Luxury Spa Finder - May/June 2008 - (Page 18)

(PulsePoints JUST BACK FROM WHAT' S NEW AND NOTEWORTHY AT LUXURY SPAS Bali GETTING THERE There are no nonstop ﬂights to Bali from North America. Singapore Airlines gets you closest through its daily nonstops to Singapore from Newark and Los Angeles. Both ﬂights take about 18 hours. (There' s also a daily one-stop from San Francisco.) From Singapore, the airline ﬂies three times daily to Denpasar on Bali. By the time you read this, Singapore Airlines should also be offering an all-business-class nonstopÐ only 100 seats that convert into lie-ﬂat bedsÐ from Newark to Singapore. You can also ﬂy nonstop to Bangkok (Thai Airways), Hong Kong (Cathay Paciﬁc), or Tokyo (JAL) and connect there. is still the island' s best resortÐ and one of the world' s singular hotels. The clean-lined spa is gorgeous, the Indonesian and Taksu (deep tissue) massages are excellent, and the spa cuisine is superb. But CSE takes the spa lifestyle a step farther with wellness programs that combine nutritional consultation, massage, and ﬁtness activities such as daily crosscountry treks, outstanding yoga, and Pilates. The property, perched above the Ayung River gorge, makes you feel like you' re living in the treetops, and the residential-scale rooms, ﬁlled with museum-quality Indonesian artifacts and served by butlers, make it easy to forget there' s a world out there. (US$275± $2,950) Just for fun I decided to see how the resort massages (US$120 and up) compared with the US$12 ones at a Main Street spa and visited ANANADA BLISS SPA in Ubud. The GIRI A guest compound at COMO Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri (above). Right: The courtyard of the Kriya Spa at the Grand Hyatt Bali. COMO SHAMBHALA ESTATE AT BEGAWAN treatment room was nothing special, and the massage wasn' t the reﬁned production it is at luxury resorts. But the sheer vigor with which the therapist went at the major muscle groups was refreshingÐ a good, old-fashioned rubdown that left me invigorated. It easily surpassed the very polite massage I had at Kirana, a lush day spa nearby, and the overly scripted one I had at the Bulgari Bali. The Kriya Spa at the GRAND HYATT BALI in Nusa Dua, my last stop, is a dramatic architectural piece, a vast tiered piazza with extensive ornamental pools. Based on Balinese water palaces, it' s especially beautiful at sunset. The 24 spa villas have private showers, outdoor wet-treatment areas, soaking tubs, and plunge poolsÐ you could move in for half a day, easily. And the therapists know their stuff. (US$255± $2,300) Ð GARY WALTHER 18 may· june 2008 visit spafinder.com ICON ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA GHARRITY http://spafinder.com

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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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