Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Calistoga is famous for hot-spring spas and mud-bath emporiums, where you're buried in
hot mud and emerge feeling supple, detoxified and enlivened. (The mud is made with vol-
canic ash and peat; the higher the ash content, the better the bath.)
Packages take 60 to 90 minutes and cost $70 to $90. You start semi-submerged in hot
mud, then soak in hot mineral water. A steam bath and blanket-wrap follow. A massage in-
creases the cost to $130 and up.
Baths can be taken solo or, at some spas, as couples. Variations include thin, painted-on
clay-mud wraps (called 'fango' baths, good for those uncomfortable sitting in mud), herbal
wraps, seaweed baths and various massage treatments. Discount coupons are sometimes
available from the visitors center. Book ahead, especially on summer weekends. Reserva-
tions are essential everywhere.
Most spas offer multi-treatment packages. Some offer discounted spa-lodging packages.
Indian Springs Spa
SPA
707-942-4913;
www.indianspringscalistoga.com
;
1712 Lincoln Ave;
by
appointment 9am-8pm)
California's longest continually operating spa, and original Calistoga resort, has concrete
mud tubs and mines its own ash. Treatments include use of the huge, hot-spring-fed pool.
Great cucumber body lotion.
Spa Solage
SPA
707-226-0825;
www.solagecalistoga.com/spa
;
755 Silverado Trail;
by
appointment 8am-8pm)
Chichi, austere, top-end spa, with couples' rooms and a fango-mud bar for DIY paint-on
treatments. Also has zero-gravity chairs for blanket wraps, and a clothing-optional pool.
Dr Wilkinson's Hot Springs Resort
SPA
707-942-4102;
www.drwilkinson.com
; 1507 Lincoln Ave;
by appoint-
ment 10am-3:30pm)
Fifty years running; 'the doc' uses more peat in its mud.
Mount View Spa
SPA
