Famous for its award-winning golf courses, world class shopping and over 300 days of glorious each year Scottsdale, Arizona also boasts some of America’s most luxurious resorts and spas.
Montelucia Resort & Spa, nestled at the foot of the picturesque Camelback Mountain, offers guests old world charm with five-star amenities and service. Built in 2008, the 293 guestrooms and suites are appointed with lavish ambience and ample dining options. But the perfect anecdote from a day of golf, shopping or poolside fun is the Joya Spa – a Moroccan-inspired journey to purify the mind, body and soul. “From the moment of entering the spa, the guest is taken to another world,” says Erin Stewart the spa director. “Each guest is taken on a personal tour through our spa rituals: Joy of Intention and Joy of Purification.”
What to Expect at the Spa
You will be guided through a cavernous entrance and instructed to choose a jewel that represents your Joy of Intention. “This is a very personal experience,” says Stewart. The guest has an option to choose a stone based on its meaning or they randomly choose and let the stone choose them.” The five jewels signify love, wealth, work, health and family with dazzling Tigers Eye, Blue Lace Agate, Rhondonite, Rose Quartz and Hematite. “These rituals are intended to touch the guest mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”
Although summers in Scottsdale sizzle, the other seasons average 80 degrees during the day and offer cool, comfortable nights. Whatever season you choose, ease your body into the desert climate with Joya spa’s signature treatment of the Hammam Ritual. “Being a Moroccan and Andalusian inspired resort and spa, the Hammam Ritual was created to represent a traditional treatment prominent from this region.” The bathing ritual incorporates the benefits of a cleansing exfoliation from the black soap and kassa cloth scrub to the increased circulation and detoxification from the hot and cold circuits.
Activities in the Surrounding Area
On lazy afternoons, head over to Prado, the resort’s AAA Four-Diamond restaurant for one of their tapas cooking classes. Or head into Old Town Scottsdale and visit one of the many galleries dotting the streets or enjoy the challenging hiking trails at Camelback Mountain.
If you want to go a little further, head to the foothills just outside the city to see Taliesin West, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and school. Wright lived in the desert from 1937, before running water was installed, until his death in 1959 at age 91. Today it is the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture with striking examples of organic design and construction. The eccentric architect felt a very strong connection to the desert with its sweeping lines, local desert rocks and magnificent natural lighting.
Scottsdale is a destination full of exciting activities to keep visitors of all ages busy…or not. Relaxation and rejuvenation are unexpected reprieves in the midst of the desert. VM
