San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Stunning views, rejuvenating treatments await at relaxing spas
After all the stress of the long pandemic, it’s no wonder that the reopened and often renovated spas of Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur are seeing a surge in clientele. Here are five oases with beloved signature treatments as well as newly enticing therapies or amenities.
The penthouse level of Monterey Plaza Hotel, overlooking Monterey Bay. Renovated in early 2019, the spa offers nine treatment rooms, including an ocean-view suite for couples with two soaking tubs, heated floors, a shower, fireplace and private balcony.
Hotel guests as well as spa clients enjoy soaking up the rays — or warming up from the fog — on Vista Blue’s large sun deck with loungers and a spacious whirlpool, where they can also order food and drink from the hotel’s updated Schooners restaurant.
“People come and make a day of it,” notes spa manager Angela Hernandez. “It’s just a lovely place to be. Even if I’m having a stressful day, I’ll go out there and smell the ocean and take a deep breath and reset myself. It’s a space that transcends you.”
Hydrotherapy in the new spa suite has become “extremely popular,” according to Hernandez, available as a 45-minute add-on ($80 individual, $110 couple) or 2-hour, stand-alone treatment with refreshments ($270 individual, $340 couple.)
“In the beginning, people were reluctant and didn’t see the value of taking a bath, but now our guests who experience the 45-minute soak say, ‘I wish I had done the full two hours,’ ” Hernandez said.
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, sundeck 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Monterey Plaza Hotel, 400 Cannery Row, Monterey, 831645-4098, www.montereyplaza hotel.com/spa
On 2 acres in Carmel’s hilly woodlands 3 miles east of Highway 1, next to Carmel Valley Athletic Club.
The hydrotherapy circuit at “America’s first co-ed outdoor relaxation spa,” as the Refuge calls itself, has been a hit since doors opened in 2012. The adult-only spa encourages patrons to cycle through a period of warming up, cooling down and relaxing as many times as they like, as long as they are in swimwear and relatively silent.
Sources of heat include a large cedar sauna with a Himalayan salt wall, two eucalyptusinfused steam rooms and six pools (half warm, half hot) with massaging jets and waterfalls; cooling comes from two cold plunge pools and two even colder ones. Zero-gravity loungers, Adirondack chairs, fire pits, hammocks and “relaxation rooms” provide restorative calm.
Although not new, the optional Swedish and deep-tissue massages ($164$307), available by reservation, are a great way to guarantee entry to a facility that often has a waiting list on weekends. Rates for the 50- or 100-minute massages include Refuge admission, 20 percent gratuity, a robe, towels and bottled water.
First-come, first-serve admission, $55 standard, $67 with robe and bottled water. 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends. 27300 Rancho San Carlos Road, Carmel, 831-620-7360, www.refuge.com
Next to Casa Palmero on the exclusive Pebble Beach Resort, the 22,000square-foot spa shares the inn’s Spanish Colonial style and sense of intimacy, even with 20 treatment rooms and a fullservice salon, courtyard pool, conservatory and “sanctuary” with fire pit.
Inspired by Monterey County’s indigenous Esselen tribe and Native American bathing and cleansing ceremonies, the 100-minute Lasapa Lelima Purification Treatment ($370) features locally grown coastal white sage and elderberry in a combination scrub, wrap and massage.
The therapeutic effects of a massage with CBD cream, mixed with shea butter and arnica, add extra relaxation to Wellness Head to Toe ($395). The 105-minute treatment also includes a sea salt body scrub, a purifying thermal clay mask for the back, a leg massage to boost circulation and a hydrating facial sheet mask.
Services 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, facility 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. 1518 Cypress Drive, Pebble Beach, 800-8770597, www.pebblebeach.com/ the-spa-at-pebble-beach
Tucked into the hillside treetops of Carmel Valley Ranch, a 500-acre golf course resort in Carmel Valley. Three of the 11 treatment rooms are VIP double spa suites with fireplaces, which can be connected for group experiences; other facilities include a nail salon, saltwater pool, infinity edge hot tub and coed warming room.
Re-introduced this month by popular demand, the Bee Beautiful body treatment ($235) sources 99 percent of its ingredients from the ranch’s organic gardens and beehives, according to spa director Franziska von Gerstenberger-Draper. The 80-minute treatment incorporates an application of warm lavender oil, a body buff with calendula and honey, a cocoon-like wrap and face mask with royal jelly and honey aloe and a body massage with honey shea butter.
“It’s more of an experience than a treatment,” she notes. “One of my favorite things is when we show the guests the honey. It’s so different from season to season — it’s so light in springtime and so deep and amber in the fall — and people love seeing the difference.”
Since the spa reopened in early 2021, von Gerstenberger-Draper reports a significant demand for its “Hypno-Health: Wellness for Mind & Spirit” treatments ($350-$495) with Dr. Bee Epstein-Shepherd. The 60- to 80-minute hypnosis sessions focus on reducing stress for overall mental health (“mental detox”) or for improving sleep or to provide a “virtual gastric band” for weight-loss support.
Many clients email the spa later saying they can “cope better in this new world,” the spa director adds. “It’s so very powerful for them and that’s what we want.”
831-626-2586