Seeking serenity in Scottsdale
By Eric Lindberg

A neophyte’s journey into the land of the spa.

The Hot Stone Massage at The Spa at Camelback Inn utilizes hot basalt stones to warm and relax your muscles.
© Eric Lindberg

Tall, bearded, and male, I stick out like a prickly cactus in a flower garden. Clad only in a fluffy white robe and slippers, I hug the wall as women in twos and threes breeze by in fragrant puffs of jasmine and lavender. Already I feel half-naked and I haven’t even disrobed yet.

I’m in Scottsdale on a mission—to swap February’s chill for a warm week in the desert and to learn the ropes as a first-time male spa-goer.

Why Scottsdale? Less than two hours flying time from Denver, the city offers a choice of retreats whose sole purpose is to pamper visitors into a deep state of bliss.

Each of these Scottsdale spas offers a different setting, theme and menu of treatments. Turn off your cell phone, slip into one of those fluffy robes, and surrender.

Golden Door Spa at The Boulders Resort
Spending the night in a cozy casita, I awaken to a dawn chorus of cooing doves and chattering cactus wrens. A five-minute walk along a winding, sage-scented path brings me to the calming southwest-Zen courtyard of the Golden Door Spa. Just ahead is a procedure that somehow seems at odds with my manliness—my first facial.

From neck to hairline I’m scoured, deep-cleansed, moisturized, toned, and soothed. Sitting outside by the pool afterwards, I sip an herbal tea and run my hands over a face that hasn’t felt this smooth and clean for a long time.

A sunrise bike ride at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve on the
outskirts of Scottsdale.
© Eric Lindberg

Guests also come here to play the lush, 36-hole golf course, scramble up boulders during a rock-climbing clinic or explore the desert on a jeep tour. Hankering for exercise after so much pampering, I opt for a sunrise bike tour through nearby McDowell Desert Preserve with Arizona Outback Adventures.

Spa at Camelback Inn
Guests stay in the Southwest-style casitas next to the spa, and a stroll through the well-established cactus and palm gardens that surround them is a relaxing way to begin or end a day here.

I’ve signed up for the Camelback Signature Massage. My masseuse has me lie face up and places smooth, heated basalt stones under me along the sides of my spine. As my back began to loosen up, she proceeds with a soothing routine that is both peaceful and restorative, and before long I’m drifting into la-la land.

Afterward at Sprouts, the spa café overlooking the pool, I enjoy a leisurely lunch of lavosh flatbread with lemon-dill hummus, sun-dried tomato pesto, and veggies, followed by a pumpkin spice crème brulee and green tea.

Aji at Wild Horse Pass Sheraton
The resort sits on land owned by local Pima and Maricopa tribes. Both the resort and spa promote cultural sustainability.

I’ve chosen a treatment called Thoachta, a combination of traditional massage, polarity, and ancient Pima healing doctrines. I’m in the hands of a Pima woman trained in tribal ways by community elders. Much more than a massage, the treatment begins with a brief consultation and evolves into a 90-minute session incorporating Pima healing techniques and native spirituality. She completes the experience by sharing gentle yet thought-provoking observations.

A short walk through the resort brings me to Kai, a restaurant with menu selections ranging from spicy and pungent to sweet and smoky.

Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
With 649 guestrooms and numerous shops, restaurants, and pools, the Fairmont Scottsdale feels like a small village. It’s pleasant but not exactly a serene desert retreat.

Inside the spa the atmosphere downshifts into a calmer mode. There’s water everywhere: gurgling fountains, mineral pools, and even a waterfall for splashing under.

After a brief consultation with my masseuse, I get a customized, 60-minute stress-relief massage that focuses on the body’s main tension points: head, neck, shoulders, back and feet. Afterward I pull on a swimsuit, wade into the Canyon Oasis Waterfall pool and stand beneath the cascading falls. Like getting a second massage, the warm water soothes the spirit and flushes out any remaining tension.

Joya Spa at Montelucia Resort
Spain’s Andalucía region is the inspiration for Joya Spa at Montelucia Resort, with its Moroccan tiles, wrought-iron railings and sunken alcoves. I follow my masseuse into a lavish treatment suite that could be straight out of Lawrence of Arabia. I’ve signed up for a standard massage combining Swedish, therapeutic, and sports techniques, and for the next 50 minutes I’m kneaded, pulled, and prodded until I feel like the Andalusian version of cooked spaghetti.

Ready for some dreamtime, I recall the saying on the wish card I chose after my massage. It was a Spanish proverb: “How beautiful it is to do nothing and then to rest afterward.”

Eric Lindberg (www.ericlindberg.com) is a freelance writer and photographer based in Lakewood, Colo. He is the 2011 Travel Photographer of the Year, Society of American Travel Writers.

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Seeking serenity in Scottsdale By Eric Lindberg

Seeking serenity in Scottsdale
By Eric Lindberg