The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Laguna Niguel
As part of a $50 million makeover to celebrate The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel’s 40th birthday, The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Laguna Niguel was reimagined as a coastal apothecary by Parker-Torres Design. The interiors — heavy with fern and reedy greens, sandy beiges, subtle blue pops, toffee-colored woods and flowy, amorphous furniture lines — evoke oceanside forests and underwater wonderlands and the overall effect is serene and atmospheric.
Design and architecture all work to focus the attention outward at this refined coastal retreat where even the fitness center has floor-to-ceiling windows staring out at the priceless coastline and seasonally whale-dotted waters.
Many of the best services at this 12-treatment room gem incorporate botanicals found on the California coast. Some ingredients, like white sage, warm bamboo, seaweed extracts, salt stones, rose quartz and gold, have been used for years by the Indigenous Luiseño who first populated this region.
- Designers have created a beautiful sanctuary that gives the same sense of healing as being in or near the sea. Paint techniques paired with refracted light from pendants and shades that look like marine flora or anemones make some rooms feel like a moody underwater scene. Other spaces sparkle like the underside of an abalone shell while textured wallpapers and patterned carpets make you think of mossy tidepools, fog or the ebb and flow of the waves.
- There are chic and cozy separate locker rooms, each with a sauna and steam facilities, and relaxation areas for women and men.
- The remodel introduces a coed lounge. The Cove is bright, as its windows face out toward the pool deck. (Privacy is still intact courtesy of an opaque curtain.) Flip through on-theme coffee table books while sipping a trio of rotating elixirs (like cranberry elderberry water) by Pure Inventions. Crystal-charged water and Mayu Water, a naturally oxygenated and pH-balanced drink enhanced with vitamins, electrolytes and flavors, are also available. A selection of healthy snacks (see: granola bites, trail mix and banana chips) also elevates the relaxation.
- The Orange County spa relies mostly on ESPA, SkinCeuticals and Budapest-made skincare line Omorovicza for products and natural tools like warm bamboo, salt rocks, jade rollers and beach stones to implement massages, wraps and facials. It employs a global menu of techniques, including reiki, age-defying Japanese kobido and firming traditional Hungarian massage.
- The spa sits directly across from the gym with ocean views, making it easy to slink over for some heat therapy in the sauna or a muscle recovery massage after taking the complimentary daily yoga or Pilates class. It’s also next door to the family pool, so the kids can hang with the other parent while you take some me time.
- While you can reserve all of your traditional anti-aging skin-plumping facials or gentle restorative massages here, the more memorable option would be to get one of the sense-of-place services that tie back to the theme of the redesign. The Surfer’s Relief, for example, targets tired muscles and improves circulation after you’ve learned to hang 10.
- A few treatments, like the Pacific Purification Ritual, require field trips. Down by the water’s edge, receive an aura cleansing and smudging, zone out with a sound bath and guided meditation, and wake up with a rejuvenating cold plunge in the surf. After a warm shower, enjoy a snack and mala bracelet making near a fireplace. To further amplify its connection to the land, the service’s availability is dictated by the tide.
- Some New Age details are woven throughout certain treatments like meditative breathwork, guided visualization, intuitive energy healing and, of course, crystals.
