Spring is here — time to round up your best girlfriends, pack your bags and get out of Dodge for a few days. And while you are hanging out with your favorite humans, why not practice a little self-care while you are at it? These gorgeous hotels and resorts offer the latest in wellness treatments — from a shaman-led purification ceremony to CBD-infused massages — so you and your besties can recharge and reconnect at the same time.
If Your Girlfriends Are Cultural Nomads
After you check in to one of The Post Oak At Uptown Houston’s sleek, high-tech rooms — it is the only 5 Diamond Hotel in town — proceed directly to their enormous new spa. Its ancient healing rituals and treatments hail from around the world, inspired by Houston’s lively diversity (over 145 languages are spoken here!). The signature ‘Ritual of Five Worlds’ begins with a chakra-opening steam poultice made with Javanese medicinal herbs, followed by Thai stretching, before the grand finale: a dual-therapist cranial acupressure and foot reflexology with Moroccan eucalyptus. After your treatments, kick back in the lounge’s state-of-the-art zero-gravity chairs before heading out to immerse yourself in Houston’s buzzing art and restaurant scene. Thepostoakhotel.com
For Your Harmony-Seeking Girlfriends
Saint Lucia’s all-inclusive BodyHoliday Resort, located between a pristine beach and lush tropical gardens, is completely devoted to wellness — so it is the perfect place for you and your crew. The resort’s onsite Ayurvedic temple is host to over a dozen Ayurvedic treatments (one of the planet’s oldest holistic healing methods, which aims to balance mind, spirit and body). Treatments range from an abdominal massage to Shirodhara, in which fragrant oil is continuously poured on your ‘third eye.’ You can also have a thorough Ayurvedic consultation and examination with an onsite healer who will establish a daily self-care routine for your dosha, or mind-body type. Outside the spa, a huge schedule of daily activities will keep you happily busy — snorkeling, cycling, spin classes and waterskiing — or you can hit one of the resort’s five farm-to-table restaurants, with vegetables sourced from their organic garden. Thebodyholiday.com
If Your Girlfriends Need Spiritual Guidance
Montage Los Cabos, the chic beachfront hideaway in Cabo San Lucas, boasts a 40,000-square-foot playground of a spa — and an in-house shaman named Leonardo Ortega, a trained temezcalero, or ceremonial guide, of the Toltec tradition, a civilization which flourished in Central Mexico in the tenth century. Ortega loves restoring people’s energetic pathways and, as he puts it, “communicating with non-physical helpers to discover the spiritual aspects of illness and find answers to life’s seemingly impossible questions.”
To that end, every evening, he leads a guided ceremony called Canopy of Stars, a traditional ritual of purification, transformation and stargazing, performed to the romantic sounds of crashing waves. Even better, book Ortega for a customized shamanic experience to help you achieve closure, receive blessings or banish negative energy (just let him know what your needs are). Recreational activities abound at Montage, too, from whale watching to stand-up paddleboarding to snuba (no, that is not a typo — it is a combo of snorkeling and scuba, in which you flit through the colorful reefs while breathing through a 20-foot-long air hose). Montagehotels.com
If Your Girlfriends Are CBD-Obsessed
Outdoorsy types love Boulder, Colorado, with its breathtaking mountains and 300 miles of hiking and biking paths — but you and your friends may never want to leave the heavenly comforts of the St. Julien Hotel and Spa. It offers a number of treatments inspired by cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical found in cannabis which proponents say can ease stress, boost the immune system and calm inflammation (although science is still emerging). Spa Director Susan Hunnell says the CBD products used in their treatments “are unique in their patented water-solubility technology which allows for an 80-90 percent absorption rate of the CBD through the skin, allowing for a deeper, more beneficial massage experience.” We recommend going straight for the Ultimate Colorado Bliss CBD Experience: a lavender sugar scrub, a CBD-infused body butter wrap, hot oil scalp massage, full body massage with CBD-infused oil and a steaming cup of CBD-infused tea. stjulien.com
If Your Girlfriends Are Constantly Posting
Puppies equal social media gold. You and your buddies can bond with each other as well as furry creatures at an animal-inspired wellness retreat (yes, it is a thing). Numerous studies show that being around animals has multiple health benefits, such as lowering stress, blood pressure and even cholesterol levels. At Santa Fe’s Sunrise Springs, not only can you detox in sacred natural hot springs, you will be able to play with a pack of Golden Retriever puppies. The resort partners with Assistance Dogs of the West, and helps train and raise them to become future service dogs. sunrisesprings.ojospa.com
Meanwhile, the Mountain Horse Farm, a leafy retreat in New York’s spectacular Finger Lakes region, offers four different animal therapy programs with both horses and cows that have found a ‘forever home’ at the farm’s sanctuary (you can even snuggle up to the cows when they are lying down). “We live in a technology-filled world where many people are disconnected from nature and animals,” says farm owner Suzanne Vullers. “Spending time in a quiet place in nature with sensitive and graceful horses and cows creates room for your thoughts and feelings to naturally process, increases your creativity, helps find solutions to challenges you may face, and lets people reconnect with nature, others and themselves.” Mountainhorsefarm.com
For Your Yoga Mat-Toting Girlfriends
Tucked away on a palm-fringed surf break in Nosara, Costa Rica, the eco-chic The Harmony Hotel offers a three-day customized Restoration Program that is ideal for groups. It begins with a consultation with the Healing Centre’s Health Concierge to map out a curative regimen of restorative bodywork, yoga and meditation, and personal exploration. While you are coming back to life, surf some of the Pacific’s best waves, practice yoga in Harmony’s open-air studio, or go ziplining through the forest canopy. During the fall, you might even be able to watch sea turtles hatch and make their wobbly way to the ocean — a protected beach near the hotel is home to thousands of nests. Harmonynosara.com
For Your Crystal-Crazed Girlfriends
One of New York’s most renowned crystal healers has set up a residence at the sleek Four Seasons Downtown New York, overlooking the World Trade Center. Rashia Bell, the co-founder of crystal healing center The Cristalline, uses guided meditation as she places stones and crystals on your chakras to harmonize your mind and body. Based on your responses, she will move or change stones, administer Reiki (energy therapy conveyed through the palms, which Bell is certified in) or pull cards that provide clarity and guidance. “We felt there was more need for energetic transformation, beyond traditional bodywork,” says Four Seasons Downtown Spa Director Tara Cruz. “Rashia just has a gift that allows you to drift into a meditative space to clear negativity, doubt and anxiety. You leave her room feeling spiritually supercharged.” After the session, Bell sends you off with a bag of personally-selected crystals and stones. Later, she emails a detailed analysis of your session and a maintenance plan. You may feel a little foggy afterward, so grab your friends for a swim in the spa’s stunning mother-of-pearl embedded lap pool before hitting the town. Fourseasons.com/newyorkdowntown
If Your Girlfriends Are Stressed Out
The Blue Ridge Mountains’ Westglow Resort & Spa, housed in a restored Greek Revival Mansion in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, is the perfect place to spend quality time with a gang. If you are all feeling a little burned out — and who is not — the resort’s three-day Stress Relief Retreat is pretty irresistible. You will eat three healthy meals a day, choose among tons of fitness classes including yoga and pilates, have a tension-relieving massage, and indulge in a spa treatment of your choice. Best of all, the program includes two stress management sessions with a qualified life coach. You and your friends can also catch up with each other while canoeing, cave exploring or hiking the Appalachian Trail. Westglowresortandspa.com
For Your Nature-Craving Girlfriends
Luxe but delightfully low-key, the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo, nestled in the jungle above the sparkling Culebra Bay, embodies Costa Rica’s pura vida — or pure life — ethos. The resort’s Onda spa sanctuary uses local ingredients from the indigenous culture of the Chorotegan Indians who lived in the region centuries ago, from green coffee body scrubs to a tension-melting massage using native bamboo sticks and thermal bamboo oil. The Chorotegan Jewels Journey is a standout: a purple corn body scrub, volcanic hot stone massage with sweet orange balm, facial massage with local bull’s eye seeds and fresh aloe vera, and a delicious scalp massage with hot coconut oil. In another nice touch, each treatment commences with a welcome ceremony where you honor your ancestors with the release of a symbolic flower. Post-spa, there is no shortage of things to do, from hiking up a volcano among howler monkeys and toucans to horseback riding to river-tubing. Wind down at the resort’s breezy tapas restaurant Chao Pescao, which has small plates and craft cocktails made with hand-picked local fruits and spices. Hyatt.com
