spa review

Squeeze out the Stiffness from a Long Day of Teton Hiking

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas

If you head out to Jackson Hole, still a playground for the wealthy, despite the lingering effects of the recession, a jaunt through the mountains is probably on your itinerary. The Grand Tetons are simultaneously challenging and inviting, and you need to respond to that call! After having scaled peaks or stumbled along trails, however, your body will need some relief. The Avanyu Spa at the Snake River Lodge & Spa is the perfect fit for rejuvenating your weary muscles.

I visited this spa on a recent getaway to Jackson Hole and can tell you the staff's talented hands are the perfect antidote to the strain and pain that comes with an active vacation. The Avanyu Spa offers 17,000 square feet of pure relaxation ... with the exception of the gym on the fifth floor. It's a great place to get in shape, but I just can't bring myself to compare exercise to bliss – it's just not my nature.

The range of treatments is fairly wide, and includes a variety of unique massages (e.g., Komodo Massage, Sleeping Indian Custom Massage and River Stone Massage), as well as desert salt exfoliation, several facials and other skin treatments.

The spa's layout was certainly interesting. The gym is on its uppermost floor, and the four below included treatment rooms, locker rooms and, on the first floor, an indoor pool and access to one outside. An elevator transports you from one to the next. At first, this seemed cumbersome, but that's probably because I'm constantly in a hurry. Quickly, I came to realize that the forced wait encouraged a bit of patience, moving me into the mindset that a spa visit encourages.

Gallery: Snake River Lodge & Spa

The lobby at the Snake River Lodge & Spa

Tags: grand tetons, jackson hole, Jackson Hole Wyoming, resort, resorts, RockResorts, snake river, spa, spa review, spa treatment, spa treatments, wyoming

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Trump Spa's Turkish Hammam Has Suds Appeal

by Amy Cortese (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Services, Spas

Is your skin in need of a little TLC after a long hot summer of gelatinous humidity and city soot? The spa at the Trump Soho has just the cure.

The newly opened spa has nine treatment rooms within its well-appointed 11,000 square feet, but what really sets it apart is its take on the hammam - the traditional bathhouses of Morocco and Turkey. The Trump folks claim it is one of just two authentic luxury hammams in the U.S. (the first being at the Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas) and the only one in New York. Ok, apparently there are other hammams in the Big Apple, but none whose tiles and materials have been sourced exclusively from Turkey and Morocco or that feature a domed ceiling and tiny pinhole lights that mimic the pin pricks of natural light found in many traditional hammams.

So, on a late summer day, I headed to Soho to check it out. Stefan Drobel, assistant spa director for The Spa At Trump, led me through the spa, stopping at the Tepidarium, a chamber where one is supposed to warm up before entering the baths. The steam and sauna facilities, alas, are still awaiting a final green light from city health inspectors. Then it was on to my Turkish hammam treatment, which Stefan assured me would detoxify and purify my skin. I changed into a robe and was led to a black- and white-tiled room - one of two hammams at the spa. Wearing nothing but the disposable mesh undies provided, I was instructed to sit down on a heated marble "belly slab" (which is big enough to accommodate couples, if you so desire). The mosaic tiles shimmered in the dim light and the little pinholes of light glittered like stars in the sky. My "hammam attache," Jenny, was wrapped in a towel from the waist down -- my first clue to what was to come. She promptly commenced filling silver bowls with warm water and pouring them all over me. That simple act elicited a surprisingly soothing, almost primal, sensation of warmth, and I felt the tension in my body melting away. I laid down and more bowls of water cascaded upon me. Then she donned a slightly coarse "kesa" mitt and gently exfoliated my skin, first front, then back, and always followed by more nurturing water.

Tags: hammam, spa, spa review, Turkish bath

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