Santa Fe's restorative powers are legendary. People have been traveling here for centuries to renew body, mind and spirit in the area's high, dry climate, natural hot springs, sun-filled days and endlessly starry nights. There's no better place to find sanctuary for the soul.

Visitors today can spend their entire vacations restoring health and vitality at Santa Fe spas. A virtual oasis in the high desert, Santa Fe offers a variety of spas staffed by master healers and body workers. Choose from treatments utilizing ancient remedies of the Southwest or timeless traditions from Thailand, Indonesia and other far-flung places.

You can devote a single day or a full week to relieving every ounce of stress and replenishing your energy and enthusiasm. Many of these spas include restaurants that serve healthy, organic food so you can be mindful about what you eat.

You may want to stay downtown in a full-service spa resort where you can relax with a massage, a rose-petal bath and an herbal facial then walk out the door to explore the city's historic sites, shops, galleries and restaurants.

For a more remote retreat, take a short drive into the mountains to a Japanese-style spa. Stay in a suite surrounded by pine trees and let the stress melt away in an outdoor hot tub beneath a full moon after treating yourself to a hot stone massage, an herbal body wrap or a salt glow. A few miles south of Santa Fe, a serene resort set among spring-fed ponds, towering cottonwoods and glorious gardens invites you to relax and recharge with massage and body treatments and also to be inspired by art classes.

There's no end to the spa possibilities in Santa Fe, from a candlelight massage for couples to a warm water massage in an outdoor pool to an ancient Indonesian ritual for royalty.

So turn yourself over to the experts and let them work wonders, soothing your body from head to toe and heart to soul.