Get away with your girlfriends!

Take a women-only vacation

By Heather Camlot

Sometimes you just want to get away — from the kids, your husband, the cooking, the cleaning, your boss — and hang out with your girlfriends. Imagine jetsetting to a sunny destination with your best friends for a relaxing retreat, where meals are prepared, beds magically get made and the tensions of home melt away during an intense massage.

Ann Gallery didn’t have to imagine it. She and five alumnae from Bishop’s University in Quebec travelled to Mexico’s Mayan Riviera for a four-day girls’ getaway. “I don’t see my friends as often as I used to,” she explains. “We all have children; everyone works. When we do see each other, it’s with the kids or our husbands. And we all felt fried after Christmas.”

Getting away with the girls

Women-only getaways are becoming big business. Go online and you can find some amazing travel adventures, such as the Super Tuscany Package with wine, spa treatments and a tour of the stunning city of Florence. (See below for more great ideas.)

While some women, like Gallery, are looking for a little pampering, others are heading into the great outdoors. According to the Colorado-based Adventure Travel Society, 65 per cent of adventure trips are being booked by women.

“Living in the city, they’re overloaded, they can’t park, and they’re surrounded by high tech. Our clients want a break from that,” says Beth Mairs, founder and director of Wild Women Expeditions in Sudbury, Ont. “In every group, there is at least one woman who doesn’t leave a phone number where she can be reached.”

Mairs has seen an increased demand for more challenging, more remote and longer trips. While canoeing is still her biggest seller, fly-fishing, cycling and sea kayaking have all taken off.

“It’s not for everybody, but it touches a lot of women who by day are in male-dominated professions,” Mairs says. “When they go away, they want to be with other women. It’s restorative.”

Photos of Ann Gallery's getaway with her girlfriends.

Click to enlarge

Planning your getaway

Can’t decide where to go or what to do? Here are some suggestions.

Fun and sun

For a weekend of retail therapy, nothing can beat the MUSE Hotel in New York City. Receive private car service to and from New York’s key shopping districts, get complimentary gift wrapping and shipping of packages, and end the day with a Relax and Rejuvenate foot massage.

Can’t wait to bask in the sun, but think you might get bored by the end of day one? Sign up for a Surfing Safari in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where you can take daily surf lessons, yoga sessions and trips to secret surf spots.

Outdoor adventures

If you prefer a cool wind to a summer breeze, try a two- or three-day Ski Escape and improve your slope skills with Liisa Savijarvi and Karen Stemmle, former Olympians and members of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team. Ski camps take place across the country. Look for the women-only designation.

For those who prefer to see the sights by foot, the British-run WalkingWomen offers plenty of ground options including Scotland, England, France and Greece.

Soul salvations

Gather your girlfriends and build a home for those in need. Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build department has projects primarily across the United States but occasionally organizes projects in Canada and other destinations as well.

Cruise Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, walk through the Viet Cong’s underground tunnels, and visit Buddhist temples with tour guides from AdventureWomen. Then stop in at humanitarian organizations, witness philanthropic projects, and donate a prized water buffalo to a family in need.

Women-only tour operators

For more information and other great packages, visit the following travel companies.

Canadian

International