Caribbean Vacation Home Rentals Article

About 60 percent of all New Year's vows involve fitness and weight loss, but on average, a mere 19 percent of us actually do what we pledge. Make this the year you get it right by booking one of the following three vacations where you can make your resolutions a reality!

Rates are per person/double occupancy and do not include taxes, airfare or ground transportation unless otherwise noted. All rates, package details and schedules are subject to change.

RESOLUTION:

Lose weight (and have fun doing it!)

Solution: Amansala Bikini Boot Camp, Tulum, Mexico

Workout Your daily drill is posted on a chalkboard in Amansala's lounge area. To help keep you on schedule, a bell rings 15 minutes prior to each activity session.

A typical day starts at 8 . with a five-mile silent power walk led by one of the five female and male instructors/guides along the beach before breakfast. At 9:30 ., you might bike nine miles along dirt roads to the limestone cliffs guarding Tulum's Mayan ruins (dating back to . 564) en route to the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. More than 300 kinds of birds, four types of sea turtles and spider and howler monkeys call this precious 2,038-square-mile Caribbean coastal refuge home. You'll kayak between mangroves of a nearby freshwater lagoon to spy herons, kingfishers and iguanas before returning to shore and biking nine miles back to the resort for lunch.

Late-afternoon activities might include power-abs classes, Latin dance instruction, yoga and resistance workouts that utilize traditional and novelty gear ranging from stability balls to coconuts (tropical substitutes for free weights). An hour of meditation will calm your senses before your 7:30 . dinner.

Cozy up Pretty seashell mobiles dance in the cooling ocean breezes that filter through your airy cabana. There you'll share a room (add $550 for a single) in comfortable mosquito-net-draped queen-sized beds fitted with luxurious 400-thread-count cotton sheets.

Mealtime Moderation, not deprivation, is the name of the game here. Three square meals offer up to 1,800 calories a day (increased for guests with specific needs). Breakfasts, lunches and candlelight dinners are served family style in a beachfront palapa, where you'll dine on fresh, locally harvested fruits, fish kebabs atop a sesame-ginger dressed salad and grilled chicken and soba noodles with red and green mole.

Downtime Take a class in African drumming or creative writing; both are included in your fee, as are complimentary beachside reflexology and clay body treatments.

Details $1,842 ($2,392 for private room) all-inclusive for six nights, includes accommodations, meals, yoga and meditation, exercise classes, four spa services, equipment, some off-property excursions and taxes ()--Suzanne Levy

RESOLUTION:

Learn a new sport that blasts calories.

Solution: "First-Time Series," Beaver Creek, Colo.

Learning to ski or snowboard as an adult can be daunting, but not at Beaver Creek. About two hours west of Denver International Airport, this sister resort to voguish Vail dedicates one-third of the mountain to beginner-specific runs with lessons at 11,440 feet for unsurpassed views of the jagged ridges of the nearby Gore Range. With 11 lifts, long waits are rare. It's no wonder Vail visitors regularly traipse 10 miles southwest to Beaver Creek to eschew peak-period crowds. (Lift tickets at each resort are reciprocal.)

Workout Beaver Creek's "First Time Series" includes three days of lessons, a lunch on your first day (a deli sandwich, snack and a beverage), lift tickets, Salomon parabolic skis/Burton "Learn to Ride" snowboard rentals and a free pair of cozy SmartWool ski socks to the first 300 people who sign up (starting Jan. 1).

Daily sessions start at 9:45 ., and you'll spend 4 1/2 hours (breaking for lunch) with about seven other adult novices (a 50-50 ratio of men and women for the ski school versus 60-40 male to female snowboarders) mastering basics like stopping, turning and using the lifts, with patient encouragement from your instructor.

Cozy up For easy ski-in, ski-out access to Beaver Creek's slopes, a lodging and daily breakfast package for two people, book four nights at the Pines Lodge. The charming rooms feature Swiss-inspired interiors, a marble bath area stocked with Avanyu spa products, high-speed Internet access, a refrigerator, boot heaters and a balcony overlooking the ski hills.

Mealtime Your Pines Lodge package includes a free breakfast daily at the property's Grouse Mountain Grill--a hearty spread of made-to-order omelets, homemade sausages, fluffy biscuits, oatmeal, fresh fruit and yogurt.

Beaver Creek Village offers several excellent dining options for the six meals on your own tab. Grab a salad, burrito or sandwich at Coyote Cafe ($3-$13; ) or split a "Bali" pizza (topped with peanut sauce, chicken, tomato, cilantro and Gouda cheese) at the Blue Moose ($17-$23; 970-845-8666).

Downtime Pampering apres-ski or -snowboard is a must; it's a good thing Park Hyatt Beaver Creek's Allegria Spa is steps from the slopes. Try the unusual Barefoot Massage ($165 for 75 minutes; ), during which the therapist suspends herself from two bars above you to work out kinks in your back with the pressure of her feet. Later, if you get a second wind, take a turn on the Black Family Ice Rink in the village center ($2 admission; $10 skate rental).

Details Approximately $993 total per person for four days and four nights: includes three-day snow-sport instruction, from $180 per person, with complimentary use of boots, poles and skis or snowboard, one lunch, lift tickets and lessons (800-475-4543, .com); four nights' lodging, $538 per person for a double with breakfasts daily (rate code PKGBNB valid from Jan. 2-Feb. 9; 888-FOR-ROCK, rock ); one spa treatment, $165 for 75 minutes; additional meals, about $ A. Parch

RESOLUTION:

Soothe and rejuvenate body, mind and spirit.

Solution: New Age Health Spa, Neversink, .

Nature has a unique ability to calm a frazzled mind, body and soul, and there's no place more perfect for a restorative retreat than New Age Health Spa, just 2 1/2 hours (but a million mental miles) away from the madness of Manhattan in the picturesque, rolling Catskill Mountains.

Tranquility embraces you the moment you step foot on the stunning 280-acre property with sprawling emerald-green lawns and dense pine forests. Watch resident horses Sadie and Dakota amble toward an old barn as a breeze blows through the hillside wind-chime garden. Sit a spell in a gazebo and watch the sun go down as fawns frolic and dozens of bucks and does graze undisturbed nearby.

Workout Begin your day with silent sunrise meditation and Hatha yoga beneath the soaring ceilings of the resort's redwood-paneled Cayuga Yoga & Meditation Center, then try Tai Chi or Pranayama & Deep Relaxation (belly breathing). Other unique mind/body/spirit offerings are held in the Minisink Spa & Fitness Complex, including Cardio Escrima (a Filipino martial-arts-style class that uses batons), Tantric Cardio (a blend of low-impact aerobics, yoga and tai chi), Ai Chi (water tai chi) and core conditioning.

If you're a little more daring, test your wits, muscle and mettle while revealing your limiting-thought patterns and attitudes on the Alpine Tower climb--a freestanding 50-foot wooden structure with more than 20 ways to get to the top.

Or journey farther inward: There's a 50-foot diameter outdoor labyrinth, as well as a purifying sweat-lodge ceremony held inside a sacred willow structure at the forest's edge.

Cozy up Honoring the Native Americans who once inhabited the resort's grounds, each of New Age's white clapboard guest cottages is named for a regional tribe (Mahican, Unami, Lenape, to name a few). There are no in-room phones or TVs, but plenty of comfy places to curl up with a good book, including several old-fashioned living rooms, one with a big-screen TV where movies are shown nightly. Evening lectures focus on topics ranging from "Sound Massage" and "Healing Yourself" to a workshop on "Body Intuiting."

Mealtime New Age is known for its fresh, abundant, exceptionally flavorful food, all low in fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol (calorie counts at every meal help keep you on track). The hearty breakfast buffet includes hot oatmeal, seasonal fruit, hard-boiled eggs, baked apples and whole-grain breads. After a trip to the soup and salad bar for crisp veggies and a savory bisque, you might lunch on two-bean chili with cornbread, then enjoy apricot-honey chicken or tofu with rice pilaf for dinner. And don't forget dessert: Homemade citrus cake or nutty oatmeal cookies are outstanding--and less than 150 calories per serving.

Downtime Ah, spa! Enjoy an aromatic rejuvenating facial or paraffin reflexology, both sure-fire tension tamers. The Maple Sugar Body Polish is a sweet treat, while the hot-stone massage uses ancient healing techniques like gemstone therapy and chakra balancing. Or indulge in the 100-minute Paradise Mountain Rain, a Dead Sea salt exfoliation coupled with a comforting wrap in French rose and sea mud, followed by a Vichy shower and fragrant pomegranate and cranberry body butter.

Details From $970 all-inclusive for five nights (from $1,370 for a private room), includes lodging, meals, classes, activities, lectures and off-property excursions, plus two 50-minute spa treatments; Alpine Tower Climb and sweat-lodge ceremony availability varies (800-682-4348, ).--Susanne R. Stoeckeler