To Your Health

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Oct, 2001 by Christopher Elliott, Christine Pulfrey

GOLDEN DOOR Escondido, Cal.

800-424-0777; www.goldendoor.com

Set among avocado and orange groves in the rolling hills 40 miles north of San Diego, this Japanese-style resort is one of the most famous-and deservedly so. There are 40 guest rooms, and occupancy is limited to 40 guests. It has one of the highest staff-to-guest ratios in the industry: four to one. The Golden Door is known for its holistic approach to healing, with activities that are meant to stimulate both body and mind. One of its specialties: Thai massage. A minimum stay is one week, which costs $5,725.

JW MARRIOTT IHILANI RESORT AND SPA Ko Olina, Hawaii

800-626-4446; www.ihilani.com

This Oahu golf-and-beach resort offers

a high-powered water treatment called thalasso therapy. The fresh-seawater massage uses 180 underwater jets that automatically rotate in a hot tub, giving you a relaxing, full-body treatment. Cost: $55 for 25 minutes. Another popular massage is the Lomi Lomi, a Hawaiian massage that uses kneading and strokes to ease muscle pain and increase circulation. It costs $90 for 50 minutes. The spa also offers green-tea detoxifying wraps and seaweed body masks. Room rates start at $339 a night.

THE KERR HOUSE Grand Rapids, Ohio

419-832-1733; www.thekerrhouse.com

One of the smallest destination spas, the Kerr House is an 1880 Queen Anne Victorian manor with only five guest rooms in a small village 25 miles southwest of Toledo. The spa specializes in treating the total person. Everything from massages, exfoliations, mud baths and wraps is on the menu, as well as light exercise, yoga and healthy foods. The Kerr House's proprietor, Laurie Hostetler, works personally with each guest to establish goals for his or her stay. She says one of her priorities is to help her guests improve with age. There's a minimum stay of a weekend, at $795 for a private room. A week costs $2,750.

WYNDHAM PEAKS RESORT AND GOLDEN DOOR SPA Telluride, Colo.

800-789-2220; www.thepeaksresort.com

If you like the ski-and-spa experience, the Peaks is a good bet. Oxygen is this resort's claim to fame, perhaps because of the spa's altitude. Guests belly up to an oxygen bar, where they can inhale pure [O.sub.2] and sip specialty elixirs. You can also order an [O.sub.2] facial, a process in which the skin is exfoliated, then high levels of vitamins and oils are applied to the face, followed by a gentle application of pure-oxygen jets (a 90-minute treatment costs $120). Room rates start at $200, and a four-day spa package costs $2,600 in season (December 15 through March 2002, excluding the Christmas and New Year's holidays).

THE SAGAMORE Bolton Landing, N.Y.

800-358-3585; www.thesagamore.com

This resort is located in one of the most picturesque spa locations in North America--a private 72-acre island on Lake George, in upstate New York. If you go for the scenery and relaxation, stay for the facials, which are said to be the spa's specialty. Treatment packages, such as the Ultimate Facial Experience, combine the best of a facial with a massage. For $135, you receive a 50-minute facial treatment followed by 25 minutes of hand, foot and scalp massage. Room rates start at $195.