We love the New Year – it provides the perfect clean slate and the chance (and motivation) to transform your lifestyle. While you can make positive changes anywhere – and any time of the year, for that matter – some places are better suited to helping you reach your goal of a healthier, happier you. And a vacation is always nice, right?
You know what New Year’s Eve means: cocktail dresses, wild parties, a midnight countdown, and just hours until your New Year’s resolutions kick in. It can be tough to start in on your new diet-and-exercise regimen — especially after a night of raucous debauchery — so we’ve come up with the top five last-minute active getaways to help you jumpstart your goals for 2012! We have a destination for every kind of woman in every kind of location (with great deals to boot) so getting in shape will be fun – we promise!
Vacations are a time to relax and unwind—and indulge yourself a little—but it doesn't mean you completely give up on your workout regimen! Sure, some hotel gyms are tiny and others are nonexistent, but step outside the box! There are tons of parks and trails for hiking, biking, walking, and running no matter where you go. So check out our favorites in five different cities, and get ready to break a sweat!
Affinia Experience Kits are filled with information and amenities to help you discover and enjoy popular urban spaces. Each kit is delivered in a basket, and is free of charge during your stay.
The Walking Tour Kit comes with an iPod Shuffle or Nano loaded with Affinia Walking Tour and workout playlists; City Walks deck of cards; city guidebook featuring popular walking tours; StreetWise city map; pedometer; and a towel. The StayFit Kit includes a yoga mat; stretching blocks; yoga, Pilates, and boot camp DVDs; workout bands; wrist/ankle weights; and StreetWise city map.
If breaking a sweat with the premier cardio equipment or free and machine weights in The W’s SWEAT Fitness Center isn’t enough for you, turn up the intensity with a personal trainer, available upon request. Looking to soak up San Fran’s beautiful skies? Puma Biomega bike rental is available free of charge; explore the city with this Danish-made bike that is designed to rid everyday annoyances from riding in the urban environment.
The Palace is the only hotel in New York to offer complimentary sneakers and workout clothes to all guests. Yes, the idea of wearing someone else’s sneakers is a little gross, but they take up a lot of room in a suitcase. The gym also provides guests with bottled water and fruit.
While some prefer the traditional headphones and a treadmill, others need to spice up their workouts more frequently. The Canyon Ranch, Miami has a plethora of fitness freebies to keep you occupied, but the most notable feature (in our opinion) is the rock climbing wall. You’ll be provided with a helmet and a harness, as safety comes first at this health and wellness center.
The Four Seasons Boston is one of the city’s top hotels, with amazing service, a parkfront location, and a great health club with a beautiful pool. The 8th-floor fitness center has four Precor elliptical machines, six treadmills, two stair climbers, and three bikes, all with individual TVs and printouts of the channels available. There’s also a great selection of free weights, medicine balls, fitness balls, a stretching mat, seven Cybex weight machines, both bottled water and fruit-infused water, chilled towels, and apples.
Amenities at Le Meridian include free headphones (to keep the workout going) and fruit (to help recharge after). Among other bonuses: complimentary laundering of your workout clothes. Sweat, baby sweat.
Like everything else at The W, the gym is brand new. Sweat, as it’s called, offers privacy, natural light, and tons of equipment—top-notch TechnoGym strength-training and cardio equipment (shown above) with personal TVs and iPod outlets (and free ear buds), free weights, boxing training bags, and more. Among the amenities are yoga mats and boxing gloves for the speed bags.
