L’AUbERGE DE SEDONA
WHAT: Not too many earthly resort spas are ballsy enough to play up the fact that they’re creekadjacent, but that’s the sort of self-assured humility L’Auberge de Sedona can afford, being the Macklemore of glossy travel mag trophies, winning one right after the next.
NEW: This year is an herb and botanical boutique, L’Apothecary, opening next month at the already-transcendent spa.
WHERE: While the polar vortex hogs all the headlines, there exists a kinder, gentler sort that makes love, not war. Welcome to Sedona, Ariz. — only a two-hour drive north from Phoenix — where the most famous residents aren’t its rich retirees, but its magically delicious desert vortices.
WHY: There’s a reason A-list country singers and ex-ballplayers — not to mention IMDbers out the yin-yang — come here to play: its outlying desert luxury surrounded by extraterrestrial landscape like Coconino National Forest, Magenta Cliffs and — most importantly — Snoopy Rock.
WORKING WELL: Just one word: spawesome! Pick your poison: vitamin C facial, Himalayan salt glow, Swedish massage, cranial sacral, Chakra yoga, LaserTouchOne cell stimulation (less scary than it sounds).
NEEDS WORK: The room’s arm-hinged, wall-mounted HDTV that awkwardly pivots and never quite seems like it’s altogether winning the war against gravity.
MUST TRY: L’Auberge’s brand-spankin’-new Love Series packages — melding massages, in-bed breakfasts, picnics and Champagne — aimed at laycationers of all stripes, be they honeymooners, babymooners, elopers or straight-up adulterers. No judgments!
DON’T MISS: You’re in the Southwest, you’re not doing the driving, so binge on the area booze with Debbie Schwendler’s Savour Arizona Verde Valley wine and microbrewery tours ( savourarizona.com). Tool’s crossdressing frontman Maynard James Keenan even has a label around these parts you’ll likely come across called Caduceus Cellars — vortex, baby, vortex ( caduceus.org)!
DETAILS: From $339; lauberge.com