CITYist

Vacations are always intended to be a time to relax. But sometimes with travel arrangements, and the urge to indulge in more cocktail hours than you are used to, you really do need a vacation, from your vacation. Not so with the Grand Velas Resort in the Mayan Rivera. This all-inclusive resort is high-end style with relaxing pools state of the art modens rooms, but the spa experience takes this property to another level.

The most impressive part of Grand Velas is the Water Journey area of the spa. Guided by a personal spa valet, the Water Journey is an hour long relaxation ritual built around the use of eight, specially designed water-based facilities. The rooms range from a steam room complete with clay to rub on your sun kissed skin, to an ice room to close up those newly cleared out pores and tighten your skin in sub zero temperatures.

The best treatment is the Nik te ha, which, in the Mayan language, means water lily. This unique underwater massage is guided by a spa therapist who fings different ways to bend your body underwater that releases stress and sory bones and muscles. When the body is submerged in water, the muscles relax, flexibility increases, the mind begins to let go and the spirit flows in harmony with the energy of the universe.

Another treatment you won’t find anywhere else is the Mayan Shawl Treatment—an experience that aids in the alignment of the posture, and establishes an important emotional connection and creating a rhythm to activate relaxation and self-healing. Shawls are used, moving from one side of the body to the other in order to work with accumulated tension and emotions, resulting in relaxation and immediate liberation from these feelings.

After a long day at the spa, the resort doesn’t fail to impress at all of its restaurants. My favorite was Piaf (named for French singer and actress Edith Piaf) where native Frenchman Michel Mustiere serves foie gras, escargot, black truffles, duck confit, and pillowy soufflés in a cabaret-inspired dining room decorated with Swarovski crystals and red velvet.

If you want to indulge in local flavors, try Frida, the resort’s destination Mexican restaurant, where Chef Daniel Garcia Gomez serves his festive fare in an elegant indoor/outdoor setting with a bougainvillea-covered terrace overlooking the beach. The best part is the roaming mixologist who visits every table with a top-shelf tequila trolley, concocting a variety of seasonal margaritas.