Editor’s Note: Some of the information below may be out-of-date. Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and St. Barth were heavily impacted by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. Please visit caribbeantravelupdate.com or the specific hotel’s website for updates.
What could be better than a sun-dappled Caribbean beach for some much-needed R&R? We love a gorgeous spa, one that offers unmatched ocean views and pampers with signature treatments using local ingredients. From a hippie-chic thatched-roof hut in Jamaica to a spa-under-the-stars experience on Nevis, here are the best spas in the Caribbean. Your next treatment is waiting.
Deep into an extensive revamp, Eden Rock's spa is très chic, flaunting a new partnership with cosmetic line Ligne St. Barth, crafted from the island's fruits and flowers. A private terrace overlooking St. Jean Bay is one of the spa's choice spots for a treatment, which might feature green clay and fresh melon mousse (the St. Barth Sundowner) or a massage with warm seashells (St. Barth Chill Out).
Most of the time, that yoga or pilates class you really want to take is offered once, maybe twice, during your stay. Since BodyHoliday is 100 percent about wellness, its 20 classes range from tai chi to Caribbean dance, plus spinning, fencing and boxing. New offerings include a module of five sailing tutorials, so on your next trip you can learn how to tack your sailboat to shore.
At Rockhouse Hotel's spa, all treatments begin with a foot-cleansing ritual in a bowl of fresh ocean water. Each also incorporates indigenous ingredients, including the Ultimate Coffee Scrub that uses Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, and an Island Mint Tea wrap, relying upon island-grown mint. Treatments are serviced in a thatched-roof hut perched on a cliff overlooking sea. In 2016, in celebration of its 10th anniversary, Rockhouse opened the Holistic Bath House above a private cove, exclusively for soaks.
We've seen all types of spa pools, from kidney-shaped to infinity-edge. But our favorite, at Peter Island Resort & Spa, looks like it's embedded in the bay, right on the beach. New at the 10,000-square-foot spa — which follows Ayurvedic principles for many treatments — are the twilight massages, which can be serviced in a bohio (thatched-roof hut) overlooking Big Reef Bay.
Get pampered with a Hammock Massage in one of the two open-walled treehouse pavilions at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve's Spa Botánico. (Bonus: the ginger and lemongrass growing just outside of the treehouses and used in the treatment.) Post-treatment, hang in the spa's hot and cold plunge pools or succumb to healing aromas at the herb garden.
The farm-to-table vibe is prolific at CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa. Guests can sign up for cooking classes and tour the onsite hydroponic farm, the only one of its kind in the Caribbean. This also extends to the 27,000-square-foot Venus Spa, which crafts products from what's grown on property, like cukes for the Hydroponic Cucumber & Aloe wrap. Afterward, follow your bliss with dinner at Le Bistro at Santorini for a five- or eight-course tasting menu with dishes like salmon crudo in dill oil.
Got an adventurous streak? Ascend to new heights on the rock-climbing wall at Sunscape Curacao. Back at the resort's Serene Spa, tucked into a huge thatched-roof pavilion right on the water, soothe sore calves from all the belaying with a deep-tissue massage or spring for a chocolate body wrap.
Every night, Four Seasons Resort Nevis shuts down its spa for two hours so that one lucky couple can experience the "Spa Under the Stars" package, which marries stargazing with massage. A partnership with French brand THÉMAÉ is unique to the island and many ingredients for the spa products are culled from the spa's herb garden. Couples receive a bottle of sparkling wine and have free reign of the steam rooms, plunge pool, whirlpool and garden.
At this rustic-minded Attabeyra Spa at Natura Cabana, a 50-minute Swedish massage costs just $60, while the unique Arcillauva wrap ($50) folds in Dominican mud and red wine (both are antioxidants). Yoga classes are offered six days a week, as well as free group meditation twice weekly.
Mayan culture runs deep at a temazcal (a traditional sweat lodge). The luxurious Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa sets one up on the beach with a Mayan healer through its Kinan Spa. Performed at dusk, the 90-minute treatment — layering in chants, meditation, steam lifting off of hot rocks, and aloe-vera applications — ends with an invitation to swim in the sea. Opt for a group setting or your own private ceremony.
