Just a few miles outside the city on the shores of Lake Austin, you’ll find a spa called the Lake Austin Spa Resort. In 2005, Lake Austin Spa was voted by Travel + Leisure as one of the top ten best destination spas in the world. The first time we stayed at Lake Austin was for a special birthday weekend. By the end of the weekend, we were so relaxed we didn’t want to leave.  Our casita had its own patio facing the lake.  The casitas are tastefully decorated with designer details such as decorative iron work made by a local craftsman.  The decoration throughout the resort is an eclectic mix of pieces from around the world.  

In between spa treatments you can lounge by the pool, walk through the gardens, or take a class in cooking, fitness or aromatherapy.  The resort offers a large variety of fitness classes including face yoga, t’ai chi, pilates, spinning, nia dance, kickboxing, retro aerobics, body pump and meditative yoga to overnight guests.  The pilates and nia dance classes I took were great. In the mornings you can join a nature walk and in the afternoons be on the lake with a kayak or water bicycle.  

Meals, prepared by executive chef and cookbook author Terry Conlan, are served in the Lakeside Dining room and are delicious, despite being lean cuisine.  The menu is always changing and the presentation is colorful and creative.   For lunch you might have Verde enchiladas, a BBQ Portabella burger or Red Snapper.  I had the Snapper on my second visit and it was ok, but the Key Lime Pie was sumptuous.  For dinner, enjoy appetizers, soups, salads and imaginative entrees like citrus crusted salmon, Tuscan tenderloin and pesto crusted scallops. 

The Lake House Spa is a new addition to the resort and is a stunning limestone building with 20 indoor treatment rooms, walled gardens with outdoor treatment cabanas and two pools.  Recently I enjoyed a “Lake House Spa Full Day Away” package.  For spa treatments I chose the Texas Starry night massage, a Radiant Results facial and a Pumpkin pedicure.  If you’ve never had a Pumpkin pedicure, and I have to admit to being partial to pumpkin, I’d suggest you give it a try.

Whether you’re planning a weekend at the spa or just the day, the Lake Austin Spa Resort is a perfect place for a get together.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 at 2:51 am and is filed under Central U.S., Eats, Pampering, Where to Stay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.