The Best Eco-Friendly Wellness Resorts for Guilt-Free Zen

Are you in need of some hard-earned TLC? While green juice and viral hacks might be a short-term solutions, the best way to recharge your system is to get away from computer screens. While the idea of hopping on a plane might make any eco-conscious person cringe, these wellness resorts promise relaxation without too many added emissions.

The 10 winners of this Green Matters Approved contest are listed below. Read more about our Green Matters Approved contests here.

Playa Viva in Mexico is a wellness resort offering yoga, massages, and holistic hosts to guide your wellness journeys. The resort is a Certified B Corp that uses solar energy. Additionally, Playa Viva founded a turtle sanctuary, La Tortuga Viva, to help raise funds and protect olive ridley, green, and leatherback turtles from predators and poachers. The resort also gives back to the local community in Juluchuca and its surrounding areas through its Regenerative Trust.

The Portola Hotel & Spa at Monterey Bay in California boasts over 40 signature treatments, including massages, aromatherapy, facials, seaweed cocoon wraps, private baths, waxing, and more. The hotel is LEED-certified Silver and uses LED lighting, low-flow faucets, toilets and showerheads, hypoallergenic and organic mattresses, Energy Star televisions, a green cleaning program, and low-VOC paints. Additionally, the Portola Hotel & Spa has won awards for its sustainability such as the Good Earthkeeping Award.

Hotel Terra Jackson Hole in Wyoming offers its "Chill Spa" on the roof. In addition to using 100 percent organic ingredients, spa treatments include hot stone massages, organic facials, MediSpa treatments such as microcurrent skin tightening, body scrubs and therapies, and more. The resort is Wyoming's first LEED-certified Silver hotel and has received a 4 Green Key rating for sustainability.

The Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge in Vancouver, Canada, has a Healing Grounds Spa that promotes physical and spiritual wellness. The resort offers hot stone massages, energy work, facials, body wraps, and yoga. Green practices include a ban on single-use plastics, using only locally sourced organic ingredients or directly from the on-site kitchen garden and greenhouse, and a conservation program that has been in place since 2001 for salmon conservation.

The Lodge also prioritizes several sustainability projects including an Environmental Legacy Program funded privately by lodge guests to support sustainability initiatives, a new solar energy and battery microgrid system, and a bi-annual fundraiser called the Baillie Lodges with proceeds donated to a local community organization.

The Lodge at Blue Sky in Utah's Edge Spa features products with "natural, bloom-to-bottle ingredients, some of which have been grown or wild-harvested on-site." The wellness resort offers massages, facials, cold plunges, sound baths, and more. The Lodge at Blue Sky has a wastewater treatment facility, does not use single-use plastics, and has an organic, regenerative farm. The resort also has an on-site horse rescue foundation.

Hyatt offers an "unforgettable" spa experience at Dreams Macao Beach Resort in Punta Cana. Treatments include hydrotherapy, such as cold plunges and saunas, a full-service salon, facials, massages, and body treatments. As for its green initiatives, Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana has a photovoltaic park to offset carbon emissions and a mission to prioritize environmental stewardship.

The Ranch Hudson Valley in New York State promises a "transformative wellness experience," per its website, that includes daily massages, sound baths, saunas, yoga, cold plunges, and more. The resort has a Regenerative Organic Certified garden and entirely plant-based food. Additionally, The Ranch is partnered with the New York-New Jersey Trails Conference and is involved in Virtuoso’s Sustainability Council and the Ranch Global Wellness Scholarship Program. It also established a partnership with the Clean Water Foundation (CWF).

Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, Canada, promotes the healing power of the Southern Great Bear Rainforest. The resort offers customized massage treatments, Shiatsu and Ayurvedic head massage, indoor and outdoor yoga, plunges, and more. Nimmo Bay utilizes a hydropower system, a wastewater management system, and carbon offsets. The resort also sustainably sources its culinary ingredients.

The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park in Pennsylvania is the perfect weekend getaway into nature. You can go hiking, swimming, kayaking, birding, biking, fishing, or boating. The Nature Inn has a LEED Certified Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, geothermal heating and cooling, a rainwater harvesting system, and uses over 80 percent Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood in its framing.

At Impression Isla Mujeres by Secrets in Mexico, relaxation begins with a complimentary 20-minute wellness experience. The resort's Pure Spa treatments include Hammam therapy, messages, meditation in a "Floatarium" pod, soaking tubs, and salon services. Impression Isla Mujeres champions responsible tourism and conservation as a partner of the Saving Our Sharks Foundation. Additionally, the resort has solar panels, a strict no-single-use-plastics policy, and an on-site glass bottling plant.