Spas & Other Workouts

If a spa figures into your holiday plans, the grandest and largest such facility in San Juan is found at Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel, Spa & Casino, Avenida de los Gobernadores 6961, no. 187, Isla Verde (tel. 787/253-1700). You get it all here: the luxury life, with state-of-the-art massages, body wraps and scrubs, facials, manicures, pedicures, and a salon guaranteed to make you look like a movie star.

In an elegant marble-and-stone setting, there are 11 rooms for pampering, including hydrotherapy and treatments custom-tailored for individual needs. The spa also features a 7,200-square-foot (669-sq. m) outdoor swimming pool.

The Ritz-Carlton facility is the only spa in the Caribbean to offer the exotic and ritualistic treatments known to spa lovers around the world as the Balinese Massage and the Javanese Lulur. The fragrant Balinese Massage uses compression, skin-rolling, wringing, and percussion and thumb-walking to "de-stress" the most uptight guests. The Lulur originated centuries ago in the royal palaces of Central Java as part of a ritual for royal brides-to-be. The Lulur was performed daily to beautify, soften, and "sweeten" the bride's skin. Today women and men alike enjoy it.

The only resort spa that challenges the Ritz-Carlton is the runner-up, the newly launched Olas Spa at the Carib Hilton, Calle Los Rosales (tel. 787/721-0303). The spa offers everything from traditional massages to more exotic body and water therapies, using such products as honey, cucumber, sea salts, seaweed, or mud baths. You can choose your delight among the massages, including one called "Rising Sun," a traditional Japanese form of massage called shiatsu that uses pressure applied with hands, elbows, and knees on specific body points. Among body wraps is one known as Firm Away, a super firming, brown and green algae body cocoon therapy for a soft, toned, and smooth skin.

The Hilton Spa has the town's best program for hair treatments, including thinning hair and "tired perm." It also has a state-of-the-art fitness center with Universal and Nautilus weight machines, aerobics and yoga classes, treadmills, aerobicycles, loofah body polishes, and facials.

After the extravaganza of these two spas, it's a bit of a comedown at the other leading resorts. The Plaza Spa at the Wyndham Condado Plaza Hotel & Casino, Av. Ashford 999 (tel. 787/721-1000), features Universal weight-training machines, video exercycles, a sauna, whirlpools, and a spa program of facials and massage. We'd recommend this mainly for people who want only minor spa or fitness-center facilities during their stay, and not for those who want to make a spa the number one goal of their sojourn in San Juan.

El San Juan Hotel & Casino Wyndham Resort, Av. Isla Verde 6063 (tel. 787/791-1000), offers a stunning panoramic view of San Juan that almost competes with the facilities. You'll find full amenities, including fitness evaluations, supervised weight-loss programs, aerobics classes, a sauna, a steam room, and luxury massages. A daily fee for individual services is assessed if you want special treatment or care.

If your hotel doesn't have a gym or health club of its own, consider working the kinks out of your muscles at International Fitness, Av. Ashford 1131, Condado (tel. 787/721-0717). It's air-conditioned, well equipped, and popular with residents of the surrounding high-rent district. Entrance costs $10 per visit, $35 for 5 days, or $45 for a week. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 5am to 10pm, Friday from 5am to 9pm, Saturday from 9am to 7pm, and Sunday 10am to 3pm.