By Evelyn Kanter

The new breed of spas offers everything from ritual baths to European facials and invigorating skin treatments. A day at a spa can rejuvenate the mind, body and soul. Lucky for us, some of the world’s best spas are close to home, with a range of treatments designed to rejuvenate every part of you, and in locations where there are lots of other things to do, too.

The Breakers

This legendary resort hotel in Palm Beach, FL, has the only U.S. spa in partnership with the equally legendary French perfumer Rudy Guerlain. Unlike other spas, where a therapist brings his or her own personality and strengths to a treatment, here every movement is Guerlain’s choreography, so “your experience is the same as any other Guerlain spa in the world,” said Mark Manpegna, The Breakers’ spa director. The signature Imperiale massage utilizes the palms of the hand, not the fingertips, to gently stroke and press muscles, and uses Imperiale oils and lotions. This is Guerlain’s original scent, a delicately flowered blend that dates back to 1855.

A popular spa treatment for men is golf Pilates, a stretch and strengthening class adapted to focus on the hamstrings, quads and lower back muscles that get such a workout on the many courses that dot Palm Beach. Most men opt for private instruction, but there are also classes.

For the price of one treatment, non-guests can spend the day at the hotel. Book your spa appointment late in the day, so you can spend the earlier part of the day at the hotel pool, beach or gym.

Also—The Norton Museum of Art has a world-class collection of contemporary art and sculpture, including a spectacular ceiling of multi-colored seashells by glass artisan Dale Chihuly. Nearby is the Flagler Museum, housed in the railroad tycoon’s 19th-century gilded mansion. The resort is open to non-guests.

The Spa At Château Élan
Located by a sparkling lake outside Atlanta in Braselton, surrounded by a canopy of trees, emerald green lawns and flowering shrubs, the 33,000-square-foot Spa at Château Élan exudes style and serenity in luxuriously comfortable French country atmosphere.

Quiet, romantic, serene. Indulgent sensory treatments to refresh and revive the body, mind and soul. The spa’s own chef creates seasonal gourmet dishes served in the Fleur-de-Lis dining room, which overlooks the lake.

In addition to spa facilities, the spa offers guest accommodations and dining. Breakfast, lunch and dinner feature healthful spa cuisine served in the sunny Fleur-de-Lis. Its 14 luxurious spa suites are decorated with a dedication to comfort. Each room is unique and dramatically creates a special mood, from Country French to Victorian Wicker, High-Tech to the exotic Zimbabwe Suite.

The spa also offers Lotusea, an all-inclusive wellness program focusing on helping individuals develop and maintain a greater quality of lifestyle resulting in suitable weight management, fitness, improved health, attitude and general well-being.

Lotusea, a Greek word meaning perfection and divinity, was originally introduced as a corporate wellness agenda in 1990 and designed to combat spiraling health care costs by creating preventive health programs for all company employees and top executives.

The Spa at Westin Diplomat

Inspiring The Starwood Spa Collection are The Seven Pillars of Well-Being: Aqua, Harmony, Vitality, Life Balance, Nature, Nutrition and Beauty. These tenets distinguish every member of the Starwood Spa Collection, and every one of their offerings. The Starwood Spa Collection at the Diplomat in Hallandale Beach, FL, is your passport to a healthier lifestyle, and a mind and body in exquisite balance. Here is a world of serene beauty. Far away from stress. Dedicated to calming peace.

Along with a comprehensive array of European facial, skincare and body treatment rituals, including exfoliations, massages, wraps, body buffs and sheens, the spa offers unique Thai massage, soothing stone treatment, reflexology and a variety of aromatherapies.

The Signature Treatment is inspired by the flora and fauna of the South Florida Everglades, with products specially designed for your particular skin type. The utterly rejuvenating Core World treatment includes a body steam, cleansing, exfoliation, wrap, massage and final re-moisturizing.

The Spa at the Hershey Hotel
Chocolate isn’t just for nibbling here in Hershey, PA, it’s an important ingredient in spa treatments, because this butterfat-rich confection is a marvelous moisturizer. Yes, it’s messy being slathered with chocolate, but no more so than massages with “ordinary” spa lotions. The fragrance of chocolate surrounds you, and you’ll be smiling with the memory for years to come each time something chocolate melts in your mouth. It’s rinsed off via a multi-headed Vichy shower pulled across the ceiling.

The Sweet Hands manicure starts with ground-up cocoa beans to buff off dead skin, then your digits are dipped to the elbow in chocolate paraffin, followed by a calming chocolate moisturizing hand massage before the nail polish. Hands are soft and pretty enough to glow as they dip into bowls of foil-wrapped Hershey Kisses scattered around the Mediterranean-style hotel.

Newly introduced are Cuban-themed treatments inspired by founder Milton Hershey’s love for Cuba and the Hershey-owned sugar plantations and mills operated there until 1946. These include a pedicure using sugar scrubs and dips instead of chocolate, and having your body polished to soft sheen with a mixture of dead sea salts, ground coffee and essential oils. Hershey’s is a kid-friendly resort, and so is the spa, with teen facials and salon services to prevent stress from starting too early in life.

Of course, there are non-spa attractions for kids of any age. At Chocolate World, you can watch chocolate dropped onto an assembly line and foil-wrapped into Hershey’s Kisses, see 3-D movies and other entertainment—all free. Plus, open daily year round is Zoo America, where there are chocolate-colored bears.

The Greenbriar
Therapeutic mineral springs were discovered here in West Virginia in 1778, when “taking the waters” was an accepted remedy for everything from arthritis to reflux. (One of The Greenbriar’s early guests was Thomas Jefferson.) So it’s no surprise most spa treatments draw on the sulfur-rich water that flows beneath this elegant resort in White Sulphur Springs.

Even though you’re padding about in a thick and comfy terry robe and slippers, there’s a timeless elegance in the spa, too. It’s easy to be mesmerized by contemplating the lush crystal chandelier in the pre-treatment relaxation area, or the equally verdant landscape outside the 15-foot windows.

One of the most popular treatments is the Perfect Relaxation Kur. It’s 90 minutes of lavender-scented heaven that starts with a soak in your own private whirlpool, in mineral water spiked with lavender bath salts, followed by a lavender oil massage. Finally, you are wrapped in lavender-infused serum and left to dream visions of floating blissfully.

Since White Sulphur Springs is a top golf destination with three championship courses, treatments specific to weekend warriors include a massage to relax hands that have been over-gripping golf clubs. Spa Director Marie Baumuller recommends sport massages before and after playing to stretch and lengthen muscles and to undo the damage of repetitive motion sports like golf and tennis. The Greenbriar brings massage tables to the golf club for on-the-spot service, and massage chairs to the pool for neck and shoulder massages.

For a more vigorous activity, spend a morning at the off-road driving school, where a professional driver teaches you to inch yourself over huge logs and through hubcap-deep muddy ruts in one of their new model SUVs. And be sure to tour the once-secret fallout bomb shelter under the hotel, built in the ’50s for members of Congress to use in case of nuclear attack.

Boca Raton Resort and Spa
Forget early-bird-special dinners. The best deal in all of Florida just may be the $15 Palazzo Ritual Bath at the Palazzo Spa located in Boca Raton, FL. First, you soak in a private tub ringed with fragrant candles, and after you are properly poached, an attendant leads you to an invigorating needle shower with high-pressure tubes that are moved to target shoulders, back or whatever needs help. The soak and shower is to pre-dispose you to get the most out of the massage or facial that follows, but so effective by itself that many spa-goers do just that.

The most luxurious facial here uses Sevruga caviar, and includes lots of scalp, neck and foot massage while the nutrient-rich caviar penetrates dry skin and smoothes wrinkles. This is three hours of perfect pampering, starting with the Palazzo Ritual Bath, plus a body scrub and moisturizing masque.

The lavish Mediterranean-style resort has 44 treatment rooms, so it’s rare to be stressed out by being told there are no appointments available. The spa area is luxurious and ornate, and will make you think you have time-traveled back to 16th-century Moorish Spain or Ottoman Turkey.

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