Top 10 detox spas in the world

The one-story Southwestern-style Canyon Ranch Tucson, Arizona offers thoughtful amenities and great therapies. (Canyon Ranch)

A stay at one of our Top 10 Detox Spas is a great way to jumpstart your own wellness program. Most of these spas recommend limiting alcohol, caffeine, fat, refined foods, salt and sugar (ingredients that increase medical risks). Some focus on colon hydrotherapy, detoxifying body treatments (lymphatic drainage massage and body wraps) and anti-stress modalities such as meditation and yoga. A few also offer smoking cessation programs and alternative health services. No matter the approach, eating healthfully, exercising, learning about nutrition and attending cooking classes for a week detoxifies the body and spirit and achieves a positive, if not always life-changing, outcome.

USA

Canyon Ranch Tucson
8600 E Rockcliff Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85750
800-742-9000

Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Ariz., offers a lush and serene desert setting for its guests, who can partake in a great hiking program, healthful food, dozens of daily fitness options, an array of wellness services plus medical testing and consultations with physicians. The Life Enhancement Center (LEC) at the famous wellness resort — a stand-alone facility for up to 40 guests — is an expertly-staffed spa within the spa that offers special programs including brain fitness and weight loss weeks, plus the expertise of health professionals who work with guests to reach ongoing individualized wellness goals. As LEC guests bond at meals, fitness activities, lectures (e.g. how to shop for food) and classes, a support system develops. For an individualized detox program, the Food Development Department crafts a customized menu; for an individualized smoking cessation program, guests are directed to the appropriate lectures, classes and consultations. The all-inclusive cost includes accommodations, three meals plus snacks daily, fitness activities, LEC workshops and group discussions and a fixed allotment towards the vast array of spa, spiritual, aquatic, wellness and educational services. Read a complete review of Canyon Ranch Tucson

Golden Door
Escondido, CA 92046
800-424-0777

The original Golden Door in Escondido, California, has room for just 40 guests, who discover a staff that caters to their individual preferences. The serene, Japanese-style spa offers customized programs, allowing guests to focus on fitness, relaxation, life transitions, empowerment, achieving goals, or being balanced in body, mind and spirit, and more. For many, the seven-day program is a life-changing experience. In terms of detox, Dr. Wendy Bazilian, the resident Nutrition Advisor, can create individualized, balanced and safe detox programs. The spa also offers detoxifying herbal wraps that are performed in the bath house. Weekly lectures on a variety of topics by Deborah Szekely, founder of Rancho La Puerta and Golden Door, are the most inspiring, while chef-led cooking classes are very popular, too. Pricing starts at $7,750. For more information: www.goldendoor.com/escondido

Pritikin Longevity Center + Spa
8755 NW 36th St.
Miami, FL 33178
305-935-7131, 800-327-4914

Longtime spagoers recall when Miami's Doral Saturnia ranked among the most glamorous spas in the U.S. Built as a luxury retreat on the 650 lush acres of the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, home to the Blue Monster golf course, the spa now houses the Pritikin Longevity Center. Its health and weight loss programs focus on the return to eating clean, fresh foods — roasted lobster, grilled bison and penne pasta — under a fabulous vaulted ceiling. Ten board-certified physicians work with guests in consultation and in state-of-the-art medical assessments; experts offer daily educational programs including cooking classes and smart grocery shopping classes. For physical activity, there are indoor/outdoor pools and ten daily fitness classes plus golf and tennis options. There are spa services and sumptuous master suites, and the entire all-inclusive week starts at $5,900 per person ($8,900 per couple). Read a complete review of Pritikin Longevity Center + Spa

Red Mountain Resort
1275 E. Red Mountain Circ.
Ivins, UT 84771
435-673-4905

Red Mountain Resort outside St. George, Utah, is just a two-hour trip but a world from the bustle of Las Vegas. Set facing scenic red rocks in the majestic high desert, the destination spa offers 28-day detox programs such as the "Body in Balance Detox" (starting at $300 per day, per person). This retreat, designed to rid the body of environmental toxins and inflammation, features gluten-free meals, nutrition assessment, lymphatic drainage, acupuncture, Ultraclear smoothies, morning hikes and much, much more. The fitness component attracts active and outdoorsy types (the spa is adjacent to Snow Canyon State Park), as do the amenities such as outdoor pools, bicycles, walking trails, strength and cardio studios and more. Read a complete review of Red Mountain Resort

CANADA

Spa Eastman
895, chemin des Diligences
Eastman (Quebec), Canada
800-665-5272

At Spa Eastman, two hours east of Montreal (across the Vermont border), guests find the rural Eastern Townships where they can hike wooded trails, get fit, enjoy pampering pursuits and eat healthy, organic and beautifully-prepared spa cuisine. Since it opened in 1977, Spa Eastman has been committed to fitness, health and a wellness lifestyle for its French and English speaking clientele. Its programs and packages include the seven-day immersion raw food cure and vacation; weight loss retreats; meditation workshops and more. A detoxifying grape cure (grapes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!) is also available as are highly personalized cures. For more information: www.spa-eastman.com

BRAZIL

Kurotel Longevity Center & Spa
Gramado, Brazil
+1(866) 471-0014

Kurotel Longevity Center in Gramado, a mountain resort in southern Brazil, is a wellness destination founded by Dr. Luis Carlos Silveira and his wife Neusa about 30 years ago; today, two daughters have joined the family commitment to good health. Kurotel specializes in preventive medicine and has long been considered one of the world’s best weight loss destinations. Guests are drawn for a variety of reasons: for medical assessments, to detox from addiction, for weight loss and sleep enhancement, to simply relax or to recover after cosmetic surgery (available at a nearby clinic). State-of-the art medical tests are available to determine colon and cardiovascular risks and to assess bone density, hormone levels, collagen, body temperature, etc. Integral to the week-long “kur” are three farm-fresh meals and snacks, use of pools and facilities and daily exercises from woodland walks to gymnastics and the Kneipp water walk. This walk on smooth stones features changing water temperatures (warm to cool) to enhance circulation, kidney function and overall wellness. For more information: www.kurotel.com.br

PORTUGAL

Longevity Wellness Resort
Lugar do Montinho
8550-232 Monchique, Algarve
Portugal
+351 282 240 100

The eco-friendly Longevity Wellness Resort Monchique opened in 2010 as Portugal's first integrated preventive medicine and anti-aging spa. Three hours from Lisbon, in a picturesque thermal destination in the Algarve, it features 195 one-bedroom apartments (sleeping up to four) offering views of sky, sea and mountains. In partnership with Dr. Claude Chauchard and La Clinique de Paris, the spa offers state-of-the art detox treatments such as the seven-day "Longevity Essential Detox." This program includes a wealth of features like Ozone Therapy, Anti Oxidant Detoxifying Therapy, Detox Ocean Bath, Cellutox Aroma Ocean Wraps and more. Other treatment focal points include stress reduction, weight loss, anti-aging and overall health improvement. Guests enjoy amenities such as Longevity Cuisine by Olivier restaurant, five bars, fitness center, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, and a meditation room and deck. For more information: www.longevitywellnessresort.com

SPAIN

SHA Wellness Clinic
Verderol 5 El Albir 03581
Alicante, Spain
34-96-681-1199

SHA Wellness Clinic, one of the best medical spas in the world, is a white marble, glass-walled modernist structure that rises like a multi-storied ocean liner above the hilltop where guests delight in vistas of Spain’s Sierra Helada Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Clientele on a minimum week-long detox campaign meet with the doctor who designs individualized macrobiotic meals prepared by head chef Pablo Montoro (formerly with Ferran Adrià) — in fact, the clinic is devoted to the macrobiotic lifestyle. Detox programs include nutritional lectures and macrobiotic cooking classes (in English). Water is both a design and a wellness element with two heated indoor pools, a Dead Sea-like Flotarium and a waterfall. For fitness, there’s only yoga and tai chi and DIY bike rides and walks (one to a scenic lighthouse). There are à la carte spa treatments as well as Botox, laser, acupuncture, cellular regeneration and mesotherapy. Non-stop flights to Valencia and high-speed trains to Alicante make it easy to reach from New York. For more information: www.shawellnessclinic.com

ISRAEL

Hotel Spa Mitzpe Hayamim
Mizpe Hayamim Resort
P.O.B. 27
Rosh Pina 12000, Israel
972-4-699-4555

The 37-acre Mitzpe Hayamim health farm overlooks the Sea of Galilee in Northern Israel. You can stroll the estate to discover the barnyard, winery and pesticide- and chemical-free garden, tended by Sami Chazan, one of the owners (his wife, Anita, tends to guests), who prides himself in the fact that the restaurant’s cheese and yogurt come from their own cows, goats and sheep, eggs from their chickens, fruit from their orchard, olive oil from their grove and produce from their garden. Room rates cover two buffet meals daily in the vegetarian restaurant, workshops and workouts and use of facilities: wet and dry sauna, indoor and outdoor whirlpools and a non-chlorinated “indoor” pool with a roof and windows that open in warm weather. The 96-room hotel village boasts studios for artisanal bakers, cheese-makers, soap and candle makers and an art gallery and farm shop. Among 45 à la carte spa services, guests find Chinese, Thai, Indian and Shiatsu massage, medical pedicures and detoxifying beauty treatments. For more information: www.mizpe-hayamim.com

THAILAND

The Spa Resort Chiang Mai
165 Moo 4 T. Huaysai A. Maerim
Chiang Mai, Thailand
+66(0)53-920-888

The Spa Resort Chiang Mai is situated in a verdant, rural Thai village about an hour from the temples and tailors, orchid farm and paper-making factories in Chiang Mai. The sprawling resort overlooks rice paddies and offers poolside accommodations, daily meditation, yoga, Thai massage, steam room, swimming and biking. Its own twenty-acre organic farm provides produce for Radiance, an excellent vegetarian, vegan and raw food restaurant. Retreats range from detox and yoga to raw food and boot camp-style weight loss escapes. Treatments run the gamut from a "First Time Cleanse" for beginners to the "Candida Cleanse," a seven-day program designed to strengthen the immune system. For more information: www.thesparesorts.net