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If you are craving a spa vacation in the US, I am your spa cheerleader! I love spas, and while it can feel like a splurge, it is one of my favorite wellness activities.
Spas and wellness facilities offer unique experiences that soothe the mind, body, and soul. These days, work burnout and stress-induced illness seem to be taking over, and as someone with an autoimmune disease, I find spa experiences and getaways to be brimming with wellness benefits.
This guide is not medical advice nor is it approved by the FDA or a medical professional. Please always consult with your doctor before trying any wellness treatments and activities.
Over the years there have been all kinds of interesting spa trends. In spa and wellness spaces you can find treatments not just based on medical and scientific advancements, but also adapted from cultural and spiritual practices around the world.
If this sounds like your kind of getaway, keep reading to learn about 12 wonderfully unique spa experiences that you can find in the USA.
Unique Types of Spa Experiences to Look For
Spa culture began in ancient civilizations, like the bathhouses of ancient Rome. The philosopher Hippocrates believed that “the way to health is to have an aromatic bath and scented massage every day.” Physicians would give kings vigorous massages with infused oil and soldiers would soak in mineral baths to recover from battle.
This photo is an example of what a Roman bath looked like. Although this was taken in Bath, England it is one of the best-preserved Roman Baths in the world (and quite extensive! Worth visiting as a tour.)
In recent times, salons and spas have become places to receive treatments for the face and body, with a focus on health and beauty. You can usually find a few different massages, baths, or skin treatments on the menu. Spa culture really goes beyond just a Swedish massage!
Where to Go for Unique Spa Experiences in the USA
Here are some examples of unique spa experiences you can try on a spa day or wellness getaway. Immerse yourself in a salt cave for benefits to your lungs and skin. Try a seaweed wrap or wine bath for their healing properties. Or even consider oxygen-infused facials for anti-aging benefits!
1. Beer Bath Spa
You don’t have to be a beer lover to appreciate the beer baths at Piva Beer Spa in Chicago. Based on an old Eastern European tradition, thermal beer spas are both relaxing and apparently excellent for your skin!
This unique spa experience works with the antioxidants and B vitamins in beer to calm, moisturize, and smooth your skin. You’ll also benefit from Piva Beer Spa’s beautiful setting with mixed woods, calming cool tones, and salt lamps. And after a soak, you can enjoy their relaxation room or sauna.
2. Thermal & Mineral Springs
Cultures across the world have understood the benefits of hot springs for generations. The Moccasin Springs Natural Mineral Spa in South Dakota contains thermal springs once used by local indigenous people. Get away from it all at this beautifully rustic resort in the Black Hills.
Moccasin Springs’ water contains an impressive amount of minerals that benefit pain relief, inflammation reduction, and healthier skin, and that’s just the start. Try soaking in several different pools with natural red rock bottoms. You can also choose from a variety of services.
My guide on Hot Springs in the USA lists a lot more options, like this photo of a popular Colorado hot spring called Spa of the Rockies.
3. Seaweed Wraps
Seaweed has been a part of skin care in Asia for ages. The aquatic plant is full of fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals that heal, support, and moisturize the skin.
Spa Lux in Tulsa, Oklahoma offers their version of a seaweed body or face mask made of seaweed, mineral water, and essential oils. They pair this with the most relaxing thermal wrap in one of their private rooms; you can also add seaweed treatment with a steam session or massage to maximize the detoxification benefits.
Many spa hotels and days spas offer seaweed wraps on their spa menu across the country, as it has become quite common in the USA now. Consider trying a seaweed wrap at one of these Black Owned spas in the United States for your next spa experience.
4. Red Light Therapy
Red Light Therapy (RLT) is just one type of light therapy that has been shown to work on the cellular level to improve the health of your body’s building blocks. RLT has become increasingly popular in wellness spaces as an intensive way to treat varioius conditions.
RLT is used for skin issues like wrinkles and sun-damaged skin, but it has also shown positive results for conditions like osteoarthritis and even side effects after chemotherapy. It’s relaxing and revitalizing, making it a great any-day spa treatment.
Carillon Miami Wellness Resort on Florida’s Miami Beachfront offers a variety of light therapies, including RLT in their full-body Prism Light Pods. You can also stay at the luxury resort with beautiful light-filled rooms and ocean views.
Many saunas and bathhouses like the World Spa in Brooklyn, NY will have a room with red light therapy too. Here’s a video of my time there:
5. Cryotherapy
More and more research has shown the healing and preventative benefits of cryotherapy. Cold treatment is a safe and painless way to circulate the blood, increase oxygen in the body, and lower inflammation.
Luxury spas have started to offer cryotherapy through different methods. Overall, it’s been shown to have the best results when done regularly over several sessions.
If you’re going to be near Columbia, Ohio, you can book localized cryotherapy or a cryosauna sessions at Elemental Wellness and Cryotherapy. They also offer state-of-the-art health and beauty treatments. This spa has an impeccably designed holistic setting combining natural and industrial elements.
6. Ionic Foot Baths
Foot soaks are considered to be a direct way to rid the body of toxins and they’ve been popular for years. Rockwall Complete Healing and Wellness in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex takes things a step further with ionic detox foot baths.
Negatively charged water is thought to ground the body through the feet. It has been believed to relax the muscles, encourage detoxing in the body, and support the immune system. I have also heard of cancer patients swearing by this after their chemotherapy treatment is done to rid themselves of toxins. There is no medical backing on this treatment though so evaluate it for yourself!
7. Salt Caves
Across Colorado and the rest of the US, you can find salt caves, but only salt caves using dry active salt therapy have been shown to have proven medical benefits. This is when aerosol salt is pumped into a relaxing private room where you breathe it in.
Salt caves are therapeutic to the lungs and sinuses and are used to treat conditions like COPD and asthma. Salt therapy, also known as halotherapy, has been proven to relax muscles and calm and heal skin conditions, making it a great unique spa experience.
At Salt of the Earth in Boulder, Colorado you can choose from a few different relaxing rooms where you can rest while you enjoy your salt therapy session. They also use light and sound therapy to enhance your experience.
8. Sound Baths
Some of the most popular spa experiences in the USA right now are sound baths. Different kinds of tonal vibrations are used to evoke physical, mental, and emotional responses.
You can find treatments using drums, singing bowls, chanting, and even relaxation music. Sound baths are meant to relieve conditions like pain, stress, and high blood pressure.
At the Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa, you can enjoy desert-chic luxury digs and mountain views while you try different wellness treatments. Miraval offers 2 meditative sessions where you lie down while singing bowls are played over you. The vibration-focused practice is meant to connect the mind and body and calm the para-nervous system. I find most elaborate sound bath spas are in Arizona and California, with others are at retreats in the mountains like the Adirondacks of New York.
9. Hydrotherapy
The most common types of hydrotherapy used at spas are hot baths and saunas. They’re a great way to relax and support your health and well-being. But a different type of hydrotherapy is becoming more and more popular in spa culture.
Now you can try contrast baths: after relaxing in a hot bath, you quickly dip into a cold plunge! This is very common in Noric spa culture.
Contrast bath hydrotherapy has also been used in sports medicine for a long time as a way to help with recovery and increase performance in athletes. It relieves stress, elevates your mood, and has a variety of benefits for the body.
You can enjoy this treatment at places like the Kabuki Springs and Spa, a Japanese-style bathhouse in San Francisco. Take a deep breath in Japanese-inspired interiors filled with natural elements and deep earthy tones. It’s a beautiful space to try different Asian baths, as well as both Eastern and Western beauty treatments.
10. Float Therapy
Float therapy is making its way into more mainstream parts of spa culture these days. This is a highly researched and very unique treatment where you get inside a tank that contains a shallow bath with high salt content. This is so you float very easily. The door is shut and you stay in the bath for 30 to 60 minutes.
The magnesium in the water is wonderful for your skin and organ functions, but that’s not all. This immersive experience is used traditionally as a form of sensory deprivation to calm the nervous system and relax the mind and body. Some spas also offer floats with a list of elements they can add, like sounds, smells, and light therapies.
Balans Organic Spa in Boston has a private float room with a shower so you can enjoy your session and then rinse off. Enjoy your float in silence or with different music options. The spa is gorgeous and calming, so take advantage of their other therapeutic and beauty services while you’re there.
- note: I do not advise this treatment for people who tend to get claustrophobic
11. Wine Baths
The Aire Spa in New York City is a stunning setting that inspires relaxation and meditation. It’s the perfect place to try a unique spa treatment like a wine bath. There’s exposed brick, weathered antiques, and hundreds of candles.
Choose from classic spa services at Aire Spa or visit the Roman and Turkish-style baths. The spa is an incredibly romantic setting and all their services are also offered to couples, including the wine bath. At Aire Spa, you can soak in a luxurious red wine bath while you sip on a glass of wine. Afterward, enjoy a detoxifying massage using grapeseed oil.
12. Turkish Baths
While steam rooms, saunas, and baths have always been a part of spa culture around the world, Turkish baths, or hammams, are starting to become a popular trend in the USA. Traditionally, these were steam rooms and baths where people go to detoxify and cleanse the body (but they expand to include massages too.)
Turkish baths, Russian bath, and Moroccan hammam, etc. all have a wide range of benefits. Besides stress release, you’ll enjoy exfoliated skin, relaxed muscles, and better blood circulation.
If you want to try hamman, consider the Joseph Anthony Spa in Philadelphia. There you’ll experience a unique take on the Turkish bath. The entire room is amethyst purple with Swarovski crystals on the ceiling. Light and sound therapy are both used, as well as essential oil-infused steam. Choose from a variety of immersive treatments, or just sit and relax on heated tile seats.
There is also a new 20 sqft. Turkish Hammam spa in Miami called Hurrem Hammam that I am dying to go to, and I deeply enjoyed World Spa Brooklyn in NYC too.
What Unique Spa Experience Should you try first?
If you are trying spa and wellness experiences for the first time, I highly recommend starting off slow and working your way up to see what is the best fit for you.
My first spa experiences were gentle Swedish massages, followed by grabbing deals for day passes to a place called Spa Castle in Queens, NY. This offered me access to different saunas and steam rooms so I could see which one I preferred (I like dry saunas best because steam rooms can trigger my asthma). It also helped me experience infrared treatments across the color spectrum, and plan fun spa experiences to share with friends and loved ones.
Whichever you decide, talk to your doctor to make sure spas are a good fit for you (especially if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure or asthma, take medication, or have other health concerns). Look at your therapeutic retreat as a way to support your body so you can be fully present for the life you’ve created. After you try one of these unique spa experiences, you might want to make them a regular part of your life!
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