Spa Magazine
ESALEN, CALIFORNIA
The Setting
Esalen is proof that God favors sensualists. It's built on 27 acres of the Big Sur coast--a sublime stretch of shore studded with redwoods, beaches, waterfalls and, of course, hot springs. Fifty feet above the swirling, crashing Pacific, 119°F mineral water, once revered by local Indians for its healing power, cascades into exquisitely designed cobblestone and concrete tubs. The funky sulfur scent rising from pools scattered across the sandstone deck hints at the water's richness. Some tubs are exposed to the elements, others sheltered beneath dynamic cantilevered ceilings, and each one sucks the stress from your bones and soul almost instantly.
The Spa
Esalen is more an institute than a classic spa. Yogis, Buddhist teachers, authors and musicians offer seminars year-round. There are even weekend tantric sex workshops for couples, but it is possible to arrange day spa services. In fact, people come from all over the world just to soak in the famed Esalen baths and they're all naked. The changing rooms are coed; the showers, built with sliding glass windows on the seaward side are likewise unisex--the bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Public displays of self-assured nudity are rampant here--height, weight, body fat be damned. We're talking contagious self-body-love, and, frankly, there's nothing sexier.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Priority #1 is to submerge in the shimmering pools, #1A is to enjoy Esalen's singular massage. There is a soothing quality to the therapists' long, sensitive strokes, and they are not clock-watchers. They work until the kinks are smooth and all tension is released. And if you're too loose to leave, book a room with a view, enjoy the organic seductions they call dinner and watch the sunset and moonrise over the ocean. Then strip down, feel the night air in all your glory, and hit the baths one more time.
CHOJUKAN, JAPAN
The Setting
Cupped in the cleft of a cedar-carpeted valley, Chojukan ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) exists as proof that romantic Japan lives on. Built in the classic style, the inn has low-slung tiled roofs softened by clinging moss. Just beyond the sliding door entrance, a stately brook rumbles over its pebbled bed completing the air of serenity. Burdensome shoes are removed at the threshold where a kimono-clad hostess guides you through the cedar-scented interior to the austere rooms, perfumed by soft tatami mats and the faint whiff of charcoal from a Japanese hearth sunk into the floor.
The Spa
Even though Chojukan doesn't offer a formal spa setting with treatments, you won't miss it--exploring and experiencing the choice of indoor and outdoor bathing options is blissful. The first is a wooden, high-ceilinged temple dedicated to the art of hot-spring bathing that both sexes can share á la Japonaise. Cypress tubs in another timbered room offer similar restorative relief and time for contemplation of the valley view spread out before you. But for the ultimate, you must dare to venture as I did with my girlfriend, a shy, snow leopard of a woman, into the mist-wreathed outdoor onsen pools.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
We sat in the baths alone under the stars. Snow, dusted like icing, had encrusted the valley while the last of autumn's crimson leaves and fingers of ice dipped into the lucid rock pools that were our baths. Floating logs provided headrests while heated sake nestled by our fingertips. Built directly on a riverbed, this onsen's thermal water bubbles up through the pebbles naturally, rich in skin-beneficial calcium sodium sulfate. But science isn't what comes to mind in this magical setting.
HOTEL HANA-MAUI, HAWAII
The Setting
Maybe it's way the Pacific explodes on the black lava rocks of Maui's easternmost point. Or the sweeping view down the coast from the hot tubs that grace the decks of the seaside cottages. Maybe it's the changing scents of the foliage as you hike through groves of strawberry guava, past monster banyan trees, into a bamboo forest and find yourself blinking up at 400-foot Waimoko falls ... and plunge in. But the real beauty of Hana, an end-of-the-road town of about 1,800 that has barely changed in 50 years, is what's not here. Outside the resort grounds, there are two stores, one other restaurant, a gallery and a gas station. No bars, no 18-hole golf courses, no parasailing. Not here, not for 50 miles.
The Spa
The oldest hotel in Maui, the 62-room Hotel Hana-Maui still has its 1946 bungalows, but everything was tastefully renovated not long ago with a zen-like nod to quiet and elegance. You move easily here from indoors to out, from the spa's garden showers and lava rock plunge pools to spacious private treatment suites, each opening onto a garden that looks out across the mesmerizing bay.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
The sensuality that lies at the root of Hawaiian healing is the essence of three of Hana's most seductive spa treatments. During the Calming 'Awa and Spirulina Body Wrap, each leg is painted with a mask made from the narcotic 'awa (or kava) and spirulina; a strong forearm strokes firmly across your back during the Hawaiian Lomilomi massage; and the gentle placement of hot lava stones on the body during the Honua Ali'I Hot Stone Massage is surpassed only by a rub down with the hotel's flower-laced signature aromatherapy oil and a soothing sheen of ti leaf: Such is bliss.
Contributed by Alexia Brue (Switzerland), Tamara Collins (Arizona), Michael Fitzpatrick (Japan), Lisa Gosselin (Hawaii), Kathryn Harris (Mexico), Eric Hiss (Thailand), Abbie Kozolchyk (Costa Rica), Adam Skolnick (California), and Gisela Williams (Bali).
