When planning an active vacation, the most important aspect to consider is what you really want to get out of the trip. With so many different types of active vacation options available, the choice isn’t always easy. Do you want adventure, such as climbing the Rocky Mountains, or do you want a resort or cruise that offers fun, activity classes, or perhaps even a volunteer experience that gives a real workout while making a difference in someone’s life? The choice is yours, but MSN’s Travel and Leisure editors provide the following active options that make for an excellent fitness-related vacation.

Spas:

• U.S. and Canada
  • Parker Palm Springs (800) 543-4300) is a perfect location for groups to uncover their inner child by playing croquet or singing songs by a firepit. The 16,500 square-foot spa, called the Palm Springs Yacht Club, has special treatments such as desert, seawater wraps. A three day package is $1500 per person.
  • The South Beach spa package (302) 520-6000) at Setai includes such things as rose-petal bathes, private yoga sessions, and ayuryedic facials for two. The cost for three days is $3,159 per person
• Abroad
  • Mauritius Taj Exotica Resort & Spa (866) 969-1825)  new Jive Grande Spa on the Indian Ocean island provides ayurvedic treatments based on more than 6,000 years of tradition. You can enjoy a rythmic massage between your meditation session and lunch from the spa menu. Rates start at $1,090 per person.
  • The Maroma Resort & Spa (866) 454-9351) on the Riviera Maya has classes on Ashtanga yoga and heathy cooking. You can also go snorkeling off the second-largest barrier reef in the world and you can meditate at the nearby Mayan ruins of Coba. Rates start at $3,100 per person for five nights.

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Beaches:

•  U.S. and Canada
  • In Hawaii, stay at the Fairmont Orchid (800) 441-1414) and enjoy paddling a traditional outrigger canoe in the Pacific waters off the Big Island. Start the day by hiking through the resort’s own Holoholokai Petroglyph Park, a jungle area with ancient lava engravings. Have a seaside yoga class and then go straight for the ginger, mango, and salt scrub in a waterfall hale hut. Prices start from $819 for doubles.
  • In St. Thomas, on the Virgin Islands, stay at Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort (888) 236-2427) where you can get pedicures and a personalized shoe fitting with a local sandal maker. Request “If the Shoe Fits Package.”Doubles start at $1,832 for four nights.
• Abroad
  • Bora Bora Lagoon and Spa (800) 860-4095) offers bungalows for groups of friends. Take Polynesian dance lessons from women in traditional costome, and sign up for a Monoi oil massage. Rates start from $5,060 for doubles for five nights.
  • Punta Mita, a Four Seasons hotel, (888) 647-0979) allows you to get energized with a Pilates mat class or a surfing lesson. Your personal chef prepares dishes like tuna sashimi with Meyer lemon-and-ginger dressing. Groups of four are $14,000 for three nights.

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Adventure:

• U.S. and Canada
  • Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. (888) 892-5462) allows individuals to ascend the 14,410-foot summit of Washington’s highest peak, Mount Rainier. Schedule a climbing session from May to September and you’ll learn basic climbing skills and reach higher camps each day. It can be a challenge for the inexperienced but the plan is designed to easily whip novice hikers into shape. For three individuals, it’s $1,395 for six days.
  • Offshore Sailing School’s (800) 221-4326) annual six-day women-only sailing program at Florida’s South Seas Island Resort, sailors can receive basic keelboat certification, and a final day of sailing with an instructor. The cost for doubles is $1,799.
• Abroad
  • AdventureWomen, Inc. (800) 804-8686) offers the rare chance to see the snowcapped mountains and Buddhist temples on a hike designed specifically for women over 30 in Bhutan. The Program includes a visit to Punakha Dzong, also known as “the Palace of Great Happiness,” founded in the 17th century by the man who united Bhutan. Doubles rates start from $5,095 for 15 days.
  • Surf Diva  (858) 454-8273) offers a weeklong, women-only surfing clinic. Catch some waves and stretch out some kinks in daily yoga and massage sessions in a two-story treehouse in the jungle. Rates start from $1,975 for doubles.

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Volunteer:

• U.S. and Canada
  • Habitat for Humanity (800) 422-4828) offers many programs that give you the opportunity to try your skills at using power tools and using a hammer to pound in the nails of siding or trim as you construct homes for families in need across the country. Hundreds of events are planned for 2007 and the cost is free.
  • The American Hiking Society (301) 565-6704) allows you the unique opportunity to create trails, build gates and clean up debris in California’s Marin Headlands in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The American Hiking Society runs guided weeklong trips for groups of 10.
• Abroad
  • Tourcan Vacations (888) 359-8685) through Child Haven International,offers a three-week trek in the Himalayas,  to help provide educational services, occupational training, and family planning to Nepalese, Indian, Tibetan, and Bangladeshi women and children. The trek ends at Mount Everest’s base camp at 17,998 feet. Trips are $4,442 per person.
  • The Women’s Global Green Action Network  (415) 788-3666) runs programs with the human rights organization, Global Exchange, to allow participants to work with environmental leaders who are developing strategies for change. For October 2006, the trip took place in Boliva and more are planned for 2007.

Source: Travel MSN.