The Good Life: Relax!
Need a winter (um, summer) break? Check in for a stint of spa pampering — and more — at a roadtrip-close resorts
For the ’Burbanites Who Scored a Sitter for the Weekend
The Spa at Four Seasons
The resort: Four Seasons overlooks absolutely no detail — from the iced tea waiting for you upon your arrival to the bedside slippers and L’Occitane bath products.
For the ’Burbanites Who Scored a Sitter for the Weekend
The Spa at Four Seasons
1 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA, 215-963-1500; fourseasons.com. Rooms from $280; ask for spa rates.
The resort: Four Seasons overlooks absolutely no detail — from the iced tea waiting for you upon your arrival to the bedside slippers and L’Occitane bath products.
The spa: The spa welcomes with luxe locker rooms and a stunning pool and Jacuzzi. After filling out a spa questionnaire, you’ll be ushered into a perfectly darkened treatment room, where the decadence begins: Try a juniper and cypress friction massage, and experience the all-natural Naturopathica line of scrubs and oils.
To do: The beauty of Four Seasons is that its all-luxe-everything-all-the-time will make you feel far from the real world — but whenever you want it, the city is there for you to explore the way you never really do, but always say you will.
For the Spa Rookies
The Spa at the Hotel Hershey
100 Hotel Road, Hershey, PA; 800-HERSHEY; hersheyPA.com. Rooms from $379; ask for spa rates.
The resort: This is how Americans pictured southern Europe nearly 80 years ago, with Moorish mosaics and white gazebos and cabbage roses and silky white linens. Still, this is Hershey, where a chocolate bar comes with check-in and the scent of cocoa beans is always in the air.
The spa: Every question you’d want to ask is explained in gentle detail: Is the Hershey-branded bottled water free? (Yes.) Can I leave my undies on? (Yes.) How much do I tip? (Nothing; 20 percent is included in the cost of the service.) Try the “Hershey Hug”: a spa rain shower, an herbal wrap, and a 20-minute cocoa massage.
To do: The golf courses here are slightly famous, but best known is the 99-year-old amusement park itself, which this year opens an interactive dark ride that’s part laser tag, part bumper cars.
For the Low-Key Couple
The Bellmoor Inn & Spa
6 Christian Street, Rehoboth Beach, DE, 302-227-5800. Rooms from $245; ask for spa rates.
The resort: With its traditional decor — think dark wood, deep-pile carpeting and Audubon-esque artwork — and its lush outdoor garden patio (complete with waterfall), the Bellmoor manages to fuse old-school lavishness with beach-town informality.
The spa: The vibe is homey, with a small waiting area and five treatment rooms; the whole place is suffused with the sounds of ocean waves and pan flutes. There are facials and wraps, but the most popular treatments are the massages, and not without reason: The deep-tissue version could work the kinks out of Ray Davies. The newest treatment features Phytoceane’s Ocean Luster Body Scrub, which exfoliates the skin using crystals and vegetal coral; it’s followed by a massage with moisturizing milk.
To do: Rehoboth is an unpretentious, gay-friendly beach town — a comfortable hi-lo mix of taste and tackiness — and there’s plenty for the non-spa-inclined, from golf to fishing to shopping along Rehoboth Avenue for cheap t-shirts or expensive antiques.
