Spa & Wellness

Scottish Baronial-style Fairmont Banff Springs is the celebrated castle in the Rockies, where you can soak in mineral hot springs overlooking Banff National Park (a 1.5 hour drive from Calgary) and recharge at the hotel’s plush Willow Stream Spa.

It’s all about clean living and connection to nature at Balnea, a modern mountainside sanctuary in Quebec’s quaint Eastern Townships (a 2 hour drive from Montreal). Set on a 400-acre reserve, take in yoga, hiking, sophisticated spa cuisine, a sweat lodge, Turkish bath and outdoor pools overlooking the lake.

Looking for an urban respite? Conversation and fun is central at English manor-style Ste. Anne’s Spa, an elegant countryside all-inclusive set on 400 rolling acres outside Toronto, as are traditional treatments from hot stone massage and wellness classes to reiki and equine therapy.

A romantic dinner out is one thing. A candlelit couple’s massage, inspired by First Nations healing, in a cedar cabin perched on the churning Pacific is quite another. Crashing waves, ancient rainforest and primo surfing are also why British Columbia's Wickaninnish Inn and Ancient Cedars Spa have made all global “bests” lists. 

Discerning golfers land on exclusive Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa’s private airstrip for a week of luxury yachting, skeet shooting and 18 championship holes along Nova Scotia’s windswept Northumberland Strait, followed by a rejuvenating dose of deep tissue massage and Swiss cellulotherapy at Dol-ás-Spa.

Your massage might just come with an aurora borealis light show at Northern Lights Resort and SPA, a rustic lodge in the Yukon wilderness outside Whitehorse. Don’t miss the Finnish and infrared sauna, either, and outdoor Jacuzzi for a front-row seat to this natural wonder.

Get fit, reduce your waistline and tap into vitality in a positive, holistic way at idyllic Mountain Trek, a Condé Nast Traveler No. 1 wellness retreat near Nelson (a short 1.5 hour flight from Vancouver), where bootcamp means yoga + Nordic trekking in the Alps-like Selkirk Mountains. The only downside? When it’s time to go home.

Body and spirit are the focus at Quebec’s acclaimed Spa Eastman with two locations: the woodsy Eastern Townships (a 2 hour drive from Montreal), for nature hikes, yoga, massage and Nordic baths, and stylish downtown Montreal, for urban R&R à la infrared sauna and igloo shower. 

Spend a day soaking Nordic-style at serene Scandinave Spa Blue Mountain, outside the alpine resort in Collingwood (a 2 hour drive from Toronto): A 25-acre indoor-outdoor Zen sanctuary with steam baths, hot pools, saunas, massage and hushed solariums with forest views.

Set on the Pacific shore near Victoria (a short ferry ride from Vancouver), Oak Bay Beach Hotel Spa channels West Coast style. The luxe British Columbia boutique hotel offers seaside mineral baths with ocean views and custom seaweed treatments to recharge the body with micronutrients and promote healing.

Minutes from downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba and next to a golf course, Thermëa by Nordik Spa-Nature is an oasis for bliss: Finnish-style eucalyptus and orange steam rooms, hammocks and massage, artful wellness fare and signature outdoor hot and cold thermal pools in rustic-chic chalet style.

Woodsy, down-to-earth Grail Springs Retreat set on Lake Spurr outside Toronto is about holistic transformation of mind, body and spirit and emotional wellness. Expect daily meditation in the garden, yoga, juice cleanses, spiritual enrichment, traditional spa treatments and relaxed evenings in the hot tub.