Nestled on the outskirts of St George near Snow Canyon State Park, lava fields and Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, you’ll find Red Mountain Resort — the perfect location for an adventure inspired stay.

Each day you can enjoy several hikes or other adventures, like my favorite, yoga in the canyon where you’ll breathe in the fresh air and gaze at the red rocks. My second favorite activity was the sunrise hike, it’s well worth the early wake up call. If you are fortunate enough to be there on a full moon you can also see the moon setting over the mountains. You won’t ever be bored with the view or the list of daily activities.

Red Mountain Resort has a spa on site for all your relaxation needs, including a massage specific to hikers. The Himalayan Salt Stone was my choice and it was perfect for relaxing my sore muscles yet energizing my entire being. Make sure to arrive early to the spa to take in the view and enjoy the steam room.

There are three hot tubs and three pools on-site, one of them indoors. Red Mountain Resort also has a wellness center offering indoor or covered activities like pilates, Zumba, meditation, barre, tai chi and aqua strength. If that’s not enough, they also offer life coaching, reiki, acupuncture, photography classes, portrait sessions and wellness assessments. This resort has it all for enhancing your mind and body wellness.

The villas are spacious and comfortable for you and your family (kids 12 and up), or you and your friends. There’s a great room with a fantastic couch, two full bathrooms and a bedroom. If it’s just you travelling and you don’t want all that space, they do offer smaller rooms.

On-site dining is incredible and healthy, serving three meals a day. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style unless you prefer to get your eggs made a different way. Dinner offers a three-course menu with soup and salad bar. Enjoy what’s offered — like halibut curry or salmon and greens — but the staff are amazingly accommodating if you need to switch something out on the menu. They want to make sure you get what you need, enjoy the flavors, and replenish your energy for all your activities while keeping your wellness goals in mind.

The resort offers packages that include adventures and meals so you won’t have to worry about paying extra for anything you don’t want to. But of course there are plenty of extras, like the canyon-view yoga —- a must at Red Mountain. This is a place to not only be revitalized but also to be inspired. At Red Mountain they truly want you to leave better than when you came — so much so that they have many repeat guests. And it’s not just the guests that stick around, the staff also love this place and it shows. Red Mountain Resort is the place to enjoy nature and nurture for your mind, body and spirit year after year.

 
The Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa is Arkansas’ largest hotel and a landmark of the town of Hot Springs. This historic hotel has 478 rooms and sits on Central Avenue, right across the street from the end of historic Bathhouse Row and near several walking paths in Hot Springs National Park.

The Arlington is all about history, and you’ll feel like you’re back in Hot Springs’ heyday, especially if you’re lucky enough to book the room frequented by Al Capone. The two-room suite is spacious and has portraits of the famous gangster. He liked the room because of its clear views of the Southern Club across the street and for a great distance down Central Avenue (just in case “the heat” was on its way), and because of its secret door providing an escape route to the room next door. You’ll like it because of it spaciousness and history.

Rooms at the Arlington are traditionally decorated, befitting a hotel first built in 1875 (the current buildings dates from 1925). Some guests get to stay in the three-room presidential suite, which features star-spangled curtains and throw cushions. Unlike most hotels’ presidential suites, several presidents have actually stayed here, including Hot Springs’ most famous resident, Bill Clinton. Other famous guests of old include Babe Ruth, who always stayed at the Arlington when in Hot Springs.

The Arlington’s Lobby Bar makes classic and inventive cocktails (the banana split and pineapple upside down cake are very popular). Sip your cocktail wondering about the love life of artist Kenneth Stern. He painted the jungle mural on the piano side of the lobby in the happy days of his relationship, and the one on the bar side after their break up. The mural is dedicated “for Gloria M who should have stayed”.

Dining at The Arlington is old school. The Venetian dining room is beautiful and serves classic hotel dishes. Several nights a week there’s live music in both the dining room and lounge. If your room doesn’t include breakfast, you’re just across the street from Hot Springs’ breakfast institution, The Pancake Shop (you can even see it from the pool deck).

Those visiting Hot Springs for history — whether presidential, mobster or baseball — will enjoy the Arlington.

 
By mid-2016, the massive renovations and refurbishments of this 196-room hotel should be finished, and it will be 100% ready for guests wanting to enjoy everything Hot Springs has to offer with the homebase of a modern, clean-lined hotel.

This 14-story hotel is attached to Hot Springs’ convention centre. It is just a block from the main street of Central Avenue, with its multitude of independent shops and restaurants, and attractions like the Gangster Museum. You can walk into the national park to go hiking, to Bathhouse Row for a spa treatment, and to some of the best pizza on the planet at DeLuca’s Pizzeria.

Rooms have king or queen beds, so high you might have a little trouble climbing up into them. There’s a desk and an easy chair, and amenities include a coffee maker, microwave, and large mini fridge. The bathroom has a large sink counter, perfect for spreading out your things, and a large glassed-in shower.

In the lobby area, there’s a bar and lots of seating, as well as a large room which houses the breakfast buffet in the morning (in the evenings there’s often live music). Breakfast includes scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and grits kept hot in chafing dishes, plus muffins, whole fruit, packaged cereals, brewed coffee and orange juice.

Check the hotel’s website for information on the fitness centre, pool and spa, not yet open during my spring 2016 visit.

 
Getting to Tamaya is like disappearing into nature. Guests have to drive along a winding road through the desert until nothing is in sight but the surrounding landscape. The resort itself is painted to match desert colors and seems to rise out of the ground like a mirage. Beyond the resort lies sacred land for the indigenous population in the area that guests are not allowed to on, but it’s clearly marked so there’s no confusion.

Both valet and lot parking are available, but go with valet —- the staff is incredibly friendly and remembers all the guests. That’s echoed throughout the resort; hospitality and a positive attitude permeate everything. A concierge is available for guest use both near the front desk and upstairs in the private lounge, where snacks and drinks are served to club members on a daily basis.

The rooms are large and well appointed, with private balconies. On-site amenities include two pools (one is adults-only), a garden of fresh herbs, horse stables, a hot tub with a waterfall, hiking trails, and a bevy of classes and activities available. I did a horseback ride through the desert to the river and an adobe brickmaking class, where the guest participates in every aspect of the process from grinding the clay and mixing it with water, to stuffing it in a form and decorating it. It’s dried overnight and left in the room in the morning.

The resort’s restaurant, Corn Maiden, is consistently ranked one of the best in Albuquerque and uses local food with ingredients produced on the property.