THE LODGE AT SKYLONDA 16350 Skyline Boulevard,
Woodside, CA 94062.
Tel. 650/851-6625,
Fax 650/851-5504,
Toll-free reservations 800/851-2222,
Web: www.skylondalodge.com
Roorns start at $170 per night, single or double occupancy; spa services are extra. Accepts major credit cards. Thirty five miles south ofSan Francisco. Shuttles to and from San Francisco InternationalAirportprovided for $25 to $55 each way, depending on timeofday. San JoseAirport one hoursouth.
Among the coastal redwoods south of San Francisco, Skylonda supports an extensive hiking program with a carefully orchestrated array of contrasting amenities and services. The effect is a serene sense of balance and wellness, a singular treatment of the senses guided by the hosts, yet directed by you.
The hiking mirrors the balancing contrasts found throughout the Skylonda experience: simple, easy paths turn skyward in challenging, tempting inclinations; deep, enveloping redwoods give way to sweeping, expansive grasslands as vistas expand all the way to the sea. Lead and tail guides carry radios, buttress your confidence, and stretch your limbs. As in life, the trails here offer a variety of challenges, and all the satisfaction of meeting such challenges.
At the lodge, the serenity continues. Cuisine of a healthy constitution plays tricks on your senses: a roast breast of duck is awash in fiddlehead fern and Chianti sauce; a warm ginger custard is crystallized to seal in the cool delight of ripe honeydew. Minimal appointments allow the significant features of your room to warm your soul. Oversized tubs gurgle a blend of salts; thread counts of astronomical proportions await you in bed. A varied tempo in the gym is tolerant of many kinetic dispositions: the vigor of circuit training, or the fluid aesthetics of T’ai Chi.
In the spa, fluidity and serenity is perfected. If you’re here on a Getaway Package, you’ll receive your daily massage, in addition to meals, hiking and other activities. This signature treatment combines acupressure energy balancing with a Swedish technique that’s sometimes cathartic. If you’re here on a four-night wellness package, you’ll add to that a number of other treatments, including the “Bliss.” Dosha balancing is the intended effect, bliss the definite cause. Here, the hands are massaged, as are the feet and the face, the hair and the scalp. Cleansing steam and Ayurvedic tea completes the experience.
The Lodge at Skylonda Services and Options |
