtesy of Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort
The Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort in Fiji looks lifted from the pages of a Polynesian fairytale. It’s a dream vacation for anyone seeking an immersion in island culture and breathtaking beauty.
The spa uses only the purest Fijian ingredients, such as cold-pressed coconut oil, raw sugar, honey, nuts and spices. Many of these salubrious elements grow at the resort for a true garden-to-massage-table experience.
Nourish your skin when you book the Vakacegu “Peace Be with You” facial. A mixture of resort-grown nuts, seeds and fruits cleanse and exfoliate, while cool virgin coconut oil replenishes moisture.
A wine soak at Renaissance Tuscany II Ciocco Resort & Spa, Lucca, Italy
Soak in the pool or in Italian wine — Photo courtesy of Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort & Spa
Welcome to Tuscany, where rosemary and lavender perfume the air and hilltop towns and medieval castles dot the landscape. Everywhere, there are vines.
Visitors come to take in the enchanting scenery and to sample the region’s wine. At Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort & Spa, in nearby Lucca, it’s possible to extend the oenophile experience. A ritual Bacchus would approve, guests who book the Couples Wine Ritual soak in regional wine, followed by a massage with a grapeseed oil, giving the skin an earthy boost of vitality.
Rosy treatments at Cliff House, Cape Neddick, Maine
Spa with a view of the Atlantic Ocean — Photo courtesy of Cliff House Maine
Maine’s lighthouses and lobster boats paint a pretty picture.
Cliff House sits atop Bald Head Cliff on the state’s southern coast, overlooking the Atlantic. The hotel’s spa blends hyper-local products, such as sea salt, blueberries and marine mud, into treatments.
Rugosa roses grow in abundance here, and the Wild+ Free signature journey at The Spa at Cliff House uses rose petals in the body wrap and rose essence in its massage oil for a cocooning, flower-power elixir.
Desert-inspired bliss at Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona
Rejuvnate your skin with Sonoran Desert mud — Photo courtesy of Arizona Biltmore
Set against the painterly backdrop of Piestewa Peak and the seemingly endless Sonoran Desert, with an architectural pedigree thanks to its design by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé Albert Chase McArthur, the Arizona Biltmore blends glamour with striking desert beauty.
The innovative spa menu pays tribute to its surroundings, weaving indigenous mud, herbs and scented plants into treatments.
The Sun Worshipper Mud + Alchemy Experience allows the strong Arizona sun to bake Sonoran Desert mud into your skin. You’ll rinse the mud with a luffa grown on site, leaving your skin supple and velvety.
Temazcal ceremony at JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa, Mexico
Sweat it out in an ancient healing ritual — Photo courtesy of JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa
The JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa boasts an idyllic location, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific. An embrace of local culture is evident in its artwork, cuisine and at spa treatments. The temazcal ceremony is steeped in Mesoamerican heritage.
Spa-goers may experience a modern version of this sweat lodge ritual, inhaling vapors infused with freshly picked herbs and medicinal plants — such as sage, rosemary, aloe and eucalyptus. Led by a “temazcalero,” this ceremony is a journey for the mind, body and spirit.
