Top 10 Hawaiian spas

MOST INTERESTING COUPLE'S TREATMENT
Four Seasons Maui at Wailea, Maui
Wailea is wedding central, and the unusual Wailea Cocoon Experience ($260 for two) is designed to be a calming postlude to the vows. Done in the most luxe of the 13 indoor treatment rooms, it’s a three-parter: time to scrub each other with loofahs and coconut gel, a bath, and then a Cocoon Wrap ($175 for two à la carte). The wrap is a stint in a warm dry-float bed with a neck-and-shoulder massage (which made me slightly seasick). An optional add-on ($25) is a guided meditation (distracting). Go instead for the sensational Back Walk massage ($140), a very intense Thai-shiatsu hybrid done with the feet. Therapist Valerie Passion Flower Mandall learned the technique during ten years of studying massage in Thailand, Bali, and Japan. Like the rest of the resort (a study in beige), the spa is aggressively tasteful, but pleasing. Insider tip: The three oceanside massage hale are wonderful, but they’re on the opposite side of the property from the spa. To reach them, you have to walk through the pool area in your robe.

Rates $365–$9,000
Phone 800-334-6284
Website www.fourseasons.com

THE 19TH-HOLE MASSAGE
Princeville Resort, Princeville, Kauai
Princeville’s two golf courses are among the best in the world, and even the resort’s spa is golf-centric: It’s located in the Prince clubhouse, a ten-minute shuttle ride from the hotel, and it’s essentially a health-club spa. That means it’s fine for a post-game massage (or post-workout, as the large gym has lots of equipment and a full schedule of classes), but I wouldn’t recommend it for anything fancy—for the Rosemary-Mint Body Wrap ($100), the therapist simply slathered me with the same Aveda lotion that’s sold at retail and laid some towels on top. The Myofacial [sic] Trigger Point Massage ($92) was indistinguishable from Swedish, but it felt good on sore muscles. It wasn’t particularly relaxing, though, as the aerobics class in a nearby studio came through loud and clear. And why did the therapist vanish immediately afterward? The hotel is over-the-top opulent (dark green marble, heavy chandeliers, ice sculptures and chocolate fountains on the buffet) but has a to-die-for location on Hanalei Bay, and the ocean-view rooms ($695) have terrific views, even from their bathtubs.

Rates $465–$5,000
Phone 800-325-3589
Website www.princeville.com

COMPLETE CUSTOMIZATION
Pure Kauai, North Shore, Kauai
This is the spa as pure, tailored experience—a luxury vacation home with the therapists and amenities brought in. Private chefs cook delicious healthy meals, personal trainers and yoga teachers come over for private sessions, and facialists and massage therapists (the island’s best) show up with their tools and tables. A massage from Ashley Siebring-Jones transformed my back, hardened into writer’s blocks from sitting at a computer, into the fluid-feeling body part it should be. One from therapist Ocean Wind transported me deep into the realms of mental relaxation that we all seek at a spa. The other side of the Pure Kauai coin is outdoor adventure and exercise—many guests come to lose weight or jump-start a fitness regimen. A stay can include surf lessons in Hanalei Bay, all-day hikes along the Na Pali Coast or through Waimea Canyon, yoga, Pilates, kayaking, outrigger canoeing, and horseback riding, all with fantastic guides and instructors. Demographic tidbit: Pure Kauai is popular with solo women, who make up 30 to 40 percent of guests.

Rates $3,000–$7,000 per person per week
Reservations 866-457-7873
Website www.purekauai.com

BEST SPA SUITES
Kahala Mandarin Oriental, Honolulu, Oahu
The spa-suite trend is impeccably executed at this stylish hotel in an upscale residential neighborhood on the other side of Diamond Head from Waikiki. There are no common areas; the five 600-square-foot suites have indoor and outdoor sitting areas, daybeds, showers, dressing rooms, and showpiece infinity tubs that fill from above—a column of water falls from the ceiling. The native touches are spot-on, too, like handmade Hawaiian quilts on the massage tables and palm-frond ceiling fans. As at other Mandarins, Espa developed the spa, and the staff is very well trained. My Ho‘ola Hou (the name means “new life”) Aromatherapy Facial ($160) worked a minor miracle on my skin, which was a mess after two weeks of sunscreen and sweat, and it didn’t even include extractions. There’s also an oceanfront gym with excellent equipment and a little hale for exercise classes. Workout highlight: a yoga class or training session with fitness manager Spring Chang, a former champion powerlifter.

Rates $345–$4,325
Phone 800-367-2525
Website www.mandarinoriental.com

POLYNESIAN PAMPERING
Halekulani, Honolulu, Oahu
“It’s hard to do spirituality in Waikiki, because the masses are here,” says spa director Tony Young, explaining why SpaHalekulani coddles guests physically. It gets high marks for its Tongan-, Samoan-, and Tahitian-inspired treatments, which start with a foot pounding (more pleasant than it sounds) with bamboo puili sticks, similar to those used in hula. Young recommends Polynesian Steam Therapy (inhaling herb-infused steam to open the upper respiratory area, $180), especially for jet lag and also pre-travel. I found the Polynesian Nonu massage (lomilomi and hot stones with a cool aloe-like nonu gel, $180), incredibly relaxing, but the stones in my boyfriend’s Pohaku (hot stone massage, $230) were so hot they left big red marks on his back. The spa, which is filled with Asian flourishes, has no public spaces; the seven treatment suites include steam showers, and the couple’s suite has a deep furo tub. Halekulani is easily Waikiki’s poshest high-rise hotel, and its 455 understated rooms are garnished with high-tech touches like bedside consoles that do everything from turning up the air conditioning to calling a porter.

Rates $415–$5,000
Phone 800-367-2343
Website www.halekulani.com

To learn more about American spas, pick up the March/April, 2005 issue of Luxury SpaFinder Magazine.

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Spa Finder, the global spa resource, reaches millions of health-conscious consumers via its website, Spafinder.com. The company publishes Luxury SpaFinder Magazine, the trusted authority on luxury spas and associated lifestyles, and The Spa Enthusiast, the leading publication for active spa-goers.

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