Caribbean Spa Guide

The BodyHoliday in St Lucia, makes a promise: Give us your body for a week, and we’ll give you back your mind. Well-being and a fun-filled beach vacation uniquely combined in a luxurious environment. Personalized stays, with the help of BodyHoliday Specialists, feature one daily inclusive spa treatment in the award-winning Wellness Center, plus one of the most comprehensive resort activity/exercise schedules worldwide. Simply the best way to relax on your St Lucia vacation.

The Caribbean — a luminous archipelago of 7,000 islands, islets, cays and reefs dotted with black- and white-sand beaches, shimmering aqua waters, vivid rainforests, volcanic terrain and a contagious spirit from its inhabitants — is truly a spa lover's dream. Its rich mix of African and European cultures adds to this sense of escape, even though it's just a few hours' flight from many major U.S. cities.

Caribbean spa is a fusion of local customs and indigenous ingredients — and many treatments are performed in spectacular settings (the beach, tropical gardens, treatment huts, yachts, seaside gazebos and bohios, or free-standing, hut-like treatment rooms) that enhance the islands' low-key calm.

Aloe vera, rum, beach stones and ginger find their way into Anguilla spa treatments. In Aruba, you'll heal and relax with local ingredients such as aloe, tropical fruits, herbs, cactus, desert mud and sea salts. When you're not inhaling this heady, intoxicating mix, hit the beautiful water by diving, snorkeling, fishing, parasailing, windsurfing, waterskiing, boat racing and — our favorite — swimming with dolphins.

Legend has it that in the 1500s Ponce de Leon traveled to the Bahamas looking for the fountain of youth, which he didn't find. Hundreds of years later, though, you can shed the stress with a revitalizing spa treatment in a refreshing outdoor facility. And then there's the local bounty used in Bahamian spa services: fresh coconut, pineapple, coffee beans, herbs, flowers, nutmeg, ocean seaweed, aloe vera, cucumber and local salt.

Most British Virgin Islands spa facilities are located on Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Peter Island, with many offering services indoor and outdoor with ocean views, including bohios. Spa staff members will often travel to hotel rooms, yachts — this is known as the yachting capital of the world, after all — and even other islands to perform services. Visitors sampling a British Virgin Islands spa treatment will find that many local ingredients are used for services.

Tropical gardens, bamboo beds, seaside gazebos, waterfalls and suites are just some of the settings where you'll experience spa in Jamaica. Flower and plant extracts (coconut, pineapple, frangipani and coconut) make your massage, aromatherapy, body wrap and facial that much more nourishing. Montego Bay has the most resorts and private beaches, while Ocho Rios is one of the main cruise ports. Negril has a laid-back vibe, and Kingston is near the Blue Mountains.

In St. Lucia you'll find some exotic offerings on spa menus, including those that harness the power of local ingredients like island fruits, coffee, Kweyol spiced rum, herbs, wild flowers, banana leaf, volcanic minerals and rainforest plants. Many St. Lucia spa treatments have European influences or may be inspired by the Arawak Caribs, the island's first inhabitants.

Carnival runs the spa scene in Trinidad and Tobago. Many spa treatments there are based on preparing for, or recovering from, events surrounding the season, which usually runs from December to March. Treatments at Trinidad and Tobago spa properties are often inspired by native tribes, South American, Caribbean and African cultures and may incorporate local ingredients such as eucalyptus and jasmine.