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[Rainforest Respite]
LAMANAI OUTPOST LODGE
Orange Walk Town

THERE’S A REASON HEART OF DARKNESS comes to mind when your motorboat emerges from the snaking New River into a 28-mile-long lagoon towered over by the jungle-cloaked Maya temples of Lamanai: Part of the 1994 film adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel was shot here. Docking at the well-concealed Lamanai Outpost Lodge—where workers clad in camouflage whisk away your bags as black howler monkeys woof from the trees—adds to the private-dominion effect, but no worries: There are no madmen in this luxe encounter with a lost world. The resort’s 20 palm-thatched cabanas are handsomely built from local hardwoods and come with ceiling fans, minibars, and verandas slung with hammocks. Gravel paths wind through orchid gardens to the lofty restaurant and bar, a fine perch for enjoying sweeping views of New River Lagoon, where you can swim, canoe, and fish for freakily large tarpon. Spot toucans and red-lored parrots as you wander around the highly atmospheric, 950-acre Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, one of the largest ruins of the pre-Classic Maya world, dating to 1500 b.c. Doubles, $312–$513 (based on double occupancy), all-inclusive; 888-733-7864,

Hidden Valley Inn

Cayo District

THE BRACING STEAM WATER may be a shock, but how often do you get to dive deep, surface behind an idyllic cascade, then drip-dry your bare bod on a moss-scented, sun-soaked rock surrounded by exotic orchids? It’s no wonder honeymooners feel the gravitational pull of Hidden Valley Inn, a 7,200-acre spread in the Maya Mountains of western Belize. And serious birders can commune with the likes of rare orange-breasted falcons, king vultures, stygian owls, and golden-hooded tanagers. Ninety miles of trails and old logging roads spoke outward from Hidden Valley’s 12 cottages and main lodge, where you’ll be welcomed back from each day’s expedition with a swirling Jacuzzi, a blaze in your room’s fireplace, and a candlelit dinner under the stars. The menu fuses Belizean Creole with international cuisine, including coconut curry beef and carrot-coconut-ginger soup. No biggie—you’ll burn it off on the way to tomorrow’s waterfall. Doubles, $150–$170; 011-501-822-3320,

Blancaneaux Lodge

San Ignacio

Blancaneaux Lodge

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Porch at Blancaneaux Lodge

OCCUPYING ONE OF THE FEW CORNERS of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve not ravaged by the beetle blight of 2000, Blancaneaux Lodge—owned by director Francis Ford Coppola—is an opulent, detail-rich delight set on a green bluff above the flowing waters of Privassion River. Designed by renowned Mexican architect Manolo Mestre, the ten cabanas and seven grand villas feature dark hardwoods, Balinese carvings, and soaring thatch ceilings and are accented with tropical splashes of colorful fabrics. While Thai-massage therapists work their magic inside an Indonesian-rice-house spa, the resort’s Ristorante Montagna offers organic herbs and vegetables from an on-site garden, served in a range of Italian-themed salads, pastas, sandwiches, and gourmet pizzas. Horseback-riding trips to Big Rock Falls are most popular, and Blancaneaux’s proximity to the Caracol archaeological site—a vast Maya city only partially excavated—makes a visit to the ruin practically mandatory. Doubles, $180–$500; 800-746-3743,

The Lodge at Chaa Creek

San Ignacio

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LODGE at Chaa Creek from humble riverside backpacker haven to award-winning “adventure center, rainforest reserve, and spa” has been a 24-year odyssey for owners Mick and Lucy Fleming. The American-British couple discovered their plot of paradise while traveling in the late 1970s and opened the country’s first jungle lodge in 1981. The grounds are now crisply manicured, and a handsome, uniformed staff serves a year-round stream of guests. Chaa Creek’s 23 thatch-roofed cottage rooms, including a handful of luxury suites, have Mexican-tile or hardwood floors, rich Guatemalan fabrics, and Maya masks on the walls; two “treetop Jacuzzi suites” put you at eye level with massive orange iguanas lazing in the surrounding branches. For a taste of the old days, the Macal River Jungle Camp consists of ten canvas-roofed, screened casitas on stilts, about a ten-minute walk from the main lodge along the Ix Chel Medicine Trail. Sign on for a custom mountain-bike tour to the nearby Xunantunich ruins; you’ll have access to a modern fleet of high-end Specialized bikes and a skilled posse of local guides. Doubles, $85–$125; treetop Jacuzzi suites, $255–$320 (for four); camp casitas, $55 per person, including breakfast and dinner; 011-501-824-2037,

Victoria House

Ambergris Caye

YOU HEAR “Y’ALL” a lot around the two swimming pools, groomed beach, and elegant dining room of Victoria House, on Ambergris Caye. Not surprising, since Ambergris—a mere three-hour trip from Houston—is like a Hamptons for in-the-know Texans. With such a friendly vibe, Victoria House—an assortment of thatch-roofed casitas, plantation rooms, and tin-roofed villas, all freshly painted white with mahogany trim—is anything but pretentious. First stop after getting settled should be the Fantasea Dive Shop, in a palapa on the pier, to rent kayaks; or sign up for all manner of snorkeling, diving, or fishing trips. Top on the list: snorkeling at nearby Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley, where you’ll float around with southern stingrays, nurse sharks, and stoplight parrotfish. After dark, dine on snapper cakes and cashew-crusted grouper in the poolside garden. Or snag a golf cart for the two-mile ride to the funky, pastel town of San Pedro for pork and plantains at low-key Elvi’s Kitchen. If you’re feeling adventurous, take a water taxi 25 minutes north to hip Italophile Mata Chica Beach Resort for calamari fritti. Doubles at Victoria House, $155–$485; 800-247-5159,

Cayo Espanto

San Pedro

WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE DOCK of Cayo Espanto, a six-minute launch ride from Ambergris Caye’s hub of San Pedro, you might find yourself envying Salty, the island’s resident yellow Lab, who calls this four-acre speck of raked sand and palm trees home. But you’ll realize this is no dog’s life as you sink into your king-size bed facing a seemingly endless expanse of aquamarine sea, slip into your own private plunge pool, lounge on your private dock, and dine whenever and wherever you feel like it. Four villas plus a smaller bungalow are strategically placed around the island so that you’ll never be aware of other guests. And with a two-to-one staff-to-guest ratio and your own personal “houseman” running around in what looks like a pith helmet, you can literally choreograph every minute of your vacation. Feel like something sweet? Within ten minutes, freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies arrive on a silver tray. Feel like bonefishing, snorkeling, playing golf, having a massage? Not a problem. One past guest, Leonardo DiCaprio, liked the formula so much that he bought his own island off Belize, 104-acre Blackadore Caye, and is working with the team from Cayo Espanto to develop it. Doubles, $1,095–$2,450; entire island (up to 14 guests), $9,000–$13,000 per night; 888-666-4282,

Kanantik Reef and Jungle Resort

Placencia

FLYING INTO KANANTIK’S PRIVATE AIRSTRIP between Dangriga and Placencia, with the resort’s 300 acres of untamed jungle sprawling behind its palm-studded beach and the big blue stretching beyond, you know you’re in for a sweet experience. The vigorous white-haired Italian owner, Roberto Fabbri, designed the 25 Maya-inspired palm-thatched bungalows, gorgeous restaurant, and poolside bar mostly himself, and every detail, from the homemade pasta served in the high-ceilinged open-air restaurant to the elegant dock with its sparkling fishing and dive boats, has been keenly thought out. The circular cabanas feature rock-wall showers, four-poster beds draped with mosquito netting, and big wooden lattice windows that welcome the balmy ocean breeze. When you’re not lounging, take a Hobie Cat out for a sail, canoe to the nearby Sapodilla Lagoon, fish for permit, bonefish, and tarpon, or fin with Fabbri in his bright-red Speedo among the massive loggerhead turtles and spotted eagle rays that prowl the outlying reefs. Nearby, the 128,000-acre Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, established in 1990 as the world’s first jaguar preserve, is one of the best places in Belize to spot the elusive cats. Doubles, $365, all-inclusive; 877-759-8834,

The Inn at Robert’s Grove

Placencia

“WHO’S ROBERT?” everyone wants to know at the Inn at Robert’s Grove, near Placencia. That’s not too hard to figure out, since the owners, Robert and Risa Frackman, are easy to spot—having cocktails at the small bar, dining on Caribbean lobster at the next table on the terrace, saying hello as you splash in one of the three Mexican-tiled pools. In fact, you’re staying in what was originally planned as a beachfront vacation home for these Manhattan refugees, and it still feels that way. All 52 rooms in the nine red-roofed two- and three-story buildings have Risa’s stamp: a jungly feel created by saffron-yellow walls mixed with leopard prints, emerald tiles, and Caribbean artwork. Amble across the road to the lagoon side (the resort is on a narrow peninsula), where boats leave for dive trips to the reef and daylong excursions up the Monkey River to see huge green iguanas, bare-throated tiger herons, and howler monkeys. If all this isn’t enough of a getaway, head to one of the resort’s two private islands (Robert’s Caye and Ranguana Caye), each more than a half-hour away by boat, where you’ll stay in a rustic bungalow and bask in the sun like a true castaway. Doubles, $145–$720; 800-565-9757,

Big Fish: Whale Sharks

Chasing Belize’s friendly behemoths of the sea

I’M FINNING 80 FEET DEEP off the coast of Belize with a small cluster of scuba divers and our dive master, Brian Young. We have paid him to lead us to elusive, enormous Rhincodon typus—whale sharks. At the moment, with shafts of sun stabbing through the myriad shades of aqua surrounding us, the ocean feels empty.

Then, about 20 feet beneath us, a swirling school of thousands of cubera snapper appears. Young stops, and we gather in a circle above the fish, our air bubbles rising. Hopefully the white cloud will mimic snapper spawn, and the gentle giants will come up from the deep to investigate. But then one of the divers does the unthinkable: She breaks away from the group, drops into the school, and starts setting off her camera flash. The fish quickly disperse, and we return to the surface, the first of our two dives a bust.

Back in the sweltering cabin of Viper, the yellow-green-and-red-striped dive boat, tempers are running as high as the 97-degree heat. Several of the well-heeled divers onboard have spent a fruitless week searching for a whale shark. Young shakes his head: “I jes been havin’ me a terrible streak of bad luck.”

Divers come from all over the world to swim with these behemoths, and, locally, Young is one of the whale shark kings, having long demonstrated an uncanny ability to locate the animals on instinct. He’s been diving for 15 years among the whale sharks, which come annually to Gladden Spit, an elbow-shaped reef formation about 26 miles off the coastal town of Placencia, in the southern third of Belize’s coast. Young recognizes many of the same sharks year after year.

The giant creatures, which can grow up to 50 feet long and weigh more than 12 tons, show up around the full moons, especially from March to June, when the snapper come to spawn. Very little is known about the nonaggressive animals. In Belize, whale shark watching has become big business, and a ranger-patrolled marine park has been established to keep things under control.

It’s time to get back in the water, and Young is anxious—this will be the last chance for most divers onboard to see whale sharks, and he wants to deliver. We descend to 80 feet, and for 15 minutes we see nothing. Then another school of snapper appears, and Young gathers us together. As our bubbles rise, lo and behold, a 25-foot specimen emerges, its wide straight line of a mouth opening for business, its white belly silhouetted against the surface. Slowly, the whale shark corkscrews down around our column of bubbles, its gray spotted flank passing a yard from my mask before vanishing into the deep. Young’s streak of bad luck, it appears, is over.

Details: Brian Young owns the Seahorse Dive Shop; $150 per two-tank dive; 800-991-1969,

Access and Resources

Getting There: Continental (800-231-0856, ) flies nonstop to Belize City from Houston for $475 round-trip; American (800-433-7300, ) flies direct from Dallas for around $650 and from Miami for $750.

Getting Around: Single-engine airplanes are an easy way to hop around a country with an underdeveloped road system. Tropic Air (800-422-3435, ) and Maya Island Air (800-225-6732, ) run scheduled flights throughout Belize from Belize City. A one-way flight to Ambergris Caye on Tropic Air costs about $55 per person. For those up for a different sort of adventure, numerous car-rental companies are located in Belize City; a four-wheel-drive vehicle is recommended. Thrifty (800-847-4389, ) and Budget (800-283-4387, ), with locations at the airport, rent Suzuki 4x4s starting at $500 per week. Gas in Belize costs about $4.50 a gallon.

Best Time to Visit: High season is December through April, when the average temperature hovers around a balmy 75 degrees; the wet season is June through November.

Resources: Belize Tourism Board, 800-624-0686,

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1. Red Mountain Spa

St. George, Utah
THE VIBE: At Utah’s Red Mountain Spa, decorum goes by the wayside: Guests usually don’t bother changing out of their dusty hiking boots before heading up for their hot-rock rubdown. Surrounded by 400-foot red cliffs at the entrance to Snow Canyon State Park, Red Mountain anchors its experience in multilevel early-morning guided hikes on 30 local trails. Then it’s personal preference: ���ϳԹ��� newbies can take an introductory course on mountain biking, rock climbing, horseback riding, kayaking, or even orienteering. To up the ante, sign on for a hike in the Narrows of Zion National Park or a 26-mile rim-to-rim trek through the Grand Canyon. Or consult with one of the resort’s ultrafit guides to design your own custom odyssey. And, of course, there’s the spa itself, which is open until 11 p.m. so adventurers can wind down with a massage. Guests stay in villas offering epic red-rock views or southwestern-style rooms. This spring, Red Mountain will complete construction of 40 additional villas and a 30,000-square-foot spa center. For those using Red Mountain as a springboard to future fitness, the health-services staff offers body-composition and metabolic tests to plan a long-term weight-loss or training regimen. GUEST LIST: Red Mountain’s demographic is steadily gaining machismo: 30 percent of its clients are male, from 28 to more than 60 years old.
AWE FACTOR: Full-moon hiking through 5,738-acre Snow Canyon State Park.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: Shed your old skin with the Red Mountain Revitalizer, an 80-minute scalp massage and facial followed by a full-body exfoliation and rubdown.
MENU: The pan-seared elk tenderloin with cherry-rhubarb demi-glace and Mexican chocolate cake are pretty tasty.
HE-MAN RATING: Four grunts (out of four)—canyonland adventure is everywhere.
PRICE: $1,885 per person for one week, based on double occupancy, meals included
CONTACT: 800-407-3002,

Rancho La Puerta

Rancho La Puerta’s river-stone massage

2. Rancho La Puerta
Tecate, Mexico
THE VIBE: It’s the easiest trip to Mexico you’ll ever take. A bus picks you up at the San Diego airport, whisks you across the border at Tecate (yes, that Tecate, but you won’t be drinking any this week), and continues to the gates of Rancho La Puerta, set on more than 3,000 acres at the base of boulder-strewn, 3,885-foot Mount Kuchumaa. Opened in 1940 by Edmond and Deborah Szekely, “The Ranch” was the precursor to the fitness spa—a health camp where guests paid $17.50 a week to pitch their own tents and dine on chemical-free food. Now, 160 guests per week stay in Spanish Colonial-style villas in a Garden of Eden full of palms, eucalyptus, and bougainvillea. Days start at dawn with vigorous mountain hikes followed by every-hour-on-the-hour classes with names like Sculpt and Strengthen, Pilates Matwork, Super Cross Training, Yoga Workshop, and African Dance Workout. But the chaise lounges around the resort’s three pools, lectures on nutrition, three centers offering a full menu of spa treatments, and meditation sessions are very worthy distractions. The Ranch will propel you toward the new, balanced you.
GUEST LIST: An affluent and well-traveled but down-to-earth crowd with an extremely high return rate; some guests have been there as many as 37 times.
AWE FACTOR: Walking the Labyrinth, a meditative path, lit by luminarias at night.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: The Aromatherapy Wrap, in which you are rolled up tight in steaming linens, like a rosemary-scented burrito, then given a brisk 20-minute body massage.
MENU: Most of the veggies and herbs come from Rancho La Puerta’s six-acre organic farm. The Mexican-inspired spa food is low on fat and mostly vegetarian, with lots of soups and salads.
HE-MAN RATING: Three grunts—with daily hikes and challenging cardio, weight-training, and strength classes, you can push yourself hard. Or not.
PRICE: $2,380 to $3,550 per person per week, meals included
CONTACT: 800-443-7565,

New Age Health Spa

Sixty-two-year-old tai chi instructor Anne Walsemann at the New Age Health Spa

3. New Age Health Spa
Neversink, New York
THE VIBE: A giant golden Buddha may seem out of place on a New York farm, but the one peering out of the New Age Health Spa’s 1,500-square-foot Cayuga Yoga and Meditation Center looks more than content among the resort’s green-shuttered lodges and 280 acres of rolling pastoral paradise. The place draws quite a few nirvana-seeking humans, too—it offers one of the Northeast’s widest arrays of yoga instruction, including the deep breathing of Vini yoga, the heart-oriented Anusara yoga, and the gentle movements of restorative yoga. Sun-salutation novices can warm up their joints with beginner classes, and advanced yogis can get a full flex workout with private instruction. New Age emphasizes a core “spirit” program built around chi kung and tai chi, which marry breathing techniques with highly controlled movement. Don’t let the tarot readings and Vedic astrology lessons scare you off; some of the spa’s 70 guests are there to simply watch bald eagles soar along the Atlantic Flyway. GUEST LIST: Expect lots of New Agey New Yorkers making the 2.5-hour trip from the city.
AWE FACTOR: Three greenhouses grow fresh herbs and salad greens on-site.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: Try the hour-and-40-minute healing-stone therapy, which includes a hot-rock massage combined with aromatherapy and chakra-balancing with gemstones. If you’re feeling adventurous, sign up for the hydro colon therapy—we’ll let you visualize that one.
MENU: Dinner alternates nightly between fish, like seared orange roughy, and poultry, like chicken breast with polenta.
HE-MAN RATING: One grunt—the yoga can be tough, but the outdoor fun is mild.
PRICE: From $1,096 per person per week, double occupancy, meals included
CONTACT: 800-682-4348,

Dunton Hot Springs

Karnazes at Dunton’s Major Ross Cabin.

4. Dunton Hot Springs
Dolores, Colorado
THE VIBE: It’s rumored that after robbing a bank in Telluride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid lay low at Dunton Hot Springs, though it’s unlikely they took any yoga classes. In 1994, the 800-acre mining town, on the West Fork of the Dolores River, was transformed into an upscale spa and adventure complex, and these days you won’t find outlaws, just celebs who’ve played them. Midway between the towns of Dolores and Telluride, Dunton is surrounded by the San Juan Mountains, where, depending on the season, guests can wear themselves out with high-alpine hikes, snowshoeing trips, fly-fishing excursions, backcountry skiing, and horseback riding. But Dunton’s claim to fame is its orange-tinged mineral hot springs, where guests slip on their Stetsons after yoga class, sit back, and take in the scenery. The 28 visitors stay in the 12 restored 19th-century log cabins (and three tepees) scattered under the spruces and aspens.
GUEST LIST: Executives, movie stars, and other well-heeled wellness seekers.
AWE FACTOR: No need for public displays of soaking: One cabin and one tepee have 103-degree geothermal springwater piped straight into their tubs.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: Trager Therapy, in which joints are loosened by repetitive rocking and shaking movements. Trust us: It’s more relaxing than it sounds.
MENU: Local organic produce, served with organic free-range beef and lamb from local suppliers. The culinary team tops it off with homemade organic peach ice cream.
HE-MAN RATING: Three grunts—Dunton provides tremendous outdoor opportunities.
PRICE: From $250 per person per night (two-night minimum), double occupancy, meals included
CONTACT: 970-882-4800,

Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa

5. Mountain Trek Retreat and Health Spa
Ainsworth Hot Springs, British Columbia
THE VIBE: With a staff-to-guest ratio of more than two to one (only 14 guests are allowed at a time), visitors to Mountain Trek, in southeastern B.C., are pampered like Sinatra in Vegas. But be warned: The staff’s main job isn’t performing chemical peels; it’s getting your butt out the door and up the surrounding Columbia, Selkirk, and Purcell mountains. And no wonder—Mountain Trek employs a Delta Force cadre of local guides who can’t wait to get out there every morning. In fact, these folks are so hardcore, they spend their precious days off … hiking. Guests can choose beginner, intermediate, or advanced hiking groups. (Advanced boot jockeys typically trek 12-plus miles per day over 4,000 feet of elevation gain.) After the day’s trek, spa-goers crash in a fully feng shui 8,000-square-foot cedar lodge located on a former fruit orchard along the banks of 90-mile-long Kootenay Lake. Though hiking is Mountain Trek’s raison d’être (notice “Trek” in the name), the resort periodically follows a different path, offering weight-loss retreats, supervised fasting regimens, and other specialized programs. GUEST LIST: Energetic hikers and dieters looking to amp up their fitness program.
AWE FACTOR: Yoga and meditation on the beach of ice-blue Kootenay Lake, with the 11,000-foot Purcells as a backdrop.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: Forgo the standard three-massage-per-week package and pay $185 extra for the Zombie, an option that includes a decadent hourlong full-body Swedish massage every day.
MENU: Favorites of head chef Aaron Jeffs include tofu tarts with tomato, basil, and black olive, and banana-coconut raw-fruit flan.
HE-MAN RATING: Four grunts—six days of hardcore mountain hiking means you earn that daily rubdown.
PRICE: $2,598 per person for the seven-night mountain-hiking option, meals included
CONTACT: 800-661-5161,

Double Eagle Resort

6. Double Eagle Resort
June Lake, California
THE VIBE: Hero worshipers, take note: During last winter’s American Snowboard Tour at June Mountain, you were more likely to spot the pros lying on Double Eagle Resort’s massage tables than flying over the lip of the superpipe. With good reason: The spa/resort sits on Reversed Creek at the base of 10,909-foot Carson Peak, in the heart of the June Lake Loop, a stunning road on the eastern edge of Yosemite. Double Eagle mixes traditional spa amenities—more than 40 treatments, yoga, tai chi, meditation, and many other fitness classes—with outdoor activities like mountain biking, hiking, ice climbing, and fly-fishing. Guests stay at the 13.7-acre getaway in one of 13 two-bedroom cedar-sided cabins. For people who crave structure, Double Eagle offers a Lifetime Wellness Program, designed to help clients take their workouts into the real world. GUEST LIST: Families and anglers gravitate here, as do well-heeled skiers and snowboarders looking to unkink their bods after a day on the bumps.
AWE FACTOR: Catching (and releasing) a 17-pound Alpers rainbow trout in a Double Eagle pond.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: During the 50-minute Symphony Duo Massage, two therapists perform a head-to-toe rubdown guaranteed to melt you into a puddle of relaxed goo.
MENU: Expect hearty meals like the Ranchero Filet Tip Burrito.
HE-MAN RATING: Three grunts—a luxe base camp for some of the best skiing, snowboarding, and fishing in California.
PRICE: From $275 per cabin per night (each cabin sleeps six), meals not included
CONTACT: 760-648-7004,

The Hills Health Ranch

7. The Hills Health Ranch
100 Mile House, British Columbia
THE VIBE: The Hills Health Ranch, in south-central B.C.’s Cariboo district, is a self-contained adventure nation: 1,200 acres of dude ranch surrounded by 20,000 acres of crown land, featuring dozens of lakes; 124 miles of groomed cross-country ski terrain; 100 miles of hiking and biking trails; more than 16 treatment rooms; and, to top it all off, the Snow Park, a lighted, seven-run ski-snowboard-and-tubing hill. The ranch’s real specialty is injecting its wealth of adventure into dozens of packages, including hike-and-spa, weight-loss, and winter-sports options. HQ is found in a barnlike 30,000-square-foot building where clients can partake in dozens of therapies, like herbal wraps and hydrotherapy, or sign up for guided hiking, biking, and canoeing trips. The horseback-riding program lets you play cowboy with all-day rides and cookouts. Guests stay in 26 hotel-style rooms in lodges near the main building or in three-bedroom chalets. The staff will also help you design a wellness plan with fitness assessments, computerized lifestyle analysis, and a staff medical team willing to answer all the questions you’re too embarrassed to ask your doctor. GUEST LIST: The Hills is family-friendly and relatively affordable, and it attracts folks eager to get into the mountains.
AWE FACTOR: In the winter, mush a six-dog team of huskies through snow-covered pines in Moose Valley.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: Anything with wild rose hip, which grows on the ranch. Try the Swedish rose-hip full-body massage.
MENU: Customized calories. Upon arrival, you get a personalized nutrition consultation. If you’re a meat eater, the peppered beef tenderloin will fit your needs.
HE-MAN RATING: Three grunts—20,000 acres is a lot of territory to explore.
PRICE: $1,615 per person, double occupancy, for the six-night wilderness fitness adventure package, meals included
CONTACT: 250-791-5225,

Rio Caliente

Aquatic bliss at Rio Caliente

8. Rio Caliente
La Primavera, Mexico
THE VIBE: Some of us design vacations as jam-packed and stressful as our daily routines. Luckily, there’s Mexico. Rio Caliente, tucked into a pine-oak-and-mesquite forest an hour northwest of Guadalajara, has done away with sweaty weight rooms, Jacuzzis, and loud aerobics studios in favor of au naturel surroundings in the Primavera Mountains. These days, Rio Caliente emphasizes fresh food, spa treatments, water aerobics, yoga, and tai chi. But the main attractions on the 24-acre resort are the four pools, fed with 120-degree water captured from the nearby Rio Caliente, a near-boiling river. Most guests lounge around the two coed plunges or bask in the men’s or women’s pool. Or they hike along the Rio Caliente to add one of the area’s 100 bird species, like the Inca dove, to their life lists. Rio’s guests stay in cottages decorated with handmade tiles and locally crafted furniture.
GUEST LIST: For a spa, Rio is inexpensive, attracting gringo bargain hunters.
AWE FACTOR: Chill in the underground natural steam room, scented with eucalyptus leaves, which is open 24 hours a day.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: Plug yourself in to bioresonance therapy, a popular European treatment that sends electromagnetic oscillations through the body to purge organs of harmful magnetic fields.
MENU: Some of the ingredients for Rio’s all-vegetarian menu are grown on-site. The buffet-style meals include homemade tortillas, scrambled eggs, and vegetable soup with rice.
HE-MAN RATING: One grunt-this spa is about taking it easy. The outdoor program is relaxed and optional.
PRICE: From $120 per person per night, double occupancy, meals included
CONTACT: 800-200-2927,

Miraval

9. Miraval
Catalina, Arizona
THE VIBE: After a hot day of desert adventure, Miraval, about 30 miles north of Tucson, is there to help you shed your lizardlike dry skin. Located on 135 acres of classic Sonoran Desert, the resort offers cutting-edge treatments like chi nei tsang abdominal massage and hardcore desert excursions on bike, foot, and horse. But the real spa stud will opt for Miraval’s new five-day men-only Conquering Your Inner Everest program, a package designed to awaken the warrior within. (Note: This does not involve Viagra.) Miraval Everesters learn to rock-climb, go camping, bond during a sweat-lodge pipe ceremony, de-stress during a “Zen Bootcamp,” and, because sweating blocks pores, cap it off with a men’s facial. Guests bunk in casitas that offer patios with views to die for. GUEST LIST: Expect wealthy guests looking for classic desert adventure and loads of pampering.
AWE FACTOR: With the Sonoran Mud Wrap—featuring the area’s mineral-rich red clay slathered head to toe—you’ll blend right in with the landscape.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: During Zero Balancing Body Work, a therapist realigns the body to help the free flow of energy.
MENU: Fanned tenderloin of ostrich, seafood towers, and pumpkin cheesecake. Sounds dangerous, yet it’s nutritionally balanced cuisine.
HE-MAN RATING: Two grunts. Decent outdoor activities, but it’s ultra-luxurious.
PRICE: From $520 per person per night, double occupancy, meals included
CONTACT: 800-232-3969,

Canyon Ranch

Paddling at Canyon Ranch

10. Canyon Ranch
Lenox, Massachusetts
THE VIBE: Weight problems, lymphatic disturbances, mental blocks, bad posture, bad attitudes, sexual boredom, stress, osteoporosis, insomnia, bad genes—the list of problems treated at Canyon Ranch (its sister spa is in Tucson—hence “Canyon”) goes on longer than a Chinese menu. The healing begins in the resort’s 100,000-square-foot spa complex, with its yoga studio, indoor track, five gyms, indoor basketball, tennis, squash, and racquetball courts, steam rooms, massage rooms, and beauty salon. Besides the more-than-full menu of wellness classes, consultations, and activities, guests come to Canyon Ranch to connect with the flinty New England Berkshires. The spa’s guides lead hikes on the Appalachian Trail, canoeing trips to nearby Goose Pond, mountain-bike rides through the fall foliage, and more. In the winter, guests head to local ski areas like Butternut Basin and Jiminy Peak to put in a few turns before lunch. And for those who need a little help keeping off the pounds or finding enough motivation to lace up their hiking boots, Canyon Ranch offers wellness services to go, including coaching through phone consultations. If you ever have time to relax in your room, you’ll find New England-style suites. GUEST LIST: Expect a healthy dose of East Coast upper crust.
AWE FACTOR: Many treatments and classes are held in the Bellefontaine Mansion, built in 1897 as a replica of Louis XV’s Petit Trianon château, in Versailles.
TO-DIE-FOR TREATMENT: The Lulur Ritual, a Javanese treatment that combines Thai massage techniques with a turmeric-and-yogurt exfoliation.
MENU: Mustard-crusted frenched chicken, Mediterranean forest-mushroom wrap, tiramisu … it’s as decadent as it sounds.
HE-MAN RATING: Two grunts—there are so many activities inside Canyon Ranch, you have to make sure you don’t forget to step outside.
PRICE: From $1,520 per person for three nights, double occupancy, meals included
CONTACT: 800-742-9000,

I Was a Spa Virgin

One man discovers that a restorative retreat is much more than mud, sweat, and (gasp) no beers

FROM A CERTAIN ANGLE, Red Mountain Spa, on the outskirts of St. George, Utah, looks like a desert village from the original Star Wars—a 55-acre cluster of adobe buildings and geodesic domes rising out of a jagged black-lava field surrounded by red cliff faces. Late one Saturday afternoon, with the mercury pushing 103, I checked into Red Mountain for my first spa experience. I feared I’d find a soap-opera world of women swishing around in robes with towels on their heads, and braced myself for a cojones-withering experience.
There was a white robe laid out on the bed when I entered my room. But when the sun began to set, the women and men at the spa were wearing wraparound Oakleys and scuffed CamelBaks, and were making their way home from grueling mountain-bike rides or hikes.
Red Mountain got into the adventure-spa business in 1998. The concept is brilliant: Use hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing as the cornerstone of a wellness program, and couch the fun in a five-star bubble of pampering. My stay was a seven-day package, two and a half of which were taken up by a 26-mile hike through the Grand Canyon.
Morning hiking is the foundation of Red Mountain, and before breakfast, guests divide into three skill levels, with the toughest group trekking about eight miles and climbing a total of at least 1,000 feet. I opted for group two, which covered a not-too-shabby six miles. After breakfast I signed on for a road ride down to the village of Kayenta, six miles away. By lunchtime I’d logged more miles than I do in an average weekend.
That afternoon, I visited the health-services division, where I had my basal metabolic rate charted. During the test, Eric, a personal trainer, strapped a metal contraption to my head, put a plastic guard in my mouth, and had me lie down and breathe—while drooling uncontrollably—for the next half-hour. Then, armed with my metabolic rate, we worked out an exercise plan and diet, which I religiously stuck to for a few months.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in the air-conditioned workout center, taking stretching and weight-lifting classes followed by, I’ll admit, a nice, long nap in my room. Dinner seemed a bit skimpy for a man burning an extra 2,000 calories a day. The other fellas at the spa agreed, and we all took a few extra trips to the salad bar.
The next two days included biking in the canyons, swimming, a massage, and hours in the hot tub. By the time our group of eight left for the Grand Canyon, at 4 a.m. Thursday, my muscles were loose, my lungs were strong—and I was beat. But I made surprising progress down the North Rim’s North Kaibab Trail. When we arrived at our cabin at Phantom Ranch, I felt great. The trip back up the South Rim’s Bright Angel Trail was tough, but conversation made the hours fly.
Back at the spa, I had to cram my treatments into a one-day tour de pampering. In the afternoon, I had a Red Rock Therapy massage: Juniper-oiled river stones were pressed into my muscles until they melted like butter. Later that night, I opted for the ultimate in froufrou, the Gentleman’s Facial. After 50 minutes of a sour-cherry mud mask, tea-tree exfoliant, and a round of pore-squeezing that, I’m convinced, popped a couple of rocks out of my membranes, I was red-faced and felt inside-out clean. When I returned to my room, I thought about slipping into the fluffy white robe I’d unceremoniously thrown in the corner, but instead put on a pair of boxers and nibbled on my complimentary Luna bar.

Metro Essential

Take refuge from the concrete jungle at these five urban oases

The placid white interior of San Fran’s International Orange

Exhale Mindbody Spa, New York
Tone your mind and muscles with a Core-Fusion class—60 invigorating minutes of stretching, Pilates, and yoga. PRICE: $30. CONTACT: 212-249-3000,
The Sports Club/LA, Los Angeles
West Coast hardbodies appreciate the focus on total fitness—weights, Pilates, yoga, and treatments like the green-tea-and-ginger body wrap. PRICE: day pass, $25, spa treatments not included; body wrap, $135. CONTACT: 310-888-8100,
Urban Oasis, Chicago
More than 40 nimble-fingered therapists offer ten styles of massage, including deep-muscle therapy, hot-stone massage, and shiatsu. PRICE: 60-minute massage, $85. CONTACT: 312-640-0001,
International Orange, San Francisco
Stop by for lunchtime yoga or a ginger-lemongrass-and-tangerine-oil massage (said to improve circulation). PRICE: 60-minute massage, $95. CONTACT: 415-563-5000,
Ten Thousand Waves, Santa Fe
Soak in an outdoor hot tub after your favorite spa treatment. Ours: a facial with purified nightingale droppings. PRICE: 55-minute hot tub, $20-$27 per person; 55-minute facial, $104. CONTACT: 505-982-9304,

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WARNING: If you are pregnant, or have kids of any age, read on. This report contains information guaranteed to provide you with the premier places to rest you head. Then rip it in the great outdoors with your wee ones.

Cheating on Vacation: Cheat Mountain Club’s lodge

CHEAT MOUNTAIN CLUB
Durbin, West Virginia
Thomas Edison visited the Cheat Mountain Club in the summer of 1918. Old Tom strung up lights on the lawn and slept beneath the stars—he couldn’t get enough of the fresh air and mountain scenery. Your kids probably will want to do the same, and snooze in the shadows of 4,800-foot peaks and the tall hardwoods of Monongahela National Forest—until, that is, they hear the midnight howl of a coyote.

Built as a private hunting and fishing lodge for Pittsburgh steel barons in 1887, the three-story, hand-hewn log building feels as it might have 100 years ago. The great hall, with oversize maple furniture and a stone fireplace, is perfect for curling up with a book or singing songs by the piano. Hearty meals of fish and game, homemade soups and bread, as well as kids’ fare, are served in the family-style dining room. Children can raid the cookie jar—full of chocolate-chip and oatmeal-raisin goodies—at will.
Out the back door, you can fly-fish Upper Shavers Fork River, known for rainbow, brown, and brook trout. When the lines get tangled, take the afternoon to explore the ten miles of trails that wind through Cheat Mountain’s 180 wooded acres. My kids like the nearby Gaudineer Scenic Area, where a surveyor’s error spared a tract of red spruces, some 100 feet tall and 300 years old.
Afterward, it’s fun to goof off on the three-acre lawn, playing horseshoes or flying kites. As the sun sets, sit on the terrace overlooking the river. You, too, might be tempted to sleep outside. Then again, you’ll want to be well-rested for tomorrow’s adventures.

Enchantment Resort

Sedona, Arizona

Sedona at sunset

After two days exploring the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, my husband, two-year-old son, and I were careening around the hairpin turns of Arizona 89A toward Enchantment Resort, wondering if we’d planned our trip in the wrong order. What could top the Grand? But once we headed into thumb-shaped, pinon-and-juniper-filled Boynton Canyon, with its red walls rising 1,400 feet up on three sides, we felt like we had found our own private park. No crowds! No loud buses!
Set on 70 acres about five miles from New Age Central (Sedona), Enchantment is a modern adobe village, its 71 casitas and main clubhouse painted the same ruddy pink as the canyon’s sandstone walls. The indoor wonders rival the spectacular setting: Top on the list is Mii amo, the new, 24,000-square-foot spa, where haunting flute music greets you as you enter the museumlike space (children under 16 aren’t allowed). From a big menu of body wraps and Ayurvedic treatments, I chose Watsu and a custom facial.

Enchantment makes it easy for parents to indulge: Camp Coyote keeps four- to 12-year-olds busy making dreamcatchers and sand paintings and taking nature walks (our son was too young for the camp, but a grandmotherly babysitter was arranged by the concierge).
Despite my spa retreat and one romantic dinner at the excellent Yavapai restaurant, there was still plenty of family time. One afternoon we hiked the five-mile round-trip to the end of Boynton Canyon, but our favorite activity was simply hanging by the pool. One morning, I sat with a mother of three boys from Boston, watching our kids bat around a giant beach ball and soaking in the astounding view of red pinnacles and buttes. “We thought about taking a day-trip to the Grand Canyon,” she said. “But what could be more beautiful than this?”

Point Reyes Seashore Lodge

Olema, California

Olema, California

Ordinarily a downpour on vacation dampens my spirits, but when we awakened to rain at Northern California’s Point Reyes Seashore Lodge, it only made me want to heap more blankets on the already cozy double beds, laze in front of the crackling fire, and let the rain have its way with the bucolic pasture outside the bay window.
Our sons, Will, 6, and Griffin, 4, however, had food on the brain. So we threw sweatshirts on over our pajamas and trooped through the airy lobby with its 30-foot-long Douglas-fir chandelier and down the stairs to sit next to another fireplace, where we gorged on the continental buffet included in the room rate. Being first in line ensured dibs on the bear claws in the pastry basket. By the time we finished eating, the sky had cleared, changing the morning’s equation.

We know our options well—this 21-room inn is a favored family escape for both active and relaxing weekends. For instance, a two-minute walk out the door puts you on the Rift Zone Trail, which wanders through patches of redwoods along the base of the Coast Range, eventually joining more than 140 miles of trails in the area. My husband, Gordon, wanted to go kayaking in Tomales Bay or horseback riding, but I lobbied for something simpler—a visit to Olema Creek in the backyard. Surrounding the inn’s Douglas-fir-planked lodge are two acres of grass and gardens for play. And three and a half miles west is the surf, which crashes onto beaches with 100-foot-high cliffs along Point Reyes National Seashore.
We poked around Olema Creek and then headed for the Bear Valley Visitor Center, the hub of the National Seashore, via a half-mile trail. My children absorbed wildlife and habitat displays but reached saturation at the replica of a Miwok Indian village. So we turned back to the inn just as a gentle rain began falling.
We could have driven to the nearby lighthouse, or gone to see the local herds of tule elk, or tooled down Highway 1 past a couple of miles of cow pasture to the artsy town of Point Reyes Station. Instead, we returned to the inn’s indoor pleasures. We had everything we needed inside.

The Birches Resort

Moosehead, Maine

The moose of Maine

After 20 minutes cruising in a pontoon boat across Moosehead Lake in central Maine, my three-year-old daughter, Cady, spied the payoff: “I see him! I see him!” she yelled, knocking my husband’s Wisconsin Badgers cap into the chilly water. Sure enough, the lake’s namesake mammal emerged from the woods on spindly legs and nosed along the water’s edge, oblivious to the hum of video cameras.
But the loss of a favorite hat was the sole disappointment at The Birches Resort, a 1930 wilderness sports camp that’s morphed from a hunting outpost into an 11,000-acre family retreat. Situated in the Moosehead Lake region on the west side of the water, The Birches consists of a lakeside lodge with an indoor waterfall and trout tank, 15 hand-built one- to four-bedroom lakeside cabins equipped with hot water, kitchen and bath, and a wood stove or fireplace. That cozy heat source is welcome after a day of hiking or cycling the property’s 40 miles of trails, boating on the 35-mile-long lake, or exploring 1,806-foot Mount Kineo, the largest hunk of flint in the country, with an 800-foot cliff that drops into North Bay.
The Birches is home base for Wilderness Expeditions, which will outfit your crew for its Family ���ϳԹ���s Camp (rafting, kayaking, hiking, and wildlife-watching for ages 12 and up) or a float trip on the lower Kennebec River (ages 5 and up). Though the cabins are equipped with cookware, we opted for the meal plan so we could feast on pancakes and steak in the atmospheric lakeside dining room with its 35-ton fieldstone fireplace. Cady spent the last night of our getaway dancing to folk tunes while the moonbeams skipped across the lake.

Across the Bay Tent and Breakfast

Kachemak Bay, Alaska

Cutting across the glass-smooth surface of Kasitsna Bay

Rare is the Alaska lodge where a whole family can afford to stay long enough to let a day unfold without a hyperactive do-it-all plan. While other places on Kachemak Bay, near Homer in south-central Alaska, can cost three times as much, Across the Bay is more like a deluxe camping community where families sleep in platform tents and join together for shared meals harvested from the backyard garden—a modern commune.
The lodge sits among giant Sitka spruces before a steep mountain on the edge of Kasitsna Bay, and it’s most easily accessible via a 30-minute boat ride or a float plane from Homer. Accommodations are straightforward: five canvas-wall tents with cots, plus a main wooden lodge, a dining room, two outhouses, and a bathhouse. Those aren’t without comforts or elegance, though—a piano, board games, books, and hot chocolate in the lodge, and framed art hanging near stained glass in the, um, outhouse. There’s also a wood-fired sauna with stained glass by a creek.
On a typical afternoon, my three oldest kids played in the tide pools, collecting mussels and arranging sand dollars into castles. Later, guests gathered at the shore for grilled salmon and vegetables. A more adventuresome day could include renting the lodge’s mountain bikes to explore an abandoned road up to Red Mountain, eight miles south, or going on a guided kayak tour along the shoreline, visiting the Herring Islands to watch sea otters and whales.

The Wildflower Inn

Vermont

In full bloom: former dairy far, the Wildflower Inn

Turning your home into a family resort is not a stretch when you have eight children age four to 21. It certainly helps if that home is a former dairy farm ringed with plush green meadows and mountains in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Owners Jim and Mary O’Reilly converted their Federal farmhouse and three red barns atop Darling Hill into the 21-room Wildflower Inn, preserving the agrarian feel without tilling the 570 acres. Now in its 17th season, the Wildflower has become the classic outdoor getaway for Boston families who yearn for forests and fields.
A typical day starts with my three-year-old, Melanie, sucking down the chocolate-chip eyes of a teddy-bear pancake, while five-year-old Jake plays air hockey in the adjoining playroom. Then it’s off to the petting barn to frolic with sheep, goats, calves, and a shaggy donkey named Poppy. On summer mornings, a kids’ nature program runs for two hours, with activities like watching beavers on the Passumpsic River. Parents and older children can check out 12 miles of mountain-bike routes that link with the Kingdom Trails, arguably the finest fat-tire riding in the Northeast. Cruise past the barns on smooth singletrack and you’ll soon be lost in the woods, sweeping up and down a serpentine route.

Back on the farm, play a game of horse (what else?) on the basketball courts and then a set of tennis. Kids’ dinner and a movie are waiting at Daisy’s Diner, a converted barn. But after a full day, my little ones are content to lie on the grass and look for Orion—Vermont’s version of nightlife.

Bluefin Bay on Lake Superior

Tofte, Minnesota

I took my family to Minnesota’s Bluefin Bay, ironically, to escape the Midwest. For a group of displaced East Coasters like us, life in the middle can be hard at times. Along with decent bagels and attitude, we miss being on the edge of a continent and looking out. From the deck of our townhouse at the Bluefin Bay, though, we could gaze across the 31,800-square-mile expanse of Lake Superior and leave the prairie far, far behind.
A collection of 70 blue clapboard split-level buildings stacked around a rocky cove, Bluefin Bay recalls the Norse fishing villages that lined Superior’s northern coast a century ago. The airy suites and full-kitchened condominiums have vaulted ceilings and natural wood beams, fireplaces (to take the edge off breezy summer evenings), and stunning lake views that practically pour in through huge picture windows.
Guests are welcome to use the resort’s boats free of charge, and we spent days on the water, paddling over century-old shipwrecks with a certified sea-kayak guide and canoeing the coast on our own. Those willing to tear themselves away from the lake can explore Bluefin’s other backyard: Superior National Forest, a pristine 2.1-million-acre wilderness crisscrossed by more than 400 miles of birch-lined hiking and mountain-biking trails. Your kids will undoubtedly beg for a trip to the luge-course-like Alpine Slide, just up the road at Lutsen Mountains ski area.
At night, should you choose not to use the barbecues outside, take the crew out for mesquite chicken sandwiches at Breakers Bar and Grill, a walk along the lake from the condos. Or take advantage of the on-site kid programs and enjoy a candlelit dinner for two at the Bluefin Restaurant. The ambience and sound of crashing waves will get you in the mood to fire up the double Jacuzzi in your room. But first, stroll under the moon in the chilly night air, which will firmly remind you, lest you forget, that you’re in northern Minnesota.

Ross Lake Lodge

Ross Lake, Washington

Ross Lake Lodge

The Park Service advises visitors to use caution in the glacial meltwaters of northern Washington’s Ross Lake, a 21-mile-long alpine lake hard by the Canadian border, but the three kids cannonballing off the dock where I was sweating in the sun didn’t care. I looked hesitantly at the glaciers attached to nearby 9,066-foot Jack Mountain and then slipped, ungracefully, into the frigid azure water. Cheers erupted. I managed five gasping backstrokes. And then it was time to fish.
My dockmates piled into a wooden skiff with their dad and their fly rods and trolled away from Ross Lake Resort, a string of 15 floating wooden cabins connected by a serpentine dock and parked on the lake’s south end. Founded in the 1950s, the resort is hemmed in by steep, dark evergreen forest and is the only structure in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, a stretch of wilderness surrounded by North Cascades National Park. Getting to the unreachable-by-road resort is where the fun begins: After a three-hour drive from Seattle along the North Cascades Highway, we had boarded an old-fashioned Seattle City Light tugboat at Diablo Lake—bearded, pipe-smoking captain at the helm—and then chugged 30 minutes to a flatbed truck that hauled us two miles to a small dock on Ross Lake. From there, a runabout shuttled everyone and everything (bring your own food; there’s no restaurant) across the lake to the resort.

We’d settled into our rooms—accommodations at Ross Lake range from two-person cabins equipped with kitchens, wood stoves, and bedding to a modern, nine-person chalet with enormous picture windows overlooking the lake—and rented our own skiff for the weekend ($70 per day). A few easy hiking trails lead to Ross Lake Dam and 6,107-foot Sourdough Mountain, but we fixed on the view north of us and planned to climb 6,102-foot Desolation Peak. So we boated—followed by a family of four traveling in kayaks ($31 per day)—to the trailhead, casting for rainbows and cutthroat en route. At the summit, the kayaking family caught up with us, and the two youngest members of their expedition surveyed the lake for the best swimming holes to test at sunset.

The Winnetu

Martha’s Vineyard, MA

With miles of untrodden island coastline and a web of bike trails, Martha’s Vineyard is the optimal family getaway, but until recently, with area zoning laws limiting commercial construction, there wasn’t a decent family resort. That changed last summer when Mark and Gwenn Snider opened The Winnetu Inn and Resort at the south end of Edgartown. They demolished the shell of a run-down hotel-cum-condo-building and made a grand shingled New England-style hotel in which every spacious suite affords ocean or dune views.
My family first met Mark as he pulled up in his 1945 fire truck, ringing the bell. This father of three will do almost anything to entertain children. He’s organized pee-wee tennis clinics that start in summer at 8 a.m. and activities like scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, sand-castle contests, and bodysurfing on adjacent three-mile-long South Beach. In the evening, kids can go to the clubhouse for food and games while parents opt for fine dining at the resort’s seaside restaurant, Opus, or head into Edgartown, the island’s oldest settlement.
We favored getting on our rented bikes and hitting the trails. One day we pedaled to Edgartown and took the two-minute ferry across to Chappaquiddick, and then rode to the Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge, a stretch of coast that’s home to threatened piping plovers and ospreys. On our final day, we ventured ten miles to Oak Bluffs, stopping at the windswept dunes of Joseph Sylvia State Beach to swim, and ending at the Flying Horses Carousel, the country’s oldest operating carousel, built in 1876. Not surprisingly, Snider picked us up by boat to escort us back to the resort.

Steinhatchee Landing

Steinhatchee, Florida

Cottage industries: Steinhatchee lodging

As we neared the sleepy fishing town of Steinhatchee (pop. 1,100) on the southeast end of Florida’s Panhandle, my family and I half expected to see Tarzan come swinging through the tangle of moss oaks and silver palms. Far removed from Mickey and his perky pals, we’d ventured into what tourism folks call “Old Florida”—a pre-theme-park haven of lush vegetation, snoozing alligators, and wild turkeys.
Our base in this unhurried paradise was Steinhatchee Landing, a 35-acre resort on the Steinhatchee River, built to resemble a 1920s village of two-story vacation cottages, many of them Cracker-style (the term “cracker” refers to the state’s early settlers, who cracked long whips to herd cattle). Each has a tin roof, a big front porch, and all the modern conveniences—microwave, stereo system, washer and dryer, VCR, and even a refrigerator pre-stocked with soda. Though just 12 years old, the place enticed us to savor the syrupy-slow pleasures of past generations: listening to crickets, fishing for shiners off the dock, and watching the sun melt like red sherbet into the Gulf.

When my husband, daughter, and I felt like budging from the porch swing, we found much to do: We swam in the riverside pool, paddled canoes, and rode bicycles on the dirt trails through the resort into town. On a sunset pontoon cruise, our guide pointed out rare brown pelicans guarding their nests. One afternoon we drove 50 miles and soaked, under a canopy of cypress, gum, ash, and maple trees, in the clear, 72-degree waters at Manatee Springs State Park, where an industrious spring churns out 81,250 gallons every minute. Entrance fees at some 30 natural springs and state parks, all within an hour of the resort, are waived for Steinhatchee guests.

Park Places

National parks often get the drive-by treatment: Vacationing families cruise in for the day, climb out of the minivan at a few major vistas, and then high-tail it out for the night. These lodges, in five of America’s most revered parks, will guarentee you linger.

Yosemite National Park

LeConte Lodge
Rugged folks once farmed much of the rocky ground that Great Smoky Mountains National Park occupies, and their abandoned homesteads remain the park’s most popular attractions. But only at LeConte Lodge can you live as the pioneers did. Getting to the lodge requires a 5.5-mile hike to the top of 6,593-foot Mount LeConte, on the Tennessee side of the park. Once you;re there, you’ll find rough log cabins, lantern light, and family-style Southern cooking. The lodge sits at a crossroads of trails, making it an ideal launchpad for day hikes. ($82 per adult, $66 per child, including breakfast and dinner; 865-429-5704; ; open late March to mid-November)
Montecito-Sequoia Lodge
At Montecito-Sequoia Lodge, near California’s Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, children head off for supervised riding, boating, swimming, hiking, or tennis, while parents are free to enjoy the park on their own—perhaps hiking among the giant sequoias or granite domes. Families rejoin for meals and to sleep in basic rooms in a 24-room pine lodge or one of four cabins, with sweeping mountain views, arrayed between a small lake and a swimming pool. ($760-$855 per week per adult, $690-$800 per child; 800-227-9900; ; open year-round; reserve a year in advance)

Bear Track Inn
At the doorstep of Glacier Bay National Park is the Bear Track Inn. With its huge-log facade and vast fireplace warming the common room, it’s got Alaskan ambiance down pat. It’s also the area’s most luxurious accommodations, offering elaborate meals and 14 high-ceilinged guest rooms with down comforters. Bear Track Inn looks out on a field of wildflowers; beyond lies the ocean and the community of Gustavus—a springboard for sea kayaking among whales, fishing for salmon and halibut, and taking a boat ride into the park to see the glaciers. ($432 per person per night, including ferry from Juneau and all meals; 888-697-2284; ; open May through September)
Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort
Pure bliss is found in the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort’s marquee attraction after a day of exploring Washington’s Olympic National Park. The three geo-thermal pools are a mineral-water delight following a hike along the Sol Duc River—where salmon jump the crashing falls—and up through mossy forest to tree line and the tiny alpine lakes above. Kids may prefer the freshwater swimming pool to the hot springs. When everyone has reached prune state, retreat to your cabin in the rainforest. ($130 for two people in a deluxe cabin with kitchen, $110 for two without kitchen, $15 per night for each additional person; 360-327-3583; ; open March-October)
Tenaya Lodge
At the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park, Tenaya Lodge offers a national-park experience that’s more like a California resort vacation. The lodge sits like a mansion on land surrounded by forest and park, and its rooms have niceties like plush chairs and Gold RushÐ heirlooms. TenayaÕs kid-only activities include a twilight flashlight hike&3151;or take the whole family to ride horses into Mariposa Grove, swim in two pools with underwater sound systems, and cruise on a nearby steam railway. ($209-$299 per night, double occupancy; 800-635-5807; ; open year-round)

Slope Sides

Ski resorts have realized how perfect their alpine playgrounds are for summertime family getaways. They’re opening their slopes to mountain bikers and hikers, ratcheting up adrenaline levels at kids’ adventure camps, expanding day care, and offering lodging deals in the off-season. Here, four of the summer’s best.

Utah’s Wasatch Range

Westin Resort & Spa, Whistler
In summer, Whistler’s still-snow-covered Blackcomb glacier attracts planeloads of serious skiers and boarders, and an equal share of vacationing families who love the novelty of British Columbia skiing in the morning and rafting the Class II Green River׫or hiking in Garibaldi National Park, or soaring in a tandem paragliderÑin the afternoon. The Westin Resort & Spa (888-634-5577; ) offers posh suites with kitchens that start at about $118 (American) a night. Splurge on a body wrap at the hotel’s Avello Spa and Health Club while your children play in the Whistler Kids program (18 months to 12 years, about $43 per day or $25 per half-day, including lunch; 800-766-0449; ).
The Mountain Suites at Sundance Resort
A sanctuary of handsome, weathered buildings in a quiet canyon outside Provo, Utah, Sundance Resort has a mission: to foster creative expression, communion with nature, and environmental stewardship. In that spirit, youngsters at Sundance Kids camp (ages three to 12, $50 per day) begin the day with yoga, followed by photography, jewelry, and pottery sessions. Mom and Dad can take similar classes at the resort’s Art Shack studios. Stay in a Mountain Suite and you’ll be steps away from horseback riding, lift-served mountain biking, and hiking trails in the Wasatch Range. Decorated with Native American textiles, each one-bedroom suite ($450 per night) sleeps four and has a kitchen (800-892-1600; ).

Condos at Sun Valley Resort
Idaho’s Sun Valley, escape of the rich and famous since 1936, becomes a laid-back, family-friendly hiker’s paradise when the snow melts. Eighty miles of trails zigzag through Sawtooth National Recreation Area, and lifts allow even the youngest children to reach the incredible vistas on 9,000-foot Bald Mountain. Parents can go cast on the holy waters of the Salmon River while kids rock climb and ride horses at Sun Valley Day Camp (ages six months to 14 years, $59-$90 per day and $49-$64 per half-day; 208-622-2288; www.sunvalley.com). You’ll have room to spread out when you rent a condo through Sun Valley Resort (800-786-8259; ) or Premier Property Management (800-635-4444; ). One- and two-bedroom units cost $180-$300 per night.
Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel
With 50 miles of steep, boulder-strewn singletrack, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, vies with Mammoth as one of the country’s primo downhill-mountain-biking hot spots. And Steamboat Kids ���ϳԹ��� Club’s mountain-bike clinic lets nine- to 12-year-olds get in on the fun. Younger kids are also welcome at the ���ϳԹ��� Club (ages three to 12, $48 per day; 970-871-5390; ). For easy trail access, stay at the 328-room Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel. Each luxurious one-bedroom suite sleeps six and costs $225 per night (877-269-2628; ).

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