In the Spa Light

HIGH-END SPAS ARE SPROUTING UP IN RITZY HOTELS AROUND THE GLOBE. CHECK INTO THESE FOUR RETREATS— YOU MAY NEVER WANT TO CHECK OUT

The new La Prairie Spa at the Beverly Hills Hotel is a 2,000square-foot, light-flooded haven. The sleek design, replete with Italian porcelain tiles, Brazilian sage stone countertops, and French doors that open onto banana-andpalm-tree views, is a modern but muted variation of the Pink Palace's pink-and-green color scheme. The menu of services takes L.A.'s die-hard approach to beauty to heart, with everything from the famed Caviar Firming Facial to a two-hour pre-party treatment called "The Changing Room," to the "Diamond Perfection" treatment, which exfoliates using the real thing.

Nestled in the new Time Warner complex overlooking Central Park is the Spa at Mandarin Oriental. Guests are asked to arrive 40 minutes prior to their scheduled appointments in order to decompress. The spacious, serene tea lounge and crystal steam baths will do the trick. The spa offers more options than a Chinese takeout menu, including chakra balancing with hot stones, honey-sesameand-green-tea scrubs, the Pudabhyanga foot ritual, and the amazing Life Dance Massage, consisting of a body scrub, facial, shiatsuinspired massage, and head massage.

Gotta love the Swiss—they know from pampering. Une Autre Histoire, the new spa at La Reserve, sits waterfront on Lake Geneva. There's a heated indoor pool, a gym, fitness classes, a dietetic restaurant (no spaetzle here), a hair salon, saunas, steam baths, and a solarium. Disappear into one of the 17 beauty rooms to indulge in skin-firming caviar treatments, creme de cafe massages, which purport to tone the thigh area, and fancy infra-red light techniques that help slim and trim your figure.

The Stoke Park Club, in Buckinghamshire, England, has been catering to the well-heeled since 1908. And now it's opened the Spa SPC, a $23.6 million facility set on 350 posh acres of greenery. Three indoor tennis courts, a 27-hole golf course, a 4,000-square-foot gym, an indoor pool, as well as spa products from Elemis, Kanebo, and the Japanese cult line SK-II are offered. The eclectic design is a collection of elements: plasma-screen televisions, Palladian-style architecture, B&B Italia and George Smith furnishings, and heated marble floors. The world-exclusive Prada Beauty Bio-Glow Facial and the light-and-color hydrotherapy are musthave services.

DANY LEVY