Nestled along the shores of scenic Lake Austin in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Lake Austin Spa Resort offers guests the luxury of a... more »
Nestled along the shores of scenic Lake Austin in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Lake Austin Spa Resort offers guests the luxury of a world-class spa and the warmth of a best friend?s lake house. The resort, named #1 Destination Spa in North America by Condé Nast Traveler and #9 in the world by Travel + Leisure offers all-inclusive packages with accommodations in one of 40 lakeside guest rooms, three gourmet meals daily, indoor and outdoor fitness activities and classes. Those seeking rejuvenation of the mind, body and soul can choose from over 100 indulgent services at the LakeHouse Spa.
BedandBreakfast.com
35 year old with a luxury budget, traveling for leisure
I am a spa hound. I've been to Miraval, Canyon Ranch, the Lodge at Skylonda, the Inn at Spanish Bay and Casa Palmero. I decided to try this spa because I wanted to get away from my San Francisco digs and because this spa was ranked as the #2 spa last year by SpaFinder. My conclusion: whoever did the judging had never been to a spa!
The good: the robes, the slippers (they are yours to keep), the room is well-appointed, they have DVDs you can watch at night, the hot chocolate, the room's shower, the indoor swimming pool
The bad: they don't tell you that the airport transfer is not included and requires paying the driver directly (it's $90, not $75 as listed on the website); the massages were terrible - apparently deep tissue means run your fingers over a body part without pressure in Texas, even when I asked for more firm pressure, I got nothing even close to what I can get at my local massage places in San Francisco; same thing with the facial - just ordinary and really over-priced; the meals - not a lot of vegan options and while I do like cheese, everything had cheese and the dessert did not have calorie counts; in addition, this is just not the place for a 35 year old woman who is in shape - the classes were super easy/not challenging and the hikes were basically walks - it was particularly disappointing to see that I was more in shape than most of the fitness staff
If weight loss or even weight maintenance is your goal this is NOT your place. If you want a nice hotel room in a nice setting (though the hotel is NOT situated on the open part of the Lake so it looks more like a river - note to anyone who still wants to go after this review: don't pay more for the supposed Lake view rooms - all the rooms are in one line and this supposed view is really no different than the other rooms - save your money!) then by all means go stay at this place. But a true destination spa experience this is not.
It's really a hotel with a few services added on that were really not that great. Another perspective - the same guy who led me through a stress relief class also read my Tarot cards!