Luxury Spa Finder - May/June 2008 - (Page 34)

[Spa Road Trip] 2 Hôtel Quintessence I t' s an hour' s drive on two-lane Route 327 to Mont Tremblant, a ville du ski owned by mega timeshare group Intrawest. Quintessence is the sumptuous separatist here, an elegant inn with a staff trained in beck-and-call service and a ﬁve-star setting on undeveloped Lake Tremblant. The 30 suites (below)Ð the smallest is 700 square feetÐ have porches, wood-burning ﬁreplaces, and heated bathroom ﬂoors, which suits them perfectly for their other role: massage room. There' s also a spaÐ the teeny (two rooms) Spa Sans Sabots, where facials and body treatments are 3 L' Eau à la Bouche T he name means ª mouthwatering,º and it refers to chef Anne Desjardins' s 30-year-old French-regional restaurant, which draws customers from Montreal (45 minutes up Route 15) and beyond. (The six-course Discovery menu, including ﬁve paired wines, is about US$151.) The simple inn and spa were added in 1987 and 2006, respectively, to capitalize on the restaurant' s success and Desjardins' s notoriety. The spa (above) is outdoors (Nordic-style); consists of two pools (one hot, one cold), a sauna, and a ﬁreplace; and is meant for use year-round. (In winter you simply don a hat with your bathing suit.) Inside, I had a terriﬁc B. Kamins maple sugar scrub with Chantal Bazinet, who incorporated massage strokes and reﬂexology. The spa also offers facials. The property is a Relais & Châteaux hotel, but back when the organization classiﬁed members by luxury quotient, L' Eau à la Bouche was two levels below the top, meaning it' s more of a simple country hotel or, in this case, a restaurant with rooms. Come with those expectations and you' ll be happy. US$186± $226 1 given with a very good, hard-to-ﬁnd Italian Fairmont Le Château Montebello beauty line called Ishi. I don' t usually ﬁnd culinary-based spa menus appealing, but Quintessence' s is certainly well-done. The trufﬂe facials (the spa director claims they brighten skin), vinotherapy (wine-based) treatments, and chocolate wraps are inspired by the hotel' s nouveau-Quebec restaurant. The spa also offers a classic, Carita' s reﬁned body scrubs from La Maison de Beauté in Paris. (Arrange to have the scrub removed with hot towels, as the shower is located outside the treatment room.) Like the hotel itself, it' s a memorable dash of cosmopolitanism. Nothing else on this route matches it. US$402± $1,560 M y ﬁrst stop, 90 minutes west of Montreal on Route 148, is a land- mark of sorts: the world' s largest log hotel. The red-cedar beams are sharpened to pencil points on the exterior corners and rise three stories in the circular lobby. The decor throughout is robust mountain houseÐ wooden Adirondack-style and studded-leather furniture, woodsy animal prints, and tartans in the lobby and guest rooms. The ﬁtness center has a semi-Olympic-size indoor pool and a substantial spa (eight treatment rooms), which opened in May 2006. It has two amenities that are rare at spas in eastern Canada, an ample relaxation room (above) and a couple' s treatment roomÐ this one has a ﬁreplace, ofuro tub, and river view. My therapist, Samira Arrad, was trained in both massage and aesthetics, which is doubtlessly why the combination faceand-body treatments I had with her were so solid. The only decor downsides: the approach to the spa, an underground concrete walkway, and the YMCA-style locker rooms that spa-goers share with pool users. US$190± $382 34 may· june 2008 visit spafinder.com 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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