The Best Cacao Spa Experiences Around the World

If you have a sweet tooth, you shouldn’t feel any guilt enjoying your beloved chocolate bars. Cacao beans are full of iron, potassium and magnesium—not to mention a host of antioxidant and skin-boosting benefits.

That’s why spas and skincare brands around the world now use cacao and cocoa (processed cacao beans) to sweeten the self-care experience. I indulged in this treat myself in one of Africa’s most historic, and now most sustainable, chocolate hubs: Príncipe.

A century ago, São Tomé and Príncipe, a twin-island nation off the coast of Central Africa, was the world’s largest chocolate producer. However, that title came with a somber history. In the late 1400s, Portugal colonized the Gulf of Guinea islands. Centuries later, they imported cacao trees from Brazil, and ferried over enslaved people from West Africa to create a new industry. The plants thrived and cacao boomed thanks to the region’s volcanic soil.

Cakes and toppings at Sundy Praia, Príncipe Island / Photo: Courtesy of Sundy Praia

In 1975, when São Tomé and Príncipe gained its independence from Portugal, the cacao plantations were left largely abandoned. Decades later, the crop has made a major comeback—although this time, the local people (many of whom are descendants of enslaved Africans) are leading, and benefiting from, its production. HBD Príncipe—a sustainable hotel and agroforestry brand—uses both ecotourism and responsible agroforestry, including cacao production, to provide local income while safeguarding the rich biodiversity on the Edenic island of Príncipe.

HBD Príncipe runs luxury hotels across the island of Príncipe (with one on São Tomé), and maintains its own small sustainable cacao plantations—the first in Africa to be Bird Friendly-certified by the Smithsonian Institution. The brand uses its own harvested beans, as well as cacao it purchases from local farmers, for everything from hotel dining to small-batch chocolate production to, my favorite, the decadent wellness experience.

“Cacao has properties that leave the skin with a velvety texture,” says Gilberto Ceita, supervisor of the wellness team at HBD Príncipe’s most luxurious escape, Sundy Praia. This boutique jungle-meets-beach resort is a roughly 20-minute hike from the brand’s artisanal chocolate production site, Roça—once the largest cacao plantation on the island.

Photo: Courtesy of Faena Hotel Miami Beach

Sundy Praia’s spa incorporates cacao and cocoa as well as other local products like coffee into many of its treatments. The Ritual Despertar do Príncipe experience uses coffee for exfoliation during the massage, followed by a mask of Príncipe cacao and a banana-leaf body wrap to leave guests glowing and refreshed. The Bombom di Maiá ritual blends sustainable cacao and coconut oil for an exfoliating and endorphin-releasing session that hydrates and regenerates the skin while preventing signs of aging.

And the forest-to-body offerings extend beyond the spa walls. HBD Príncipe’s line of Paciência Organic body products, such as the all-natural body scrub made from beeswax, coconut oil, roasted cocoa and vanilla, left my skin so revitalized and dewy I purchased multiple jars to maintain the glow back home. If reaching this paradisiacal chocolate hub—a journey that requires a roughly seven-hour TAP Portugal flight from Lisbon, then a 30-minute flight from São Tomé—isn’t in your near future, you can enjoy cacao’s wellness wonders closer to home.

The Body by Brooklyn spa in New York City adds the ingredient to its B3 Signature Chocolate Exfoliation & Hydrating Wrap to minimize cellulite, aid circulation and bolster cell regeneration. Faena Hotel Miami Beach also harnesses cacao in its Tierra Santa Healing House. Guests can reduce stress via the signature cacao massage, along with myriad other therapies, such as healing rituals.

Tierra Mar spa at Four Seasons Resort Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol, Mexico / Photo: Courtesy of Joe Thomas

Down in Mexico, the new Tierra Mar spa at the Four Seasons Resort Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol uses sustainably sourced ingredients treating wellness seekers to a host of cacao offerings. The Terapia De Cacao therapy offers a calming cocoa wrap to aid relaxation and revitalization, while the Flores Del Desierto facial’s cocoa mud mask helps guests achieve that sweet skin glow.

And over in Colombia, the Caribbean Sea-view Hilton Cartagena runs a “cocoa tribute and massage” session in its Privilegio Wellness Spa. The decadent offering starts with body exfoliation using cocoa granules and Colombian coffee, followed by a body wrap with warm and natural cocoa, a 30-minute massage, and a Turkish bath as the cherry on top.