12 Best Eco-Spas in the World!

By no means is this list immutable. Indeed the notion of ‘spa luxury’ is changing and a high honorable mention must be credited towards ‘Six Senses Spa’ at Zighy Bay in The Musandam Peninsula in Oman where ‘environmental sustainability and style’ is just not a catchphrase but corporate policy – where hotel fees are channeled towards wind farms in India and where buildings are aesthetically camouflaged into its desert fjord-like surroundings. But in the end, it is the eco-sophisticated treatments of these twelve best in the world that leave little doubt that they are in a class by themselves.

But first, let us define the essence of an ‘eco-spa’ in comparison to its better known eco-siblings —- the ‘day spa’, the ‘resort spa’, the ‘medical spa’, the ‘cruise line spa’ and the ‘destination spa’. What makes an ‘eco-spa’ both unique and fascinating is not only its natural setting, its environmentally friendly recycling practices and organic skin care products, its sensitivity to wild flora and fauna and the local indigenous culture as well as its aboriginal healing traditions and green food cuisine — but its eco-crafted emphasis on a “zero-waste philosophy” and “carbon neutrality” – to fashionably put it – its chic interpretation of pampering yourself and the planet with a minimal demand on the Earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate. And that is the key – not only using nature’s ‘healing force’ as part of the spa experience but giving back ‘wellness’ to nature’s wondrous eco-systems.

Based then on this criteria of what constitutes an ‘eco-spa’, the twelve best eco-spas in the world (listed in alphabetical order by country) are as follows:

1- Austria, Styria – ROGNER BAD BLUMAU SPA – www.blumau.com/
2-Australia, Daintree, Queensland – DAINTREE ECO-LODGE & SPA –
www.daintree–ecolodge.com.au/
3- Canada, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec – SPA SCANDINAVE –
www.scandinave.com/en/tremblant/
4- Costa Rica, La Fortuna De San Carlos – TABACON GRAND THERMAL SPA RESORT – www.tabacon.com/
5- India, Rajasthan – AMANBAGH PALACE SPA – www.amanresorts.com/amanbagh/
6- Ireland, Enniscorthy – MONART SPA – www.monart.ie/
7- Maldives, Vabbinfaru – BANYAN TREE SPA – www.banyantree.com/
8- Mexico, Chichen Itza, Yucatan – YAXKIN SPA AT THE HACIENDA CHICHEN RESORT –
www.haciendachichen.com/
9- Morocco, Imlil – KASBAH DU TOUBKAL SPA – www.kasbahdutoubkal.com/
10- Peru, Machu Picchu – THE UNU SPA AT INKATERRA HOTEL – www.inkaterra.com/
11- USA, Big Sur, California – THE POST RANCH INN SPA – www.postranchinn.com/
12- USA, Jackson Hole, Wyoming – CHILL SPA AT TERRA HOTEL –
www.hotelterrajacksonhole.com/

To update an old 17th century proverb, “The proof is in the eco-pudding” and what better way to rejuvenate oneself than to take a vacation at any one of these eco-spas. In addition to customized color, gem, aroma, phyto, and thalasso-therapy treatments — highlights include everything from organic gardening, beekeeping and henna body painting to volcanic mud and brass bowl polyphonic massages, to solar-infused cliffside tree houses, thatched-roof cabanas, and fuel-free mule rides, to repurposed Mayan stone pools, sacred cave sweat baths, and pristine rainforest water to a cycle of Norwegian steam baths and Finnish saunas transplanted in an Olympic-inspired village wonderland of endless ski trails.

Are you ready now for that special ‘eco-spa’ getaway?