9 Texas wellness retreats where you can relax and refresh

With summer’s crazy, fun-packed days now coming to an end, how about recharging your batteries at a pampering resort this fall? Throughout Texas, in both urban and rural settings, you’ll find wellness retreats where you can kick back and unwind. Some properties offer a bounty of activities; others embrace a philosophy that less is more. Many feature stunning locations, warm hospitality, and myriad ways to hit the reset button so you can return home feeling relaxed and refreshed. Here are 9 well worth your time.  

Indulgence meets history at this elegantly restored 1857 ranch set on 33,000 acres in the Chinati Mountains and Cienega mountains in the Big Bend region near Marfa. With a private airstrip, Cibolo Creek Ranch attracts those eager to live off the grid but luxuriously, including celebrity visitors such as Mick Jagger and Tommy Lee Jones. It was once home to pioneer and cattle rancher Milton Faver, and the current owners' art and antiques now grace the property.

The ranch’s original 3 forts now house posh guest rooms, many adorned with Saltillo floor tiles and 600-thread-count sheets. Local ingredients inform the resort’s upscale Southwestern cuisine. The mountains and ranch’s spring-fed lake inspire hiking, big-game hunting, horseback riding, and paddle boating. In-room massages are available by appointment.

About 20 minutes by car from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the AAA 3 Diamond Sanford House in Arlington charms visitors with its homey feel and sophisticated offerings. The boutique hotel has 12 tastefully decorated rooms, including 6 named after classical composers.

Indulge in treatments, including massages and facials, at the hotel’s full-service spa. Then  savor cocktails at the Van Gogh Bar & Lounge and a meal at Restaurant506, which serves pecan-crusted crab cakes, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. Breakfast is included with an overnight stay.

For some urban R&R, the eclectic, 219-room Thompson Dallas fits the bill. Suites feature mod, Western-inspired decor, equipped with king beds, step-in rain showers and floor-to-ceiling views of Dallas.

The hotel has a gym, a pool deck, an outdoor lawn for yoga, and multiple restaurants. A beautiful spa offers infrared saunas, steam rooms, plunge pools, and treatments like the Thompson Total Wellness, which features a foot cleansing and balancing ritual, massage, hydrating wrap, and Allergy Relief Facial Ritual.

Later in the day, relax over cocktails at Catbird, then spring for modern Italian fare at Monarch or sushi and sake at Kessaku—both restaurants get rave reviews.

Set on 405 acres in Texas Hill Country near Austin, the AAA Four Diamond Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa checks all the boxes when it comes to effortless, family fun.

Opportunities for activities abound and include an 18-hole golf course, tennis, biking, horseback riding, fishing, shotgun trap shooting, and archery. The Main Activity Pool has a volleyball net, while Crooked River Water Park has a lazy river, a 2-story waterslide, and children’s and active pool sections. Kids will also appreciate the video arcade and complimentary s’mores kit for roasting over 2 fire pits lit daily at sunset.

Get your Zen on at Spa Django, complete with steam rooms, body treatments, and an adults-only pool. Most of the resort’s 490 rooms and suites overlook the lush Hill Country. Its various restaurants and bars serve everything from smoked brisket sandwiches to mac-and-cheese.

There’s something for everyone Rancho Viejo Resort and Country Club, a Spanish Colonial–style getaway with 54 newly refurbished rooms and suites. Known for its 18-hole championship golf course (once a citrus orchard), the resort also has two lighted tennis courts, a landscaped swimming pool, and a fitness center with daily classes.

In addition to evening entertainment like karaoke night, the resort offers casual and formal dining. The Agave Grill menu features Mexican favorites like beef fajitas and chicken enchiladas.

Catch your breath in lavish style at the Commodore Perry Estate, a newly reimagined Auberge Resorts Collection refuge that opened in July 2020.

Initially built in 1928 for businessman Edgar Perry and his wife, the exquisitely furnished Italianate mansion has 5 signature suites, a snazzy bar, and a glamorous indoor-outdoor restaurant with an organic garden. Also new is a 3-story, European-style inn with 42 guest rooms and 7 terraced suites.

Enjoy a dip in the property’s swimming pool, visit the gym, or partake in nearly a dozen curated experiences, from creating your own cocktail elixirs to candlelight meditation in the resort’s lush English garden.

The motto at the eclectic, art-centric AAA Four Diamond Stanton House in El Paso is, “Every stay at Stanton House begins as a blank canvas.” And what a restful way to begin your stay. Each of the hotel’s 42 rooms and suites contains a unique piece of artwork from the hotel’s collection, which also graces public areas.

Head to Blush Boutique and Spa for some self-care—consider a multihead Vichy Shower treatment or float in the gravity-free tank, which is said to ease the brain into a dreamy half-asleep, half-awake state.

Relax some more over cocktails and dinner at Taft-Diaz, which serves tempting bites like tempura artichoke tacos and grilled rib eye with charred avocado.

To jump-start a health regimen, head to Deer Lake Lodge Spa Resort, whose programs last 3, 4, or 5 days in the quietude of the retreat’s woodland surroundings. Each detox cleanse includes daily yoga, life-enhancement and nutrition classes, 2 daily detox drinks, nutritional supplements, and one or more colon hydrotherapy treatments.

An on-site spa offers pampering wraps, scrubs, massages, and facials, as well as therapies like Iridology, which looks at your health via the iris. Accommodations include stand-alone cabins or lodge suites, all with luxury bedding and a fireplace.

Leave the stress of the city behind at the AAA 4 Diamond Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa, a luxurious 289-room sanctuary on 27 acres of greenery in Houston. Get active at The Houstonian Club via its 3 pools, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, gym and exercise classes, indoor basketball courts, and outdoor fitness trail.

Then, unkink muscles at the newly renovated Trellis Spa, now one of the largest spas in Texas. In addition to 47 à la carte treatments—including touchless ones like the MLX Dome for light therapy—the spa has outdoor soaking pools, a garden, an interior reflection pool, a makeup salon and a pedicure bar.

After a relaxing day at the spa, head to the hotel’s TRIBUTE at the Houstonian restaurant for a dinner of luxe Tex-Lex cuisine from Texas, Louisiana, and Mexico (reserve the wine room for 2).

Author and journalist Victoria Abbott Riccardi has been published in Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, and the New York Times.