Austin Spas Keep It Weird - In A Good Way - Healing Lifestyles & Spas

Cowboy chic Austin has a citywide, sacred saying embraced by all: ‘Keep Austin Weird.’ This devotion to the city’s alternative edge manifests itself in three new spas that speak to the Texas capital’s wellness obsession.

The Four Seasons sits in downtown Austin on the shore of Town Lake’s ten-mile walking, biking, and running path created and championed by the late, beloved Lady Bird Johnson, an Austin icon. While the location was the ‘fittest’ in town, the previous Spa at the Four Seasons was little more than a few good therapists and some private rooms. These days, this world-class hotel has a spa worthy of its perfect site and its prestigious clientele. Playing on the theme of the water that runs by it, the spa’s decor – beginning with a soothing waterfall at the reception – evokes the freshness of a Hill Country natural spring. Treatments borrow from the central Texas herbal tradition, offering indigenous plant-based rituals, such as the Signature Lavender Lemongrass Journey (exfoliation, wrap, and heavenly massage). Views of the water from the relaxation room and most treatment areas add to the tranquility.

When urbanity takes its toll, head to the Hyatt Lost Pines’ Spa Django, a healing space created by renowned designer Sylvia Sepielli that uses Austin’s acclaimed music scene as its inspiration. Located in the countryside, amid the McKinney Rough Nature preserve, the spa boasts a decor that includes original artwork featuring guitars and other instruments. Eighteen spacious rooms offer treatments that focus on Texas-found herbs and plants, and aim to unleash creativity with unique utilizations of music. Named for legendary, Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Rheinhardt, the spa’s premier treatments delve into many traditions and use rhythm and sound to unleash negativity and promote relaxation. Try the Awakening with Music ritual, a scrub, wrap, and massage with hypnotic qualities that leads one in and out of awakening to finish with distinct mental clarity.

City slickers can now spa in SoCo, Austin’s hottest neighborhood, just south of the river and the University of Texas. Located in a hip two-story space, awash with open windows, Ann Kelso Salon and City Spa draws its positive energy from the illuminating rays of the sun and the ‘je ne sais quoi’ that defines Austin. Adorned with just enough funky furniture and pink walls to warm the soul, this feel good day spa and hair salon rests its reputation on some of the best estheticians in town.

Think of The Crossings as a spa for the soul. Just far enough beyond Austin’s city limits to feel like another world, The Crossings can be an escape for a day or a metaphorical eternity. Ensconced in an architectural marvel, made to blend with its supreme site at the top of a hill, the retreat center and its spa exude regeneration. Come here to take yoga, commune with a mystic, or study psychology. Then, indulge your body in the Balinese style spa that summons solace from within. Stunningly appointed, the spa’s best views are across the infinity pool overlooking the Texas Hill Country and Lake Travis. The best treatments are from the World Healing Ritual collection, especially Batu Jamu, an Indonesian massage and body scrub combination with spicy accoutrements.