Carillon carries on a tradition of pampering in Miami Beach

Carillon carries on a tradition of pampering in Miami Beach

I was maybe 60 minutes into a 100-minute deep-tissue thermal massage at the Carillon Miami Beach in early November when the obvious occurred to me.

I didn’t want this experience to end. Not in 40 minutes. Not for a long, long time.

I had already spent time inside a steam machine — a contraption that looks much like an MRI machine and circulates steam around your body — and was by then on my back, enjoying some more traditional work on my tight shoulders and neck. Relaxed by the steam treatment, however, they felt incredibly loose.

When I met later with Carillon Managing Director Lester Scott for cocktails and predinner appetizers, I told him how enjoyable the treatments had been. Yet he somehow seemed disappointed that I hadn’t chosen the floating Deep Sleep massage instead.

“You’ve got to try that,” Scott insisted.

Those treatments are among the 45 massage offerings available at Carillon’s 70,000-square-foot spa. The North Miami Beach hotel, which rebranded last January from its former identity as Canyon Ranch, prides itself on its complete suite of wellness offerings, which includes more than 40daily fitness classes as well as a juice bar staffed with its own nutritionist and even a climbing wall. Along with its gym and treatment rooms, the spa also has a men’s and women’s thermal room, where patrons can choose between a sauna, a whirlpool, a steam room, an herbal cold-water shower called an igloo and a laconium, which is essentially a warm, humid sitting room that isn’t as hot as a sauna or a steam room. The property even has a physician in house.

During my one-night visit to the Carillon, where I stayed as an invited guest, I took full advantage of the spa. But the three-building complex, which sits along 750 feet of beachfront, has plenty more to offer. The 150 guestrooms, all of them spacious suites complete with kitchens, are located in the center building and share the Carillon property with 580 condos. Three outdoor pools, a bar and an oceanfront terrace are among the other offerings.

Open since October is Thyme, an American restaurant with Asian influences that promises an ever-changing menu with a focus on seasonal ingredients. During a dinner feast, among the courses I enjoyed were grass-fed beef tenderloin, ahi tuna tartar and mushroom risotto.

Scott said that the Carillon has been busy trying to forge its own identity since the rebranding took place at the start of the year. The first step was returning to the complex’s original name. Beginning in 1958, the Carillon offered a cabaret bar that was frequented by such luminaries as Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack cohorts, who would make the 25-block trek north after performing at Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau.

But Carillon’s biggest departure from Canyon Ranch will take place in May when an $18 million to $25 million renovation gets underway. Scheduled to last until December, it will include the opening of the Tambourine Bar & Lounge, named after the old cabaret lounge, and a reconfiguring of the restaurant and lobby areas.

The result, said Scott, will be public areas that open seamlessly to the adjacent beach.

“We want to bring the outdoors in and the indoors out,” he said of the renovation.