On the way back, save time for a stop at Ten Thousand Waves, a Japanese-style mountain spa where guests can reserve time in a private teak hot tub.
Another romance between transients is at the center of "Ornamental Hairpin," set in a mountain spa where a soldier (Chishu Ryu, Ozu's favorite leading man) is drawn to a geisha (the great Kinuyo Tanaka, once married to Shimizu) trying to escape her life in Tokyo.
Not one grandiose formal gesture or expression of feeling strikes me as sincere in this wobbling, honey-drenched pudding of Eurokitsch, starring Michael Caine as a retired composer contemplating existence and death and nubile young women at a Swiss mountain spa for the inordinately wealthy and contemplative.
As she herself laments, "Technology has made it too easy to carry our work with us".Except to the very wealthy, who visited fashionable mountain spas to escape the heat and disease of the cities, rest and relaxation were mysteries to most Americans in the 1800s.
From €86 half-board (00 39 0471 840138; lasvegasonline.it) Vigilius Mountain Resort Lana, Italy The designers of this mountain-spa-at-the-top-of-a-cable-car have triumphed, with interiors as serene as the 1,500m setting.
Its six-day Mountain & Spa pass costs from CHF160 (£119).
He added that a spa, mountain resort and "tropical golf course" will soon be added.
Photo Courtesy Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa - Paradise Valley, Arizona.
Hydrotherapy, avidly practiced by the ancient Greeks and popularized by the Romans at such resorts as Bath, England, enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the 19th century in the form of "water cures," first in home-based versions and later at mountain retreats and spas in New York, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Georgia.
OUTDOOR SPACE: A covered patio, adjacent to the pool and spa, has mountain views.
Some noteworthy spas in Mexico include Rancho la Puerta, in Tecate, and Maya Tulum Resort, in Tulum; and in Canada, Hills Health Ranch, Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa, and Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa, in British Columbia.
