Grand Velas Spa in Riviera Maya

How many of you regularly visit spas? I feel like you’re either a spa person or you’re not. Having only had a few spa experiences in my life, I’d probably fall into a category with the latter. Don’t get me wrong, I like them. The experience is totally luxurious and phenomenal. However, I don’t go out of my way to incorporate this into my life regularly. Except when I’m on vacation. If you’ve been following me on Insta, you might already know where this is headed. I just got back from a trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico with 7 other blogger babes and (as you saw on IG Stories) we got to experience the spa at the resort!

More on the resort to come (spoiler alert, it was gorgeous) but for now let’s talk about the spa! We got to experience the Water Journey which is an hour long relaxation ritual built around 8 water-based facilities. Are you intrigued? We were too. Not knowing what to expect, we started our Water Journey with a glass of mango juice as the staff prepped everything. We were then taken to the most luxurious locker room complete with all the amenities you could want (they even provided hair ties for us!).

Before we began, we rinsed off in their Experience Showers with jets above and on the sides of the shower. Might be something I need in a future home! Here were the 8 steps in this hydrotherapy experience:

Sauna

Who doesn’t love a sauna? The sauna was wood in it’s interior and quite large! It felt so good to relax in silence for a little. They gave us cool towels to wipe our faces and cucumber slices to put over our eyes. We spent about 10 minutes in the sauna!

Ice Room

Coming from Chicago, I wasn’t eager to put myself in an “ice room”. I was skeptical. I’ve had enough winter, thanks! But this room felt like you were living in a breath of fresh mint gum. While it was chilly, it felt really good after just coming out of the sauna. We spent maybe 5 minutes in here!

Color Therapy Steam

This room was similar to the sauna but a lot more moist and pitch black (except from the light coming in through the glass door). There were little lights around the room that changed color throughout the experience. Sweat was the name of the game here and at this point, we gave up on trying to look cute! We spent maybe 8 minutes in here too! The girls taking you on your tour ask you how long you want to spend in each room so you can choose if you want to stay shorter or longer than the times I’m listing! I’m just giving you an idea of the general schedule!

Clay Room

After the steam room, we headed into the clay room. They handed us these little tubs of clay to rub all over our bodies (we did this experience in a bathing suit). It was basically like giving your entire body a face mask. Y’all know how big a fan I am of face masks from this post, so I was all about it! We spent about 10 minutes in here. At the end, we washed off the clay with handheld individual jets. Hello amazing skin!

Polar Pools

The look on my face said it all when the guide talked about these pools. Basically, this part of the journey consisted of 2 very long water pools/pathways. The bottom of the pool is paved with sensory pebbles and the water comes up to your knees (think of it as a shallow wading pool). The first pathway is warm, the second is cold. Let’s just say the first pool was my favorite and I definitely picked up my pace while going through the second! I’m glad I did it though and didn’t skip it – it helps circulation! This walk takes only a few minutes.

Waterfalls

There were 3 huge waterfalls just past the polar pools of different shapes. You were supposed to sit under them and let the jets massage your back! We didn’t spend a long time here – we just moved through them into the Bubble Volcano.

Bubble Volcano

This part of the Water Journey was intended to get the circulation in your legs going. There are jets coming from below in a corner of this larger pool which also holds the Waterfalls and the Bubble Beds. You stay there for a few minutes before moving on. It basically felt like a hot tub! We stayed here for 5 minutes.

Water Bubble Bed

I could have stayed here all day! You had a view of the entire spa from here. There were cement beds shaped to fit your body (i.e. they were curved to the human form) with cervical neck jets at the top. The water was warm too! Lauren, Macy, and I did our tour together so we got to watch some of the other girls taking photos while we were in this step! We spent the rest of our time here!

All in all, this was not-your-average spa experience! It was better. I thought it was so interesting to feel the effect of each room or pool. I had never heard of hydrotherapy until being at Grand Velas Resort and it was the perfect place to experience it. It was something different and unique for all of us to remember! If you’re headed to Grand Velas, give it a try! And stay tuned for a full review of the resort coming next week!

For more details on the spa, check out this website!

*In partnership with Grand Velas Riviera Maya.