The best US spas

FOR A COMPLETE RETREAT

Golden Door (www.goldendoor.com), San Diego. Designed in the style of an ancient Japanese inn, with vast expanses of ornamental gardens, the Golden Door houses 40 female guests needing to rebalance mind (stress management, haiku poetry), body (tap dance, Pilates, obstacle courses) and spirit (yoga, "inner person" sessions) in a beautiful rural environment. Personal fitness guides devise a seven-day body and beauty regime and a nutritionist advises how to replicate the organic, homegrown menu chez vous.

Seven nights from pounds 3,800, including treatments, transfers and meals. British Airways (0845 77 333 77) has flights from pounds 291.

FOR HIPPIES

Post Ranch Inn (www.postranchinn.com), Big Sur, California. Perched high on a hill with head-spinning views of the Pacific and the Ventana mountains, the Post Ranch's 30 rooms are divided among luxurious cabins, duplexes and stilted tree houses. As befits its old- school-hippie location, the eco-friendly resort is all about getting in touch with yourself and nature, with outdoor meditation, yoga and guided mountain hikes. The "outer you" is treated to massages, hot- stone therapy, body wraps and Jurlique facials. Post Ranch massage $115 (pounds 76); facials from $105 (pounds 70).

Seven nights with Carrier North America (01625 547040) from pounds 2,199 room only, including flights and car hire.

FOR A TOTAL BODY OVERHAUL

Spa Palazzo (www.spapalazzo.com), Boca Raton, Florida. This palatial new spa (modelled on the Alhambra in Granada, southern Spain) has 30,000 square feet of wet rooms, therapy suites, aromatic mineral baths and waterfall showers in which to tweak and treat every last inch of your body. The spa offers more than 50 global treatments (Native American healing rituals, Japanese reiki, Turkish eucalyptus scrub, Hungarian mud facial), as well as comprehensive fitness facilities, tennis and golf. Florida C facial $200 (pounds 133); Swedish massage $125 (pounds 83).

Seven nights with Wentworth Travel (01344 844622) from pounds 931, including flights and private transfers.

FOR BEACH BUMS

Little Palm Island (www.littlepalmisland.com), Florida Keys. Pampering is this spa's raison d'tre, with plenty of massages, Indonesian ritual treatments and body rubs and scrubs to be enjoyed in secluded spots around the private, five-acre island. The resort's 30 palm-thatched suites are kitted out in tropical colonial style: think wicker furniture, string hammocks, planter's chairs and muslin- draped four-posters - no TVs or phones breach the peace. Sun-lover's hydrating facial $110 (pounds 73); Caribbean seaweed body mask $130 (pounds 86).

Seven nights with Carolyn Lodge Travel (01483 276197) pounds 2,712 room only, including flights.

FOR CELEB SPOTTING

Two Bunch Palms (www.twobunch palms.com), Palm Springs.

Built in cottage/motel style around a mineral springs grotto (good for rejuvenating wallows), Two Bunch Palms is the desert retreat for Hollywood A-listers such as Donna Karan, Jack Nicholson and Goldie and Kurt (Tim Robbins and Greta Scacchi shared a steamy mud bath here in The Player).

Guests spend the day padding around in bathrobes and slippers between treatments - a comprehensive mix of pampering and therapeutic which you can do solo or deux. The Player mud bath $65 (pounds 43); Paraffin facial $85 (pounds 56).

Rooms from $320 (pounds 213) per night full board, including one treatment.

Seven-day fly-drive with Virgin Holidays (0870 2202782), Heathrow to LA, from pounds 386 (two-hour drive to Palm Springs).

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