What’s better than a day spent outdoors with the people you love, living life to the fullest? How about finishing that day with a relaxing spa session?
In our travels, we sampled the spa services at Latin America’s best hotels and lodges. These are some of the standouts:
Entre Cielos – Mendoza, Argentina
You’ve come to Argentina’s wine country to relax and reconnect. Entre Cielos understands. This wine lodge and spa offers a complete Turkish hammam experience.
The full circuit? Steam, scrub, heated pool, steam, scrub, hot stone, and relaxation. It’s an unmatched multi-hour sensory journey that can be paired with facial, ice bath, or massage. Afterward, you still have dinner, starlight, and that private cabana to look forward to.
Azur (Banos Azur), Cordoba, Argentina
Beneath this historic hotel, a series of candlelit pools creates a circuit of relaxation.
The two-hour subterranean journey evokes deep states of peace. Massages, facials, and herbal compresses can be arranged for individuals or couples.
The spa’s key products are artisanal and organic, produced in the Andes west of Cordoba.
Uxua – Trancoso, Brazil
Trancoso’s magic mood can relax anyone. This destination captivates: days of kite surfing and sunbathing, sunsets at the seaside overlook, and dinner under the paper lanterns of the Quadrado. But as your Bahian beach days melt away, spend one special afternoon experiencing The Vida Lab & Spa at Uxua Casa Hotel.
Surrender to a hot stone massage, combined with a juice mixology or chocolate making session. Finish with a swim in one-of-a-kind aventurine quartz pool. The spa products—herbal infusions, coconut oil, almescar resin—are made by hand with loving care.
Hotel Emiliano – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio is excitement. There’s almost too much to experience. A perfect recovery day after hiking, biking, beach volleyball, and exploring the city’s fine dining and nightlife? A lazy morning, brunch at Emiliano Restaurant, and a reservation at Santapele Spa.
This 11th-floor retreat is bathed in golden light, lined with warm woods and cool grey plaster. Our nomination? A relaxing cacao massage and facial, sauna, and a late afternoon swim at the rooftop pool overlooking Copacabana Beach. Refreshed and relaxed, head out for dinner and samba in Leblon.
Sol y Luna – Sacred Valley, Peru
Quechua, Inca, and pre-Inca cultures have revered this valley for its beauty, abundance, and spiritual significance. Sheltered by sacred mountains at the center of the valley, Hotel Sol y Luna welcomes you. Set within a private garden of flowering trees and cactai, Yacu Wasi Spa offers native healing treatments, herbal sauna, aromatherapy, and steam room.
The massages and facials highlight organic, locally sourced medicinal plants, herbs, oils, and salts. After your treatments, revive with outdoor yoga or a dip in the graceful garden-side swimming pool.
Mashpi Lodge – Pacto, Ecuador
Although you’re close to the equator, the altitude of the Chaco cloud-forest can leave you chilled. Mashpi’s hot rock massages will revive muscles taxed by travel. After a day of guided hiking through the hillside forest, bathing in waterfalls, and spotting rainbows of butterflies and hummingbirds, wind down at the hot tub or yoga deck. Then surrender to a deep tissue massage scented by Andean herbs.
Paguimalal – Pucon, Chile
Paguimalal is a private retreat set within 44 acres of forest and gardens in northern Patagonia. This region is the outdoor adventure capital of Chile—and that’s saying something. One of our best days ever involved skiing on the active Villarica Volcano, then helicoptering to Paguimalal for an evening of relaxation and rest.
Imagine a floating meditation in the natural pool, the forest-view sauna, the cold plunge tub carved from a single tree, and the wood-fired hot tub infused with local salts and herbs. Every treatment is custom tailored, and every stay is entirely private.
Finish your day with an in-room massage in front of the master suite’s crackling fireplace. Tomorrow, start with a workout in the glass-walled forest gym or an Ashtanga yoga session. Maybe today’s the day you’ll visit one of the nearby natural hot springs. But first, how about some breakfast?
La Coralina Island House – Bocas del Toro, Panama
La Coralina rests between the rainforest and the Caribbean Sea in the Bocas del Toro archipelago. The hotel was conceived as a wellness retreat for couples. Each day starts and ends with a session at the yoga deck—flow, meditation, and breathwork.
Our favorite spa experience is a private temazcal, a traditional Mesoamerican sweat lodge infused with aromatic herbs. Massage therapies range from the relaxing to the challenging, and many can be arranged for couples. Other amenities include two outdoor pools, a fitness center, and sauna. On the Caribbean Coast of Central America, La Coralina is a highlight.
Hacienda Alta Gracia – Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica
Costa Rica is renowned for its wildlife, pristine landscapes, and outdoor adventure. Although the coastline draws the most visitors, some of our favorite getaways are hidden inland.
Think rolling green hills, ancient forests, and secret waterfalls. Nestled within the Talamanca Mountains, Hacienda Alta Gracia is devoted to wellness.
Its scrupulous list of spa services and amenities deserves time; you can choose a different spa circuit or treatment each day. Hacienda Alta Gracia is a smooth finish, away from the crowds, after a vacation of active adventure.
Blancaneaux – Mountain Pine Ridge, Belize
When Francis Ford Coppola was filming Apocalypse Now in the Philippines, he began an enduring romance with Southeast Asian culture. That affinity is gently expressed in his Belizean hotels, most notably in the Balinese touches at coastal Turtle Inn.
Inland, Blancaneaux Lodge, is the ideal base for exploring the ancient Maya city of Caracol, the limestone caves, and forest waterfalls. Afterward, wind-down by soaking in the riverside hot tub, powered by a micro-hydro turbine. Then submit (you can do it!) a Thai massage in the neighboring cabana. You’ll be limber for that horseback ride in the morning.
LANDED is your source for private, tailor-made travel to Central America, South America, and the Antarctic. Speak with one of our expert travel designers today at 801.582.2100. We know, because we go.