If 2021 has you yearning for a change of scenery, some much-needed time offline, and a renewed focus on your health, maybe your New Year’s resolution should involve booking a vacation at a wellness retreat. Here are 14 luxurious destinations to recharge with exercise, nutritious food, and spa treatments—find a resort near you for a revitalizing staycation.
Editor’s note: At the time of publication, all resorts were open. However, this is subject to change during the pandemic. Please check with the resort directly regarding available amenities and opening dates before traveling, and be sure to follow all state and local travel restrictions.
Northeast
Canyon Ranch is serious about wellness, and the hospitality brand’s stunning Lenox resort in the Berkshires is meant to be an escape from everyday life. You can do everything from book a diagnostic with an exercise physiologist to drop in on a sound healing class. Go for an “experience pathway” with a vacation chock full of scheduled activities, or just enjoy the property and its gourmet-meets-healthful restaurants.
In Massachusetts, the 50-guestroom Mirbeau Inn & Spa Plymouth is designed to look like a French manor house with its own pond and gardens. The spa is a hub of the resort, featuring a year-round indoor/outdoor Aqua Terrace with whirlpool, waterfalls, and a fireplace. Head to the eucalyptus-infused steam room before a spa treatment, or work up a sweat in the fitness studio.
Mid-Atlantic
New York City’s no-expenses-spared fitness and wellness club The Well just branched out to the Connecticut countryside with an outpost at the Mayflower Inn. Besides the incredibly chic interiors, The Well at Mayflower Inn offers all sorts of wellness experiences, like micro-stimulation facials, meditation classes, inversion workshops, or a dip in a biophilic thermal pool.
Get away from the city at spa destination The Lodge at Woodloch, located on 500 forested acres in the Poconos. Explore the wilderness via a hike, birding, guided walk foraging for medicinal tea or a walking meditation through the resort’s labyrinth. The spa’s co-ed soaking pools with heated “Hydromassage WaterWalls” and a heated outdoor horizon-edge whirlpool are another draw.
Midwest
Wisconsin’s Kohler Waters Spa (yes, that Kohler) is a five-star destination for spa lovers, with hydrotherapy showers and an enclosed rooftop deck equipped with a whirlpool, fireplace, and lounge. The spa is part of Destination Kohler, which includes lodging options from the historic The American Club hotel to private cabins. To fill your days, book an espresso mud treatment, or sign up for yoga, tennis lessons, or cycling classes.
Missouri’s The Lodge of Four Seasons on Lake Ozark is situated right along the shoreline, with its own Japanese gardens too. The 356-room golf and spa resort is also home to Spa Shiki, a wellness retreat with yoga classes, saunas, steam rooms, an indoor/outdoor pool, and a full menu of treatments.
Southeast
Combine a trip to the breweries of Asheville with a spa getaway at Shoji Spa & Retreat, where guests change into robes and sandals and luxuriate in private outdoor salt tubs overlooking the forest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Japanese-style spa offers tubside tea services, massages, and a cedar sauna, with two simple lodge options for overnight stays.
Cardio, cupping, cryotherapy, and crystal quartz massages can all be on the agenda at Carillon Miami Wellness Resort. The oceanfront hotel with its own private beach will even work with you to customize a wellness treatment plan for your stay.
Southwest
Located just a short drive from downtown Santa Fe, Ten Thousand Waves looks just like a traditional Japanese inn. Book one of the zen-inspired rooms and then relax in the spa facilities, which boast Japanese onsen-style baths, hot springs, cold plunge baths, wet/dry sauna, and more. The resort is situated near great hiking and skiing too.
Take a water taxi from downtown Austin to Lake Austin Spa Resort, which has its own 25,000 square-foot LakeHouse spa facility including a Pool Barn with indoor heated lap pool. Activities include lakeside yoga, kickboxing, cooking demos, hiking, and more.
Northwest
Rows of “modern meets rustic” cabins at FivePine Lodge & Spa look like a grown-up version of your childhood camp — and the fact that there’s an on-site spa and a brewery doesn’t hurt either. This resort near Bend, Oregon is a popular launching pad for hikes and road bike trips.
Make Chico Hot Springs your home base for a trip to Montana, thanks to its location nearby Yellowstone National Park and downtown Bozeman. The resort’s been a destination for more than 100 years thanks to its open-air natural mineral hot springs pools. Today, visitors can rent mountain bikes, go horseback riding or river rafting, or book a spa package.
West
Two Bunch Palms lives up to its “desert hideaway” moniker: hammocks, concrete pools, teak tubs, and mineral water grottos are scattered around the grounds of this historic Palm Springs hotel, which wrapped up a $2 million renovation in 2019. The eco-friendly resort is carbon-neutral and offers activities from tennis to dessert hikes or classes in a yoga dome.
Kickstart a vegan lifestyle at Stanford Inn & Resort, where an onsite restaurant serves entirely organic, plant-based fare featuring ingredients from an onsite garden. (Think wild mushroom and creamy polenta or sea palm and root vegetable strudel.) The resort is perched on the Mendocino coastline, and besides taking in the views, you can go for a swim in a saltwater pool located in a greenhouse, or take a class in everything from Tai Chi to cooking.
You’ll also like:
The Most Anticipated Hotel Openings for 2021
8 Affordable Wellness Retreats
The Best Packing List for a Blissful Wellness Trip
All products are independently selected by our writers and editors. If you buy something through our links, Oyster may earn an affiliate commission.
