Experience the Exclusive Golden Door Spa in San Marcos

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

Wellness pioneer Deborah Szekely opened the original Golden Door in 1958 in San Marcos, outside San Diego. It was envisioned as a more upscale sister property to her sprawling, no-frills health retreat, Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. The Door, as it’s called, was originally a converted motel surrounding a swimming pool. Hollywood stars like Judy Garland, Natalie Wood and Elizabeth Taylor were photographed in their all-pink workout suits, participating in jump roping sessions and talent shows and giving rise to the lore of the resort.

In 1975, the construction of the I-15 freeway necessitated that the spa move a mile away and Szekely used it as an opportunity to do a revamp. Drawn to the calming influences of Japanese architecture, the interiors as well as the grounds were recreated with an Asian vibe.

Then in 2012, the property was purchased for $24.8 million by longtime guest Joanne Conway, wife of billionaire financier Bill Conway. She hired a first-class team to upgrade the resort with complete makeovers of the rooms. New York interior designer Victoria Hagan was brought in, as well as ecological designer Jeff Dawson, who created biodynamic gardens for Apple founder Steve Jobs. His team transplanted an olive grove to the property and built a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse to cultivate heirloom produce.

Joanne Conway also changed the business model of the Door, implementing a policy that pledges 100% of net profits to nonprofits aimed at “ending child abuse and transforming young lives.”

THE WARM-UP

Before you arrive for your stay, you get a call from a Door representative, who questions you about everything from goals for your visit to dietary restrictions to physical injuries. They make it crystal clear at the get-go: They aim to please and will do just about anything to make guests happy.

I went to the Door with my sister, who is something of a spa aficionado. Although I like her company, I also enjoy the context she provides when we travel together. As a magazine editor, I too go to a lot of spas, but this girl outdoes me by a mile. We were picked up at her house in Manhattan Beach by a black sedan and made the easy hour-and-a-half ride to San Marcos. The Door provides sedan transportation within a certain radius of the resort (essentially between San Diego and LA’s Westside). Some guests drive themselves; others fly to San Diego and get picked up at the airport.

We giggled in anticipation when we arrived and saw the ornate golden doors. Although the resort has Wi-Fi, digital detox is encouraged—i.e., this is not the kind of spa where you can go crazy with selfies. Still, we couldn’t resist. We whipped out our cell phones and snapped a few photos before going inside where we were greeted by a woman in traditional Asian attire. She served us herbal tea and then we filled out all the necessary paperwork.

FULL IMMERSION

One of the best things about the Door is the enchanting grounds. The beautifully manicured Japanese gardens, dotted by a koi pond, mature trees, bridges and pagodas, are stunning. The picturesque 600-acre setting puts you in a calm state from the moment of arrival.

The property includes 30 miles of hiking trails, and many guests take part in the pre-dawn group hikes. My visit to the Door was this past winter, and there was just nothing appealing to me about hiking in the pitch-black cold. (They do provide helmets with lights.) However, many of the guests I spoke with found the hikes invigorating and raved about one in particular, which ended with a full breakfast at one of the Door’s sprawling vegetable gardens.

Countless exercise classes are available, which you preselect but can change at any time. They include Pilates, spinning and yoga. Twice I opted for yoga and, as luck would have it, was the only person in the class. (December is not one of the Door’s busier months.) In short, those two classes were excellent and enlightening. Who knew I was doing downward dog incorrectly all these years?

Guests can also sign up for activities like archery, tennis and belly dancing (we loved this!) or a private fencing lesson with Olympic champion Dmitri Guy.

As for pampering, most guests sign up for the seven-day all-inclusive package, which includes six massage treatments, one body scrub, two body wraps and four facials. In a nutshell, my sister and I gave the spa services five stars.

Also included in the package: four private sessions with a personal trainer. My workout was pleasant, but my PT could have pushed me more. Even though I’m not suffering from any injuries and am in relatively good shape, she seemed tentative and I followed suit. A nice touch: Trainers create a packet of all the activities in the customized session for guests to take home.

À la carte health-and-wellness options are extensive. They include private healing, nutrition, hypnotherapy, meditation, shaman sessions and acupuncture.

There are a host of group evening activities and speakers. During our stay we went to lectures by a nutritionist, an astrologer and a somewhat woo-woo session with a woman who gave us drums to beat and led us in several chants (still not totally sure what this was about). We also took advantage of an entertaining cooking class in the Door’s attractive commercial kitchen.

Although the program at the Door is a bit old school and not as progressive as at some high-end spas, we enjoyed our days.

MINDFUL DINING

Cultivating a backyard approach to farm-to-table cuisine, Executive Chef Greg Frey Jr. grounds his menus in seasonal ingredients. You can choose from a number of meal sizes, and if you want more food you can order it from the table. The resort does not serve alcohol (except for one glass on Saturdays—yippee!), red meat or butter at meals.

Weather permitting, lunch is served poolside. At dinnertime guests converge in a large dining room, which is filled with long communal tables. On the first night, guests are asked to introduce themselves. Whereas at some gatherings this could invoke painfully detailed discourses, intros were on the reserved side. For those who don’t enjoy small talk, meals can be delivered to your room.

Each day at midmorning a tomato broth is laid out and, if you’re still hungry, you can order healthy snacks throughout the day.

ACCOUTREMENTS

The Door advises you to try to let your hair down for the week. After all, you are just with a bunch of women. (Men’s and coed camp weeks are designated several times a year, but the rest of the time its a femme fest.)

I was advised to bring very little in terms of clothes. My Door rep shared that the spa provides sweat suits and a toiletry kit filled with spa products. I followed that advice, but honestly missed my Lululemons. The smallest size terry cloth sweat suit was large on me and I felt dumpy. The resort also provides the customary Japanese yakuta robe, which you’ll see a lot of guests wearing around campus at any given time.

As for accommodations, you can opt to stay in a 1,000-square-foot villa with a large deck, which has the vibe of a cabin in the forest, or a more central room. The rooms, at 525 square feet, are spacious and have a more modern vibe (you can request a portable refrigerator; somewhat puzzled as to why they don’t have the more attractive built-ins in each room) as well as a nice-size closet and bathroom.

So who is a typical Golden Door guest? Let’s start with the obvious: a person with dispensable income. Aside from that, they cut a wide swath. The guests the week I attended were in the 35- to 60-year age range and included several pairs of longtime friends, a woman suffering from a terminal illness, a woman recovering from a serious brain injury, two girlfriends who kept casually tossing out that they’d flown in on a private jet, and an employee of a popular hip-hop star. (Her visit was apparently a gift from him.) Quite a few were repeat guests. Unlike some spas where you see a lot of socializing, here polite conversation is saved for communal mealtimes.

On the final morning of our stay, my sister and I sat waiting for our sedan. We felt relaxed and pampered and ready to return to the real world. How long would the feeling of Zen remain? We weren’t quite sure—so we took a selfie to remember.