At the Peninsula's pool.   (Photo: Courtesy of Espa)

• The Peninsula Spa by Espa

  700 Fifth Ave., at 55th St.; 212-956-2888

  You got a bonus, or you’re celebrating a significant birthday, or you need to collapse for a day and are willing to splurge for it. The “Detox and Renew” program at the Peninsula’s spa is decadently pricey—$900—but of all the city’s luxe spas, this one merits its price tag. The space itself is sprawling, but silent, so you get a sense of having left the city as soon as you walk through the door. Staff are always hovering solicitously, escorting you from the changing room to various appointments, ordering your lunch, and keeping you supplied with fresh glasses of chilled lemon water. You start with either a private yoga or weight-training session in the cushy gym, followed, perhaps, by a swim in the glass-enclosed pool and a few minutes in the sauna or steam room. Once you’ve changed into the velvety, plush robe and slippers, you are led to a series of three treatments (a contour- and body-firming wrap and massage, an intensive facial, and a foot treatment that’s an instant off switch for your brain), all done by top-notch therapists who’ll inquire about your various quirks (strained neck? Aching arches?) before they get to work on your stress points. At the end of the day, you’re so relaxed it might take a while to readjust to reality.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine