Whether you are planning your honeymoon, or your second honeymoon, or just want to get away for a romantic stay, you’re fortunate because Wisconsin has great places to get away to.
Some of them are within an hour to an hour and a quarter from the greater Milwaukee area. Two of the top destination spas are also within a short distance from Milwaukee.
The Osthoff Resort with its Aspira Spa, and the American Club with the Waters Spa have received awards and accolades from top travel magazines. Both resorts have, recently, in different years, received Condé Nast’s readers’ polls as best resorts in the Midwest.
The Osthoff was rated as one of the top resorts in the U.S. in Travel and Leisure, and its Aspira Spa has been voted the third best spa in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
The American Club is also rated as a five star resort by the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The Osthoff Resort is in Elkhart Lake, a charming small town with no traffic lights. On its property is a wonderfully soothing man-made lake with a waterfall and a gazebo.
Facing the resort is the clear Elkhart Lake and its small beach. A beach bar is open during the summer, with a live and lively outdoor band performing. Tables with large umbrellas and chaise lounges dot the area.
There is an indoor and two outdoor pools. Each of its suite accommodations, with one to three bedrooms, has high topped beds, whirlpool baths, a fireplace, a kitchen, dining area and balcony.
The Aspira Spa is a feng shui spa with curved walls throughout. A wonderful private couple’s suite with its own bath, shower, whirlpool, and patio is great for a together spa time.
The highlight of the spa is the Meditation Room, which is a circular room with a sunken copper pit lit by candles with a water wall, where you can sit and relax. Many of the spa’s treatment rooms have fireplaces in them.
Types of massages offered include the Cedars Massage, using cedar branches from the area for aroma therapy, and the Sacred Waters Massage, which uses the waters of Elkhart Lake warmed in leather pouches.
The spa is on the lower level of the resort so you don’t have to go out in inclement weather.
The American Club is in Kohler and is spread out, with its several golf courses, a fitness center, a nature reserve, shopping center and several restaurants.
A complimentary van service shuttles guests to every part. In winter, sleigh rides are offered.
Each of the rooms is different, some are mini-suites. All the latest in Kohler bathroom equipment is offered, with multifaceted showers de rigueur. Complimentary tea and coffee with cookies are offered in the 1920s red brick main building’s library.
The Waters Spa is on three floors in the Carriage House. A waterfall cascades into a warm tile lined pool in the spa’s lower level. Hot and cold immersion pools along with a sauna and steam room are in both the women’s and the men’s locker rooms.
Complimentary tea time offerings with chocolate dipped strawberries and scones, evening hour wine and beer, and breakfast are among the amenities for those staying in the carriage house.
If you go during warm weather, you can enjoy one of several of its top ranked golf courses which golfers come to from all over the country. PGA tournaments are regularly held here.
In the summer a glassed greenhouse imported from England offers coffees and ice cream.
Its fitness center has two pools, indoor tennis courts and an exercise room. In warm weather swimming is in a small lake with its own beach.
Both the Osthoff and the American Club offer special couple’s packages.
West of Milwaukee in Oconomowoc is the Olympia Resort and Spa. It has both an indoor and a huge outdoor pool and a large workout room. An on-the-property lake has a bubbling water spout in the summer. It has a two story lobby with a fireplace which is lit on cooler days.
Each of its accommodations is also different with some having whirlpool baths. Some accommodations are large, like apartments with living rooms, a mini-kitchen and full sized dining tables.
The resort has an onsite nightclub with live entertainment on weekends.
The spa offers complimentary warm and cool Roman Baths. It has some great pedicure treatments like great smelling peppermint pedicures.
The resort is a short distance from the town of Oconomowoc which is charming to tour.
If you would like to feel like royalty in your accommodations, the Sybaris in Mequon is a wonderful place for that intimate romantic honeymoon, anniversary or getaway.
Several of the suites have 22-foot swimming pools, whirlpools and misting steam rooms. The most opulent suite, The Chalet, has a 10-foot water slide into the pool from the second story open bedroom, as well as a waterfall, with mirrors around the pool, a misting steam room and a private garage.
All the accommodations have open fireplaces, massage chairs, whirlpools and king-sized beds with plush mattresses. Being in the suites is like having your own private mini resort.
Sybaris was featured in Milwaukee TV on the Morning Blend, as well as on Fox News, as being a great place for a Valentine’s Day destination. For special holidays, complimentary champagne and rose petals on the bed are part of the stay.
If you feel like driving and getting out of Wisconsin there are also several Sybaris Suites in Illinois and one in Indiana.
All of these getaway destinations have websites and the spas have toll-free telephone numbers.
Arlene Becker Zarmi is a freelance writer whose work has been published in more than 40 publications nationwide. She was also the producer and host of a travel TV show for Viacom, and is a Jewish genre and portrait artist.
Loading ...