The shift started a few years ago, with paparazzi photos of celebrities poolside—not in L.A., but rather at Miami’s Delano. Then I found myself choosing a week on Miami Beach instead of my favorite Sonoma hideaway. When I noticed high-profile chefs and cutting-edge dining concepts (like “beauty cuisine,” see sidebar) on the South, not West, Coast, I knew the cultural breeze had shifted.

These days southern Florida feels like the new California. A tropical climate creates obsession with keeping exposed bodies and tanned skin looking and feeling young—just watch an episode of Nip/Tuck or flip through Ocean Drive magazine. Art Basel Miami Beach and Miami Fashion Week attract hordes of the beautiful, ambitious and moneyed. It’s also becoming a major draw for those who want to sample the latest in wellness philosophies, luxurious treatments and exotic cultural rituals, which are increasingly being hatched and practiced at Miami spas first. I took a whirlwind one-week, six-spa tour of Miami—you know, just to be sure Miami was the real deal.

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental

I awake in my pristine white room and literally hop in the bath: the deep tub is open to the room for views of Biscayne Bay while soaking. Early to the spa, I spend 30 minutes alternating steam and sauna with herbal infusions and chilled facecloths. The Kundalini Journey treatment suite is gorgeous, with a raised wooden tub and shower deck and a spare but luxe Eastern feel. The therapist asks me to choose a stone from half a dozen pretty polished shapes and I’m drawn to the fiery carnelian—an indicator that my sacral chakra is out of whack, she says. For the next 90 minutes, I experience an aroma, color, sound, gemstone and massage therapy ritual that begins and ends with singing bowls. “Did you see any images or colors?” she then asks, explaining that they’re common as energy at the base of the spine is released. No, I admit, sheepish but secretly pleased she let me experience it in my own way. 500 Brickell Key Dr., Miami, 305-913-8332, mandarinoriental.com

Splash Spa, Four Seasons Hotel

Passing the lobby’s curvy Botero bronze woman, I see the crisp white umbrellas of the rooftop pool, where an attendant offers tiny cups of sorbet. A walled-off corner has a spa cabana and plunge pool, an extension of the hotel’s spa and sports club. I save myself several hundred calories and a hangover with a tingly Miami mojito scrub and massage, its rum extract and essential oils of lime and mint quenching my skin instead of my thirst. The hotel’s elegant Brazilian publicist, Eveliny Bastos-Klein, tells me they’re increasingly incorporating indigenous Latin and tropical ingredients, like healing propylis from the Amazon rainforest, lemongrass and kukui nut. Mmmm. 1441 Brickell Ave., Miami, 305-533-1199, thesportsclubla.com

Spa at The Standard

My cab pulls up in front of a vintage 1950s motel called The Lido. Huh? But the cheeky upside-down sign for The Standard winks a welcome. The spa’s hydrotherapy focus starts in a sparkling-tiled hammam and snakes indoors and outdoors through two dozen stations: a couple could spend hours steaming, scrubbing, mud-bathing, floating, showering, hosing and soaking each other into submission. I settle for a traditional gommage scrub from a hunky therapist who uses his feet, hands and arms to melt me into the hammam’s heated tiles. The spa also houses the Standard Center for Integral Living (a holistic philosophy that includes Whole Foods CEO John Mackey among its devotees), and uses Just Pure products from Germany for a variety of biodynamic treatments performed according to the waxing and waning phases of the moon—which I observe firsthand that night from an outdoor claw-foot tub in a curtained courtyard outside my room. 40 Island Ave., Miami Beach, 305-673-1717, standardhotel.com

The Spa at The Setai

Eastern philosophy permeates this spa, based on a Sanskrit legend of the gods’ quest for immortality. I score one of four private spa suites, with huge windows, dual treatment beds, steam shower and a hydrotherapy tub. Hungrily choosing from a treatment menu of exotics from Sumatra coffee to papayas and tamarinds, I count Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, Thai, Japanese and Indonesian influences. My Balinese massage combines the long, deep strokes of Swedish with head-massage techniques that remind me of Chinese tui na—oh, and copious amounts of The Setai’s very own, gorgeous fragrance oil. After, in a rose petal-infused bath, with a steaming pot of jasmine tea nearby, I decide there’s no need for the yoga, meditation or tai chi programs—I’ve achieved perfect bliss. 2001 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-520-6900, ghmhotels.com

The Ritz-Carlton Spa at Key Biscayne

To get a real taste of the ocean, I leave the mainland for Key Biscayne, where this resort is full of happy, sunburned kids and parents lolling in the shade with icy margaritas. The spa specialty is a Signature 42 Movement Minerale Massage and a Payot Bath, based on the philosophy of Dr. Nadia Payot, who developed a regime to bring out the “beauty from within” in the 1920s. One fun offering is the pedicure “sundae”: an ice-cream ball soak, sherbet exfoliation, chocolate hazelnut foot mask and kiwi lotion —topped off with cherry-red polish. The spa is adults-only, but I’m pleased to see equal numbers of moms and dads (blissful after hot-towel shaves and scalp massages) in the lounge after my treatment, munching pastries and sipping champagne. 455 Grand Bay Dr., Key Biscayne, 305-365-4197, ritzcarlton.com

Spa V at Hotel Victor

I like the modern vibe of this intimate subterranean retreat by designer Jacques Garcia. For instance, the “BlackBerry Addict,” a hand, forearm and shoulder massage using a unique balm with eucalyptus, clove and actual blackberries, seems tailor-made for compulsive typists like me. I’m also intrigued by the “Four Play” massage: two therapists at once, imagine! I’m fetched from the jewel-hued, canopied relaxation room for a Hammam V, done the authentic way: black olive beldi soap, invigorating loofah, lava clay mask scented with lavender and rosemary, then soothing body milk—products so unique (imported directly from Morocco) that I buy some in the spa shop to take home. During my busy week, I didn’t make it to St. Augustine— the place where Ponce de León thought he found the Fountain of Youth in a nearby spring’s healing waters. Just as well— I uncovered plenty of other wellness, antiaging and beauty miracles in South Florida. 1144 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach, 305-728-6500, hotelvictorsouthbeach.com