Looking for a luxurious spa getaway? Look no further than Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa, which offers a perfect combination of luxurious accommodations, delicious healthy cuisine, extensive outdoor activities, numerous wellness and fitness classes and, of course, an excellent spa facility with dozens of treatments. The resort is an ideal retreat for an active couple or a girls’ weekend getaway.
Photos courtesy of Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa
The resort is located in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, just north of Tucson. The resort’s luxurious rooms and suites are spread throughout the property in Southwestern adobe style casitas. We love the resort’s suites, which feature large seating areas, gas fireplaces and private patios. The suites’ large slate-floored bathrooms include a relaxing rain shower, a deep soaking tub and a private outdoor shower. After a full day of activities, you will welcome the suites’ supremely comfortable plush pillow-top beds with fluffy down pillows. For a real splurge, consider one of the resort’s multi-bedroom villas.
The resort’s meals, which are often the weak-link at any spa resort, are excellent – they are healthy, full flavored and plentiful. At breakfast and lunch, there are extensive buffets filled with healthy foods that can be supplemented with additional à la carte items. For dinner, the four-course dinner is à la carte and is ample for most appetites though, since the dishes are portioned for calorie control, those with heartier appetites are encouraged (at no additional cost) to order extra courses. Unlike many spa resorts, there is a full bar and cocktails and wines are available. Also, at any point during the day, you can stop by the snack bar for a healthy snack or a fruit smoothie.
The resort offers dozens of daily activities, including classes on healthy living, such as nutrition, meditation, de-stressing techniques and self-awareness, culinary and photography classes, trail rides though the desert and sessions focuses on exercise physiology. In addition, you can choose from a variety of fitness classes, including aqua classes, strength, balance, cardio and abs classes, Tai Chi and yoga.
The resort is also known for its outdoor adventure activities, including rock climbing (on the resort’s rock wall or a full day of off-site rock climbing), mountain biking, trail runs, nature hikes and the resort’s challenge courses. The challenge courses, which involve various physical and mental challenges, include “Out on a Limb” (crossing a log suspended 25 feet off the desert floor), “Quantum Leap” (leaping from a 35-foot pole), and “Why High” (traversing cables 30 feet up).
As one would expect, the resort’s spa facility is top-notch. Here you will find multiple treatment rooms and dozens of treatments, including massages, body treatments, hair and facial treatments, and many signature treatments that blend modern and ancient body and energy techniques. The spa includes luxurious changing rooms, with hot tubs, relaxation areas, eucalyptus steam rooms and redwood saunas.
A perfect day at Miraval might start with a morning guided meditation session or a cool morning hike in the Catalina Mountains before a hearty breakfast in the dining room. After breakfast, you can take advantage of the cooler morning temperatures to go on a guided mountain bike or trail run or sign up for one of the challenge course, like Desert Tightrope, where you traverse a cable 35 feet in the air using only self-trust and a series of hanging ropes to maintain your balance. After a full morning of activities, you’ll be ready for a healthy lunch in the dining room.
Perhaps this afternoon you will want to learn a new skill, such as desert photography taught by a skilled photographer, rock climbing on the resort's rock wall or learning to create healthy meals by the resort's chef. You could also attend a yoga session or a class in the fitness center or simply relax by the pool. By late afternoon, you'll be ready for a bit of pampering at the spa -- perhaps a traditional Swedish, Thai or sports massage or, for something unique, one of the many ancient body treatments, like an Abhyanga massage that uses warmed herb-infused oils and long friction strokes. Before dinner, have a glass of wine or craft cocktail on the patio while savoring the desert's cinematic sunset. After a delicious healthy dinner, end your day with a soak in your private hot tub under the brilliant southwestern sky before falling deeply asleep in your suite's plush bed.
Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa // Tucson, Arizona // website