Shape of US trips to come

It only takes a quick chat with Claus Sendlinger of Design Hotels to verify what I suspected all along - that it will be spas, not resorts, that will determine how we holiday in the next 10 years. While hotels with radical chic are now a given, Pilates has replaced pi"a coladas - so it stands to reason that anywhere which nourishes mind, body and spirit in one easy-ontheeye setting is going to put wenge wood with a bit of windsurfing in the shade.

Spa as holiday isn't a new concept, but as health fads come and go, what has emerged is that wellbeing is about balance. Increasingly, what we want is equal doses of design and pampering, healthy food and state-oftheart exercise. Having learned how to focus on our needs, we now want to design a holiday around them.

While the European thalasso and tisane approach will sort out your body, in America, naturally, they are keen to sort out your head, too. If you re-evaluate your lifestyle and priorities - so the thinking goes - a healthy everything will follow. Which is why the Americans are frontrunners in designing the destination spa; and right now Arizona, with its rhythmically restful mountain-desertmountain landscape, is spa central.

THE ALTERNATIVE SPA

On the northern side of the Santa Catalinas, 40 minutes from Tucson, Miraval Life in Balance Resort has the kind of setting that inspires you to get up for sunrise to watch the light spreading over the canyon and jagged peaks. Miraval looks and feels like a regular resort - great outdoor whirlpool, lush greenery around the swimming pool, treatment spa, bar and slightly formal atmosphere in the restaurant (food not as memorable as at the other spas

I tried). Accommodation - casitastyle rooms grouped in "villages" - is functionally comfortable. Exercise instruction is excellent, in studios with mountain views, while hydrotherapy and ayurvedic treatments are given in the spa.

What Miraval is really all about, though, is self-discovery, overcoming limits and getting deep down and metaphysical.

There is some really leftfield activity here. The resort has an almost tangible vibe of something mystical - maybe it's the mysterious mountains, or the ancient stones on which Anasazi Indians once ground corn, but once you leave the buildings and head up to the kiva - a rough amphitheatre in which storytelling and stargazing classes are held - or the meditation labyrinth of stones beyond, there is total tranquillity. It's an inspiring location, too, for Miraval's piËce de rÈsistance: the Quantum leap, a sort of telegraph pole with rungs and a wobbly plastic disc on top which, once climbed, to the exhortation of fellow "leapers", you leave by jumping into the air. Naturally, guests are roped, but it's real "feel the fear and do it anyway" stuff. There are also regular sweat lodges with a medicine man and retreat workshops, such as the forthcoming five-day Connecting and Healing with Your Angels.

If that's not unusual enough, there's more. Miraval has a ranch five minutes away, from which you can simply ride out, as Janet Jackson does. Or book the Equine Experience, a "horse whisperer" session originally devised as therapy for dysfunctional children. In three hours with the horses, Miraval guests learn how to overcome anxiety and communicate clearly with them and hence, the theory goes, more successfully with their fellow humans.

Great for goddesses, solo retreatees and anyone who thinks they've done it all. They haven't till they come here.

? Miraval Life in Balance (001 520 8254000; www.miraval resort.com). From $595 single occupancy, $495 double per night, full-board, including one spa service, use of all facilities, group programmes, airport transfers. Taxes extra. Alcohol available. Erna Low (020 7590 1777) can tailormake packages from £2,350.

THE SERIOUS SPA

Canyon Ranch is a daddy of a destination spa: 23-years old, with a constantly developing programme and large staff-toguest ratio. Fergie visited in November, no doubt getting inspiration for her Tuscan spa. Just outside Tucson in the shadows of the Santa Catalina Mountains, it's perfect if you just want to chill by a pool, hike with a guide into the cactusstudded Sonoran Desert, play tennis and meet fellow guests over a liquor-free daiquiri by the fire in the seductively cosy clubhouse or at an evening talk or concert.

But what the ranch really offers is a chance to alter your lifestyle and tackle health problems on a permanent basis through consultation, workshops, fitness activities and fantastic ayurvedic body treatments. The choice of classes each day (abs express, chi gong, healthy cooking, ballet workout, spinning, meditation ...) is enough to make your head spin ("bank your energy on the first day," say the co-ordinators), and is offered in addition to programmes such as the weeklong, group Life Enhancement workshop or courses specific to those with disorders such as arthritis or diabetes. There are also high-tech medical services (at high-tech prices) from healthy heart and cholesterol consultations to bone density evaluation ($480). Guests stay in cosy, one-or-two-bed casitas (with typical beehive fireplaces and kitchenettes) in grounds so extensive a map is essential to get to the spa, exercise studios and ranch shops (for that type of therapy) without getting lost. The restaurant serves surprisingly hearty low-fat/no-fat meals (hummus with lavosh bread and sesame-seed crackers), and no one bats an eyelid if you visit the pasta bar more than once.

A home from home with only healthy temptations. You'll never want to leave.

? Canyon Ranch (001 520 749 9000; www.canyonranch.com). Until 8 June, seven-night package for twobed casita, $8,689 pp. In standard room, $4,288 pp. June-September $4,871 and $3,235. Single occupancy $5,277. Includes full board, classes, $665 allowance toward spa and sports services (eg, massages, hiking), $315 allowance toward health and healing (eg, consultation with a therapist) airport transfers and gratuities. Transfers from Tucson airport. Flight-inclusive packages, £2,869, North America Travel Service (020 7938 3737). No alcohol served.

CUTTING EDGE SPA

Mii Amo opened last year in Boynton Canyon, Sedona, a red-rock box canyon 4,000ft above the desert and a couple of hours north of Phoenix. A more spiritually potent location in which to de-stress is hard to imagine. No wonder Sedona is becoming the new Aspen - De Niro and Spielberg have homes here. At sunset, the monolithic rocks and buttes almost vibrate with colour and shadows play on the adobe-style guest casitas on the banks of a stream.

Your room at Mii Amo (native Yuman for "journey") has a beehive fireplace, tiled bath of Roman proportions and private patio; the two suites also have private massage rooms and courtyard whirlpool. Walkways lead to the spa building whose brick towers, inspired by the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians, house the treatment rooms (so you can look out at the rock formations).

A long, low corridor of brick, wood and stone connects the lobby courtyard to the indoor/outdoor pools, cafÈ and changing rooms. You move through your day slowly, from blue corn waffles in the cafÈ served by genuinely nice staff to the womblike Crystal Grotto with its crystal mandala centrepiece. The domed ceiling has a circular aperture which is directed at the sun at the summer solstice and is intended to connect earth and sky. At 8.15am in the grotto spa, trekkies set their "intentions" for the day during Morning Ritual. Watsu takes place in the tranquil indoor grotto pool, outdoor massage in "wickiups". Classes, in the exercise studio overlooking the canyon, or on the lawn, range from meditation and native movements to t'ai chi and step aerobics; treatments include clay wraps, crystal therapy and reiki.

Very beautiful, very Zen, very now.

? Mii Amo at Enchantment Resort (001 888-749-2137; www.miiamo.com). Four-day package from $1,750 to $3,340, includes seven treatments; one-week (13 treatments) from $2,800 to $5,740. Alcohol available.

Way to go

Sally Shalam flew to Phoenix with British Airways (0845 77 333 77), which flies direct daily from Gatwick. Returns from £342.50.

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