Anantara Hua Hin named in UK Conde Nast Traveller’s 2006 Spa Awards

The announcement recognizes Anantara Spa as one of the best spa experiences in the world, placing at number 12 out of the 15 selected spas. The award-winning spas were chosen by the readers according to a number of experience criteria such as ambience, spa treatment and service.

Anantara Resort Hua Hin General Manager, Ivan Casadavel, said the Resort was proud to have been recognized with the Conde Nast Traveller award. “We believe that through our commitment to service, unique philosophy and unparalleled luxurious setting we are able to provide guests a truly distinctive and indigenous spa experience. The Anantara Spa echoes the elegance and unique experience and ambience found throughout this exceptional and beautiful resort” he said.

From ancient Ayurvedic massage therapy and dosha-balancing colour therapy steam baths to body butter skin nourishing and hydrating facials that use ancient Thai herbal recipes, the renowned Anantara Spa menu has something for every body.

Designed to be a garden spa and set amidst the beachside resort's lagoon pools and bounteous tropical foliage, the Anantara Spa was created by award-winning landscape architect Bill Bensley.

Each of the Spa's seven suites is set in its own individual garden courtyard, three with a deep terrazzo bath designed for two and all with dual alfresco 'rain' showers suspended in bronze cages modeled on traditional Thai fish-traps.

The Spa was designed in harmony with the resort's gardens and lotus-covered lagoons. Three of the spa suites are accessed via a wooden jetty, lit at night by flaming oil lamps, which runs around the edge of the lagoon. From here guests enter their spa suite via huge wooden doorways topped with decorative stone lintels, behind which is their private courtyard and treatment room.

The spa’s signature treatment is the three-hour Culture of Anantara, which starts with a Shirodhara massage often referred to as the ‘massage of the third eye’ and considered one of the most powerful Ayurvedic treatments available. This is followed by a relieving Back Massage therapy in which strong massage strokes are applied on areas of the back that carry stress to release and relax tensed muscles. The treatment culminates in the luxuriantly timeless Honey and Milk-infused bath.

Massages at Anantara Spa range from Shirodhara and Ayurvedic to Shiatsu, traditional Thai and aromatic oil massages.

The 187-room Anantara Resort Hua Hin is a distinctive Thai village-style resort located on the sunrise coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Hidden amidst 14 acres of luxuriantly landscaped mature gardens and lagoon pools, the picturesque resort enjoys a beachfront location at the quiet end of Thailand’s historic royal seaside town.

Anantara is taken from an ancient Sanskrit word that means 'borderless water', a name chosen for this element’s association in many Asian cultures with wealth and good fortune. Inspired by local architecture and sensitive to the indigenous culture, Anantara Resorts are currently located in the seaside town of Hua Hin (220kms south of Bangkok), on Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand and in the Golden Triangle in the country’s north. Anantara Resort Maldives opened in September 2006.