Carefree
Arizona


The Experience

Physically and psychologically set apart from the cluster of five-star resorts around Scottsdale's Camelback Mountain, the Boulders, 25 minutes north, seems to organically grow out of the surrounding rocks. In fact, everything about this resort seems organic: The adobe buildings are the color of the earth and the massive granite boulders for which the hotel is named, the two golf courses are composed of native grasses that require less water, and bugs are banished with jalapeño pepper spray, not chemicals. A stay here can be a private, serene escape, actively athletic, or completely sybaritic via the Golden Door Spa -- though the best is some combination of all three.

The Rooms

The pueblo-style, two-story adobe casitas offer generous 550-square-feet rooms on each floor, each with either balconies or terraces, and all with spectacular views of the desert, the mountains, the golf courses or the 12-million-year-old boulders -- although the best certainly are the latter, which are gently lighted and even more impressive at night. Warmed by a fireplace, as well as by high-beamed ceilings and distressed-leather armchairs, the casitas will be even more dramatic after a 2007 renovation that will improve the somewhat-dated bathrooms and open up some walls so that more of the landscape is visible.

The Service

The bellmen and the front desk are welcoming and casually charming, though all the while hyperefficient. Service in the Golden Door Spa is warm and effusive; you may, on the other hand, find service at the main pool so subtly grudging that you can barely put your finger on it, but grudging nonetheless.

The Highlights

Staying in such beautiful surroundings has a certain spiritual quality that captures even the most irreverent. But there's plenty of physical activity available, including hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, ballooning, horseback riding and trying out the challenging golf courses. The spa is a world unto itself, with its own pool and restaurant and regular treatments along with New Agey offerings like Hopi medicine wheels and underwater "back-to-the womb" experiences. It's possible to spend whole days there, starting with complimentary exercise classes, on to spa treatments, a laze by the pool, meals, even spa cooking classes. But you can find peace outside the spa as well, especially at the main pool at the foot of the highest of the boulders, where a cascading waterfall lulls you into total relaxation.

-- Laurel Delp

Find Hotel Deals on Yahoo Travel»