• Three Arizona spas were listed in Oprah Daily’s 2025 Hotel O-Wards.
• The list includes spas with exceptional treatments, services and practitioners.

Three of Arizona’s most luxurious destination spa resorts received praise from Oprah Winfrey.

Her website Oprah Daily recently honored 53 destination spas worldwide in the 2025 Hotel O-Wards. Now in its second year, Oprah’s Hotel O-Wards recognize spa resorts whose treatments, services and practitioners are “best-in-class.”

The 17 honorees in the U.S. and Canada include three from Arizona: Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, Mii amo and Castle Hot Springs.

The three resorts are no stranger to recognition among Arizona’s most celebrated travel experiences, with Oprah Daily praising each of them for high quality and distinctive services.

Here’s a look at each of the Arizona honorees and why they were selected.

Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, Scottsdale

Scottsdale has more than 50 resort and day spas, according to Experience Scottsdale, the city’s convention and visitors bureau. Sanctuary Camelback Mountain stood out among them in the Hotel O-Wards survey because of the size of its spa − 12,000 square feet − and the diversity of its treatment menu.

Standout offerings include a restorative meditation experience called Nidra sound voyage, which is claimed to equal three hours of sleep, and a form of underwater shiatsu massage known as watsu therapy.

Mii amo, Sedona

The accolades for this wellness spa within Enchantment Resort in Sedona’s Boynton Canyon − a vortex believed to have healing energy − have piled up since a $40 million renovation was finished in 2023, including from USA TODAY readers who named it the nation’s best spa in 2024.

Oprah Daily cited the renovation for elevating its offerings, including 23 casitas, 26 treatment rooms, a two-story fitness studio and a new restaurant, Hummingbird.

All-inclusive getaways at Mii amo can last from three to 10 nights, with treatments including past-life regression with a hypnotherapist and aura photography, both cited by Oprah Daily as highlights.

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Castle Hot Springs, Bradshaw Mountains

One of Arizona’s oldest resorts, the 1,100-acre Castle Hot Springs in the Bradshaw Mountains north of Phoenix offers wellness retreats that include bathing in the resort’s mineral-rich hot springs.

A multimillion-dollar renovation brought the resort back to life in 2019 after a fire shuttered it in the mid-1970s; its second life has seen widespread critical acclaim, including Travel + Leisure declaring it Arizona’s best resort in three of the last four years.

Oprah Daily praised the water-centric programming, including watsu therapy in the hot springs, paddleboard yoga and − in contrast with the average 106-degree temperatures of the springs − a newly introduced cold plunge pool with temperatures ranging from 43 to 46 degrees.

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Michael Salerno is an award-winning journalist who’s covered travel and tourism since 2014. His work as The Arizona Republic’s consumer travel reporter aims to help readers navigate the stresses of traveling and get the best value for their money on their vacations. He can be reached at Michael.Salerno@gannett.com.

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The Arizona Cardinals have done a lot to bolster one of their weakest groups in the offseason so far. GM Monti Ossenfort has begun to instill obvious confidence from fans and media alike in the team’s ability to turn their story around and compete in the 2025 season.

Of course, that was mostly centered around a struggling defense, for understandable reasons. The offense was left somewhat neglected, though mainly due to an obvious amount of faith that the Cardinals’ passing attack can find its rhythm in year three.

That rough passing attack, however, could be the crutch that derails Arizona’s playoff hopes. Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon noted each NFL team’s “nightmare” scenario, and the Cardinals’ was centered around their offense.

So what was Gagnon’s nightmare scenario?

“Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. don’t put it together and the Cards regress, but there’s not much they can do about it because they are married to this core.”

That would certainly put a damper on a season with a great deal of expectations already upon it. Granted, there are many factors at play here. One is the health of all players involved, of course.

But consistency has been the issue with Murray, and Harrison’s rookie season was clearly moving a bit fast for the standout Ohio State Product.

There is little belief, both nationally and locally, that Harrison is a true “bust.” The second-year wideout has bulked up and added muscle, and appears to be in a better headspace heading into his sophomore season.

Murray, on the other hand, is well aware of the deficiencies present in his game. It wasn’t necessarily all on him, especially when his weapons outside of Trey McBride were at best spotty.

But Murray also made game-breaking mistakes down the stretch, in some of the most critical matchups. If Harrison does his part, Murray will need to follow with a more consistent baseline of production.

It’s not to say that a run-first offense needs 300-plus passing yards and three-plus touchdowns per game, especially with an upgraded defense, but the Cardinals will absolutely be in trouble if they can’t find some level of production from their franchise QB and the receiver they spent the No. 4 overall pick on.

Regardless, Arizona is entering a pivotal season. Murray and Harrison are more than capable of performing from a talent perspective, it’s simply a matter of whether they can build that chemistry and stave off whatever mental blocks may have been in place in 2024.