Luxury Spa Finder - May/June 2008 - (Page 110)

THE INSIDER' S GUIDE Ireland BY ALEXIA BRUE · P H O T O G R AP H Y B Y S H AN N O N G REER THE TRIP AT A GLANCE The Most Memorable¼ GUEST ROOMS Aghadoe Heights GYM Monart IRISH FOOD Dunbrody Country House LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Monart OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES The K Club (ﬂy-ﬁshing), Park Hotel Kenmare (hiking) SPA ARCHITECTURE Monart SPA RELAXATION ROOM Park Hotel Kenmare SPA THERAPIST Sean Blake at Capella Castlemartyr SPA TREATMENT ROOM The K Club' s Oak Suite THERMAL SUITE Monart VIEWS Aghadoe Heights THE ª ISLE OF SAINTS AND SCHOLARSº HAS ADDED A THIRD S TO ITS NICKNAME: SPA- Spa For more on Irish spas, visit Tourism Ireland at www.discoverireland.com or call 800-223-6470. 110 may· june 2008 visit spafinder.com MAP ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MONNIER goers. In a surprisingly short time, Ireland has become known for hot stone almost as much as for Blarney Stone. Since the Park Hotel Kenmare opened its Sámas spa in 2003Ð an event many hoteliers consider the start of the country' s spa boomÐ dozens of spas have opened, more than 30 in 2006 alone, according to Tourism Ireland. Ireland' s new spa culture is unabashedly sybaritic. The country lacks healing traditionsÐ there' s no native massage like Hawaiian lomilomi or medical system like AyurvedaÐ and to their credit, the best new spas haven' t tried to cobble one together out of misty Celtic lore. Here you have a license to do nothing, ª healthyº entrées come with creamy potatoes, ﬁtness classes are geared toward those on a second date with the gym, and post-treatment cosseting reaches virtuoso levels. The one exception to this take-it-easy regimen is outdoor activities: Every hotel I visited made hiking, biking, ﬂy-ﬁshing, and golf an important part of its offerings. Still, the primary focus is on the great indoorsÐ and at some hotels, it is certainly great. For this Insider' s Guide, I visited ﬁve spas. (Executive editor Ann Abel visited a sixth, the new Capella Castlemartyr in County Cork.) My route started at the international airport in Shannon and took me on a counterclockwise loop through Counties Kerry, Wexford, and Kilkenny and then almost up to Dublin. One more hotel, the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt near Dublin, opened in October, after this issue was in productionÐ proof that Ireland' s spa renaissance isn' t ending soon. http://www.discoverireland.com http://spafinder.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Luxury Spa Finder - May/June 2008

Luxury Spa Finder - May/June 2008 Contents Editor's Note Ask Susie Pulse Points Spa Road Trip Beauty & Brains Pound Wise Private Label Real Estate New Tuscan Trio The Real Bora Bora The Spa Collection The Insider's Guide: Ireland Spa Rx From the Sparchives

Luxury Spa Finder - May/June 2008

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