Seeing Green: Top 10 Eco Spas
- Published: Tuesday, April 3rd 2012
- in Travel & Play
In honor of Earth Day, April 22, the spa and wellness industry is seeing green – and celebrating the cause to protect our planet and its resources not just on this one particular day, but all year round.
As spa-goers continue to become savvier and demand a deeper environmental stance from spas, properties are, in turn, ramping up their commitment to sustainability and green practices. We define eco spas as environmentally friendly destinations that believe personal health begins with global health – and immerse green initiatives and eco processes throughout the entire spa, whether it’s through design, products used in services or treatments offered (check out Aveda’s “book an appointment for the Earth” promotion available at participating locations, where proceeds from appointments will be donated to one of the brand’s clear water partners.)
Environmentally friendly spas include the below Top 10 list of locations voted for encompassing the “Best Environmental Practices” in the 2011 SpaFinder Readers’ Choice Awards. Rancho La Puerta, for example, is dedicated to ecologically sound principles, and prepares cuisine with fresh, picked-daily produce from its six-acre organic farm. Fivelements, Puri Ahimsa, evokes an eco-architectural design aesthetic, and spa rituals use organic wild-plant extracts like petals, harvested flowers, spices and herbs sourced from an on-site garden and created in the spa’s laboratorium.
These Top 10 eco-conscious spas make being green seem oh so easy.
- El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa (Taos, NM)
- Evason Phuket Resort and Six Senses Spa (Tambol Rawai, Thailand)
- Post Ranch Inn (Big Sur, CA)
- St. Julien Hotel and Spa (Boulder, CO)
*View a list of additional eco spas in SpaFinder’s network.
Kate Phillips
