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Travel Nerd
Carry Me Away
This spring, escape to some of New Mexico’s most luxurious spas. Here we share a few of our favorite treatments—all of which are locally inspired and performed in scenic settings befitting the Land of Enchantment. Relax, just do it.
By Ashley M. Biggers
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Northern Road Trip
No spa-cation is complete without a trip to El Monte Sagrado Resort and Spa, located in Taos just minutes from the plaza and the town’s cultural offerings. The environmentally friendly resort serves a multi-faced menu of items to cleanse and rejuvenate body and soul, from crystal healing and sound and vibrational therapy to more traditional spa offerings. If you’ve just arrived in the Land of Enchantment, try the High Altitude Adjustment Treatment ($185), a 90-minute session that guides you through breathing, stretching and lung acupressure remedies to help your body become attune to New Mexico’s mountainous landscape.
Native American influences have permeated Santa Fe’s architecture, food, and, now, its spa treatments. Bishop’s Lodge SháNah Spa offers a Tesuque Clay Wrap ($130) that begins with a light exfoliation before the application of a mineral-rich clay masque to nourish and detoxify the skin. At the Hotel Santa Fe, owned in part by Picuris Pueblo, the Moccasin Dance ($75) might be just the medicine for weary feet. The hotel notes the 30-minute reflexology treatment will, reset your internal pedometer and put the spring back in your step.” La Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa’s Spirit of Santa Fe (from $195) treatment takes you on a journey inspired by the Native American medicine wheel. The practice includes a blue cornmeal and tobacco scrub, ceremonial sage tea, cedar wood oil massage, and sweet grass tea herbal wrap. Though still a secluded retreat, La Posada is located just steps away from the Santa Fe Plaza.
Cultures converge in Santa Fe, and this is particularly true at one of the City Different’s most exotic destinations: Ten Thousand Waves. This Asian-themed escape in the foothills of the breathtaking Sangre de Cristo Mountains is best known for its therapeutic soaking pools with communal and private options (from $35). To make your venture to Orient a full-day experience, you can also enjoy several spa treatments like Nose to Toes ($149), which combines a Yasuragi head, neck, and shoulder massage, a Japanese foot massage, gentle Thai stretches, and light, full-body exfoliation. Asian influences also arise at Absolute Nirvana Spa and Salon, whose newest deluxe treatment, Chocolate Decadence ($250), may have you licking your lips. This remedy includes a massage, body mask, and exfoliating scrub, all of which use antioxidant-rich cacao to absorb free radicals that can lead to premature aging.
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| Betty's Bath and Day Spa in Albuquerque offers relaxing soaks and a full menu of spa treatments. |
Central Road Trip
Tamaya Mist Spa and Salon, at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort, tucked in a secluded cottonwood bosque halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. This Native-owned spa has allowed cultural tradition to guide their treatments as well. For example, try the Ancient Drumming ($190) treatment in which a detoxifying masque —using mud taken from the nearby Jemez Mountains and mixed with local red chile—is applied to your skin. As the mud penetrates, the therapist gently drums tension from your muscles using small mulin bags of flaxseed dipped in piñon-scented oil. The Red Desert Living Clay Wrap ($95) at the Green Reed Spa at Sandia Resort and Casino, set in a sweeping mesa just minutes outside of Albuquerque, uses traditions employed by Native American healers for centuries. The 40-minute treatment uses an organic red clay, mixed with volcanic ash, wild-crafted chaparral, and essential oils, to tone the skin and draw out toxins.
Betty’s Bath and Day Spa in Albuquerque’s north valley lets you soak away your stress in their communal and private baths. The relaxed spa with a homey atmostphere also offer a full menu of spa treatments, including the locally inspired 30-minute Blue Corn Body Polish ($55) that uses this traditional New Mexican ingredient to exfoliate the skin, leaving it soft and renewed.
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| Silver City's Cienega Spa and Salon offers a picturesque setting for their treatments. |
Southern Road Trip:
If New Mexico’s dry climate sends your epidermis into alligator-skin mode, head to the Cienega Spa and Salon, located in a Victorian abode in artsy Silver City, 112 miles northwest of Las Cruces off U.S. 180, for the Gila Desert Hydrator ($65). The 60-minute treatment in will cleanse, tone, and moisturize, leaving your skin with a radiant glow. The Lodge Resort and Spa in the mountain village of Cloudcroft, 82 miles northeast of Las Cruces off U.S. 82, also offers a nourishing skin treatment—Rebecca’s Signature Facial ($80)—that’s sure to please after a day hiking in the mountains or on the resort’s golf course.
