8 Places to Escape the Holidays

Let a Spa Make You Feel Like a Desert Queen

While everyone else is paying a visit to snowbird relatives in Florida, sneak off to a spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. This city in the heart of the Sonoran Desert is a great place to get warm, suntanned and pampered without spending a fortune, says Jack Ezon at Ovation Vacations (also part of the Virtuoso network). Local spas offer treatments that incorporate desert elements, like body masks of adobe clay and desert plant extracts, and scrubs made from prickly pear or agave. From now until December 31, some hotels (like the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess) are also offering combination packages that include the price of a room as well as a massage, spa service or spa credit (check the Scottsdale tourism website or talk to a Virtuoso travel adviser for more details).