Canyon Ranch: A Life-Changing Experience
Canyon Ranch is nominated for a Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Award for Best Extended-Stay Spa. Canyon Ranch is the recipient of countless awards and accolades for its innovative approach to health, wellness and holistic and integrative care, as well as for the uniquely relaxing and inspiring experience it provides.
In 1978 Mel Zuckerman was 40 pounds overweight and had asthma, high blood pressure, a hiatal hernia, ulcers and diverticulitis. He had never exercised, had poor nutrition and his primary goal was to succeed in his home building business. His father had recently passed away as a result of cancer from smoking. His grief was mixed with the fear he was heading down the same path as his father.
Zuckerman checked himself into the Ojai Ranch & Spa for a 10 day stay to learn how to get on track. There, he exercised and ate right. He noticed how great he felt and extended his stay to a month. "After that I never looked back," he says. After he returned home, he and his wife, Enid, launched a dream to make healthy living their business---and hence Canyon Ranch was born.
Canyon Ranch opened in the Sonoran Desert and the mountains in 1979 in Tucson, Arizona. It was a radical idea at the time---a comprehensive, healthy living resort with no smoking or alcohol. Within a few years, Canyon Ranch had gained a strong reputation and was influencing the evolution of spas around the world.
Canyon Ranch's second property was developed in Lenox, Ma. on the exquisite grounds of the elegant Bellefontaine mansion which was built 1897. This location offers skiing, kayaking, snowshoeing, canoeing and a high ropes challenge course.
The two properties have distinct personalities with healthy living as a shared goal. The Canyon Ranch SpaClub opened at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in central Florida. Its third SpaClub was opened on board Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2, the world's largest, most luxurious ocean liner. In 2008, Canyon Ranch Living Miami Beach opened, which is a condominium community and boutique hotel centered around the spa and wellness center. In Spring 2010, Canyon Ranch will open SpaClubs on Oceania Cruises. Canyon Ranch also operates SpaClub day spas at The Venetian & The Palazzo hotels in Las Vegas. All-inclusive package rates at its Tucson and Lenox properties include accommodations, three gourmet meals a day, 40 plus complimentary fitness classes per day, outdoor excursions, access to the spa complex and a daily selection of wellness presentations, workshops and cooking demonstrations.
Rates per person at the Tucson property for a four night stay (until June 9, 2010) start at $8,420 for a single occupant; $6,290 for double occupancy (both come with a $650 service allowance). There are packages available for longer stays (seven and ten nights, for example, and discounts are applied if triple or a quad rooms are booked. Off-season rates (June 10 to September 19) are lower. Rates at the Lenox property range from $2,450 for a single to stay in a deluxe room for three nights (Sunday to Tuesday) and $1,930 for double occupancy. Four, five and seven night long packages are also available with each package including a service allowance.
While Canyon Ranch is a vacation fitness resort, it also offers all the amenities of a spa. Each Canyon Ranch location offers an array of facials, skin treatments, massages and body treatments. On staff are physicians, nurses, and integrative health practitioners, in addition to healing energy practitioners, a spirituality staff, licensed therapists, nutritionists, fitness specialists including exercise physiologists and certified fitness instructors), hiking and biking staff, massage and body work therapists and aestheticians and salon specialists.
Everything at the Ranch is about living healthier and life's possibilities. "The real gift of Canyon Ranch is the opportunity to transform your life through healthy living" says Zuckerman. "Our mission is to encourage people to become active, informed participants in their health care because wellness is largely based on everyday lifestyle choices about nutrition, stress management, preventative care and staying fit."
Cast your vote for your favorite spa until March 31st. Winners will be announced on April 1.
