Vail Cascade Resort & Spa landed at number two on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2013 readers’ poll of the Top 100 U.S. Resort Spas, and much of that acclaim is due to the sheer luxury of the services, dubbed some of the area's best by Denver Magazine and Vail Daily. Body treatments nourish and exfoliate the skin with ingredients such as honeysuckle custard and blood orange oil. Aromatherapy steam rooms drain away tension with scented vapors. Even before the pampering begins, visitors get to bask in the glow of the central fireplace from hand-carved chaise lounges, a cup of organic tea steaming in their hands.

Equally important, however, is how Vail Cascade Resort & Spa gives visitors both an escape from and entry into the area’s finest activities. A chairlift to nearby ski slopes lies just outside the lobby doors, along with hiking trails and shuttles to Vail Village. In winter, skiers and snowshoers can ease into the heated infinity-edge pool and savor the surreal majesty of Gore Creek and the pine-covered mountains at twilight. In summer, a creekside flight of craft beer at Atwater on Gore Creek relaxes muscles after a day of biking, whitewater rafting, and golfing. That alpine mountain-lodge atmosphere also permeates the 78,000-square-foot Aria Athletic Club & Spa, with its abundant fitness classes and lumberjacks wearing yoga pants.