8 min read
There are two versions of a wellness trip. The first is the one that looks great on paper but delivers almost nothing (pretty-enough rooms, a serviceable massage, a salad you forget by the next day).The second is the one that’s great in real life: everything from the setting to the food to the hike you didn’t plan on taking to the way the light hits the treatment room feels perfect. In this second version,you sleep differently, you eat slower, and you leave feeling truly restored—maybe even a little rearranged. This is the kindof resort you’d see in The White Lotus, without the plot twists, of course.
Below, we’ve rounded up seven properties spanning the country that fall squarely in the second camp. At each one,the architecture, culinary program, spa, and the land are part of the same conversation, and checking in feels less like a vacation and more like a very luxurious course correction
Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa
Tucson, AZ
Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa
Miraval opened in 1995 in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Three decades later, and spread across 400 acres of the Sonoran Desert, the property is widely beloved. Architecture firm Mithun conceived structures using exposed rammed earth walls made from local soils to create a tactile connection to the desert that doubles as passive heating and cooling. Interior Design Hall of Fame member Clodagh handled the spa interiors, drawing on the sun-scorched palette of the surrounding landscape.
Accommodations range from casita-style rooms to sprawling villas of up to 3,120 square feet with floor-to-ceiling glass, private infinity pools, fire pits, and indoor-to-outdoor rainfall showers. And every room, regardless of category, comes outfitted with a Tibetan singing bowl, a meditation pillow, and guided meditation channels on the television.
The 16,000-square-foot Life in Balance Spa connects 23 treatment rooms (both indoor and outdoor) along with hot tubs and a private treatment suite, all recently refreshed. The signature Vasudhara experience—a hybrid of Thai stretching, bodywork, and a gravity-defying warm-water float—remains one of the most singular spa offerings in the country.
Book Now From approximately $1,695/night (all-inclusive: meal, activities, $175 nightly resort credit, airport transfers, gratuities)
Golden Door Spa and Wellness Retreat
San Marcos, CA
Tanveer Badal for the Golden Door
Founded by Deborah Szekely, who grew up living off the land in Tahiti during the Depression, Golden Door wrote the wellness playbook when it opened in 1958. Before building the current property, Szekely and architect Robert Mosher traveled to Japan and visited 21 traditional inns in 25 days, absorbing the rituals of the honjin (waypoints designed to restore weary travelers). That pilgrimage became the catalyst for the property: a compound of low-slung pavilions organized around four courtyards designed by Takendo Arii to incorporate Japanese philosophy and tradition. In doing so, Szekely essentially introduced Zen architecture as the visual vocabulary for Western spa design.
Today, the resort spans 600 acres of native hills, meadows, Japanese gardens, and citrus groves, along with 30 miles of private hiking trails. There are bamboo forests, koi ponds, an olive grove, and an art collection of authentic pieces dating to the Edo period. In 2012, longtime guest Joanne Conway acquired the property and brought in New York interior designer Victoria Hagan to refresh the 40 guest rooms along with the dining room, lobby, bathhouse, lounges, and yoga studios. Ecological designer Jeff Dawson, who created the biodynamic gardens for Steve Jobs, built a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse and introduced biointensive farming techniques that now feed much of the kitchen.
A maximum of 40 guests are hosted per week, attended by a staff-to-guest ratio of five to one. Every room is single-occupancy, with a private bath and a sliding door opening directly onto the surrounding Japanese gardens. A daily massage is included, as are all meals, workout attire and cotton yukatas laundered each morning, and Golden Door’s own skincare line. Weeks are programmed as women-only, men-only, or co-ed, and the traditional stay is a full seven days.
Book Now $10,450 for a 7-night all-inclusive stay (approximately $1,493/night; includes daily massage, meals, personal training, spa treatments, airport transfers)
Mayflower Inn & Spa, Auberge Collection
Washington, CT
Courtesy Mayflower Inn and Spa
Set on 58 acres of landscaped gardens and woodland just two hours from New York City, this property has operated as an inn since 1920, and over the last century it has hosted everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to, reportedly, the imagination of the Amy Sherman-Palladino—Washington and the Mayflower are widely cited as the inspirations for Stars Hollow and the Independence Inn in Gilmore Girls. It joined the Auberge Resorts Collection in 2018, and for its centennial, New York-based designer Celerie Kemble was brought in to reimagine the guest rooms, suites, and the entirety of the historic main house. She kept the Mayflower’s signature four-poster beds but traded out the old damasks, crystal lamps, and French influences for custom furnishings, sisal carpets, Turkish rugs, hand-crafted ceramics, and wicker, and each room is given its own persona.
The Retreat at Mayflower Inn is the resort’s 20,000-square-foot spa featuring eight treatment rooms, a hammam, whirlpool, and two steam rooms. A greenhouse-style all-season pool house and biophilic thermal pool round out the hydrotherapy circuit, and outdoor cedar saunas offer panoramic views of the countryside. Treatments draw on East-meets-West healing practices and incorporate ingredients indigenous to Connecticut, and the building overlooks a brook and the property’s pond. A Shakespeare Garden hosts outdoor yoga; fire pits dot the grounds; and a partnership with local rare-book dealer Johnnycake Books keeps the parlor stocked with design and literary curiosities.
Book Now From approximately $721/night (room only)
Canyon Ranch Lenox
Lenox, MA
Courtesy Canyon Ranch
The Berkshires have long been a refuge for the American elite, and Canyon Ranch Lenox occupies perhaps the most storied address of them all. The centerpiece is Bellefontaine, a brick-and-marble mansion completed in 1897, designed by Carrère and Hastings—the firm behind the New York Public Library—and said to be modeled after the Petit Trianon at Versailles. A devastating fire in 1949 gutted much of the interior; when Canyon Ranch founders Mel and Enid Zuckerman discovered the property, it was empty and fire-scarred. They restored the mansion and added New England–style buildings in keeping with the local landscape, opening as the brand’s second destination in 1989.
Today the campus spreads across 110 acres and 126 guest rooms all connected by temperature-controlled glass walkways. The Bellefontaine mansion now houses the solarium dining rooms, guest lounges, and library that survived the fire.
A 100,000-square-foot spa complex, recently renovated by architect Lauren Rottet houses a fully equipped fitness center, indoor cycling, yoga, Pilates, and rowing studios, indoor tennis, racquetball, and squash courts, an indoor running track, and both indoor and outdoor pools. Over 35 daily activities are offered, with most included in the all-inclusive stay, alongside a Health & Performance Center staffed by physicians, nutritionists, and behavioral specialists.
Book Now All-inclusive rates typically start around $1,100-$1,400/night (includes meals, fitness programming, select wellness activities; spa treatments additional)
Amangiri
Canyon Point, UT
Courtesy Amangiri
There is no arriving at Amangiri without first reckoning with the landscape. The resort sits on over 900 acres of the Colorado Plateau, surrounded by five national parks and a procession of mesas and slot canyons. Designed by a three-architect collaboration between Marwan Al-Sayed, Wendell Burnette, and Rick Joy, and completed in 2009, the custom concrete mix incorporates local sand particles and gives the angular, low-rise structures the color and contour of the surrounding rock formations.
The 34 suites are arranged in two wings sweeping from the central Pavillion, each with private terraces, fireplaces, and courtyard entrances, and every interior element was custom-designed. The 25,000-square-foot Aman Spa is spread across five separate pavilions scattered like tumbled rocks, and a short distance away, Camp Sarika offers ten tented pavilions, each with a private plunge pool, for those who want to push even further into the back country. The experience programming includes ferrata climbing, horseback rides across the open desert, helicopter tours over Lake Powell, slot canyon treks, and more.
Book Now From approximately $4,073/night (meals included, spa treatments additional)
Blackberry Farm
Walland, TN
Blackberry Farm
A Relais & Châteaux resort on a pastoral guessing 4,200-acre estate in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Blackberry Farm operates on the thesis that luxury and agrarian life are complementary forces. Atlanta-based interior designer Suzanne Kasler has shaped the property’s visual identity over a 150-year collaboration with the founding family, and she describes the style as something like English manor house meets log cabin. Architects Spitzmiller and Norris designed many of the signature structures over a parallel 19-year engagement, including the popular Boat House and Hill Cottages. The buildings are built from reclaimed wood and materials drawing on historical Appalachian architecture, while harboring every comfort money can buy: Frette linens, featherbed-topped mattresses, wood-burning fireplaces, and stocked pantries.
The Barn—an 18th-century Amish bank barn—houses the main dining venue with an underground European-style wine tunnel stretching from the restaurant to an event space. On the farm itself, a cast of resident artisans include gardeners, butchers, cheesemakers and beekeepers as well as a forager, a jam maker and a chocolatier to supply the raw materials for what Executive Chef Joseph Lenn and his team assemble nightly.
The Wellhouse Spa, designed by Johnson Architecture, is situated in a tree-lined meadow at the property’s edge. Its 12,000 square feet house nine treatment rooms, a fitness center, a yoga studio, and a juice bar, with offerings that include an Appalachian Body Purification and Deep Healing Woods excursions for forest bathing. Beyond the spa, the property offers horseback riding, falconry, fishing, and guided hikes.
Book NowRates typically start around $1,095-$1,595/night (includes all meals; spa and additional activities)
Mii amo
Sedona, AZ
Mii Amo
Sedona has long attracted spiritual seekers drawn to its vortexes and red-rock mysticism, and Mii amo harnesses that energy in its world-class architecture and design. Opened in 2001, it occupies a private enclave within Enchantment Resort, nestled deep in Boynton Canyon. A naturally formed horseshoe of sandstone cliffs, the canyon’s high concentrations of iron and quartz create the elevated electromagnetic field that has drawn people to this land for thousands of years.
The architecture was conceived by Gluckman Tang Architects, who prioritized a sense of place within the canyon. The exterior’s red stucco walls echo the canyon’s hues. On each wall is a striking cylindrical element painted blue to mirror the sky. Inside, a James Turrell-inspired approach to light uses skylights, wall cutouts, and colonnaded fin walls to track the desert sun as it shifts throughout the day. In 2023, the resort reopened after a $40 million renovation, also led by Gluckman Tang, with interiors by EDG Interior Architecture + Design, and expanded the footprint by more than 70% while adding seven new casitas and a fitness wing. The 23 casitas and suites are arranged in a quiet courtyard compound shaded by cottonwood trees, all with fireplaces, private outdoor spaces, and heated bathroom floors. Among Mii amo’s most beloved spaces is the Crystal Grotto, a meditative room with a dirt floor, alder banquette, and a light-shifting ceiling portal.
The programming is structured as all-inclusive “Journeys” of three to ten nights, encompassing three daily meals sourced from the garden and nearby farms, plus daily spa credits, fitness classes, and access to 26 treatment and consultation rooms.
Book Now $2,400/day for all-inclusive Journeys (3-10-night minimum; includes meals, daily spa credit, fitness classes, gratuities)
Julia Cancilla is the social media & news editor at ELLE Decor, where she oversees the brand’s socials and covers design, pop culture, and emerging trends. She also authors the monthly ELLE Decoroscope column. Her work has appeared in Inked magazine, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, and more.
