If you’re that person who sleeps with your phone next to your head and spends more time on vacation checking email and Instagramming every pretty sunset than relaxing, it’s time to check yourself into one of these luxury hotels for a little digital detox.
Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo
Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo is all about using technology to make your visit more comfortable — you can even check in via Skype from the car on the way to the resort. However, once you arrive, it wants you to take a real vacation. The hotel is challenging its guests to go without their phones for one day. Let the staff put your iPhone away in a safety deposit box for 24 hours, and it’ll give you a copy of “24 Things to Do Without Technology at Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica.” The booklet offers ideas for tech-free activities, such as a morning kayak trip, Latin dance class, sunset catamaran cruise or game of chess on the terrace accompanied by a glass of real coconut water. After the digital detox, your phone will be returned with a new custom cover featuring one of the resort’s memorable vistas.
Lake Placid Lodge, Lake Placid, N.Y.
Surrounded by thick forest in the Adirondacks, the luxuriously rustic Lake Placid Lodge is an ideal place to escape the everyday. Book the Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star hotel’s two-night Check-In To Check-Out package to ensure you make the most of the peaceful setting. Check in all your electronic devices upon arrival and get busy with all the activities the resort offers, including ice skating, sledding and cross-country skiing in the winter and bonfires in the summer. The package includes a one-hour cooking class, hiking, boating, yoga and fishing, and a choice of a New York Times bestseller.
Located within the city’s busy Loop, there’s always a whirl of activity outside Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco Chicago. Upstairs in the Tranquility Suite, however, it’s nothing but calm. The two-room suite has a soft design, plush bedding and restful amenities, such as in-room massage rollers, sound machines and sleep masks. If you need an evening without distractions, a blackout option allows you to voluntarily forfeit your devices at check-in.
Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, Calif.
There are no TVs in the rooms at Post Ranch Inn, but there are jaw-dropping coastal views and activities galore at the cliffside retreat. The Four-Star hotel won’t make you surrender your gizmos, but if the nature-filled, relaxed Big Sur vibe doesn’t help you to unplug, nothing will. There’s free daily yoga and meditation, guided hikes, spa treatments (including a unique shaman experience), infinity-edge pools, stargazing through the inn’s high-powered telescope and mouthwatering cuisine in the Four-Star restaurant.
Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, Florida Keys
If taking a seaplane or a boat to get to the resort’s lush private island isn’t enough to help you disconnect, note that telephone use is prohibited in the public areas at Little Palm. Rooms don’t have any televisions or alarm clocks, either. The resort looks more like Fiji than the Florida Keys — think chic colonial decor and hammocks on the beach — with just 15 thatched-roof bungalows housing 30 suites. It’s about as remote as you can get without leaving the continental United States, so make the most of what’s offered: swimming, snorkeling, picnics and amazing spa treatments. All that said, there’s one instance where we recommend taking a pause from your digital break here: Musicians like Willie Nelson and Aaron Neville play the resort’s sand bar. If you happen to catch a performance like that, it’s tweet-worthy.
Photos Courtesy of Lake Placid Inn, David Phelps, Four Seasons and Post Ranch Inn
