8 Amazing Spas to Add to Your Bucket List

Planning your fall or winter getaway? Dream even bigger and start up a super-luxurious bucket list to keep you warm all through the cold months. These eight incredible spas from across the world have made names for themselves in some top travel media outlets for their totally mind-blowing amenities, treatments and locations, and will surely keep you motivated as you hustle for that paycheque this fall.

The Deep Ocean Spa in the secluded Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort is the first in the region to offer a menu full of treatments that make use of the nutrient-rich waters of the South Pacific. Here, hydrotherapy treatments integrate modern wellness techniques with ancient Polynesian healing rituals and take place in glass-bottomed treatment rooms, so you can enjoy a massage with a view of the activity in the turquoise lagoon below.

The Forbes five star-rated spa and fitness center in this dreamy American seaside resort covers 65,000 square feet of luxurious amenities including 26 treatment rooms, a stone-pillar-lined Olympic-sized indoor pool with sweeping views of ornate outdoor gardens and walking labyrinth, a giant waterfall and babbling brook. This truly statuesque spa has earned the reputation of a “sanctuary of elegance and serenity.” And how.

Want to feel the alps at your feet? You can at this futuristic-style spa, which uses water that bubbles up from more than 6,000 feet underground in it’s 12 indoor and outdoor thermal pools, all between 93 – 97°F. Take a spin around the pools, saunas, steam baths in this impressive steel and stone architectural masterpiece against a backdrop of Alpine mountains.

From the architectural details to the traditional approach to healing treatments, the Iridium spa in The St. Regis Lhasa Resort envelopes guests in the beauty of Tibetan culture. Honouring tradition, each guest receives a personal consultation to determine which treatments and herbs are best for him or her, and can then enjoy custom 2-3 hour healing sessions, a salt water gold energy pool, yoga, cooking classes, and evening champagne sabering rituals, in a unique city locale that’s one of the highest above seas level in the world.

Named one of the top 20 spas in the world by Conde Naste Traveller and one of the top 10 organic spas in in the world by Organic Spa magazine, this full-service lakeside spa at the base of Whistler Mountain uses sustainably sourced, exclusively-made organic products in all its treatments. Guests can experience roof top hot tubs with mountain views, a eucalyptus steam room, hyper-local menu of healthy eats (grown on the lodge’s roof), naturopathic services, and seasonal amenities like bikes, canoes and paddle boards.

This 11-treatment room spa in the lagoon-filled jungle of Thailand’s Phulay Bay combines traditional healing rituals from Thai, Asian and European cultures into their menu. It’s an open-air oasis with outdoor vitality pools, saunas, and meditation areas, all with a view of idyllic isles and lush scenery.

This hotel spa in the stone-column-lined former Renaissance-era University building offers a huge range of hydrotherapy treatments. The thermal pool cloister consists of jacuzzis, individual massage bubble seats, water curtains and cannons, cold mist and bi-thermal showers, a colour-therapy sauna, and a menu full of massage treatments.

This underground spa in the Hotel Royal Cafe which used to be a drinking spot frequented by Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle, and is now a marble-tiled five star spa and favourite spot to rejuvinate for London socialites. With an 18-metre lap pool flanked by a sauna and Jacuzzi, and London’s first dedicated Watsu pool, here, you can splurge on a 50-minute session that includes hydrotherapy treatments, meditation and Shiatsu massage.