Spa Sleuth: Back to the Future

By Bernard Burt

Jane Austen would be amazed.‚ Smack in the middle of her beloved town of Bath, stands a glass cube straight out of Star Trek. Enter a watery world of well-being at the new Thermae Bath Spa in the city that was Aquae Sulis.

Opened last August, years behind schedule and well over budget, Thermae Bath Spa is the only place in Britain where hot springs bubble to the surface. Stay at the Bath Spa Hotel or The Priory “both sport full-service Decleor garden spas and spacious new accommodations. Get an authentic Jane Austen experience at the Royal Crescent Hotel, which houses the Zen-like Bath House Spa tucked into the garden.

Surrounded by Georgian colonnades, Thermae Bath Spa offers four levels of hydrotherapy fun and relaxation. For ‚£20.00 (about $30 U.S.) you gain access to the steam saunas, showers, and rooftop swimming pool for two hours. Scheduled sessions of yoga, Pilates, and aerobics can be added to your admission fee, and massage, dry flotation, wraps, and facials by Pevonia can be arranged in advance.

Tap into the spa’s Roman roots at a temple to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, war, and healing, at Bath’s Roman Museum. Dating from the first century B.C., the baths built for Caesar’s legions at Aquae Sulis are off-limits due to water contamination.

For more information visit www.thermaebathspa.com

Take a nostalgic trip at Two Bunch Palms

Sitting at Two Bunch Palms Resort & Spa in California’s Desert Hot Springs, I can almost see Al Capone’s getaway car from one of his infamous visits during the Roaring Twenties.

The fifty-six-acre hideaway for Hollywood celebrities and mafia members is on a roll. New owner, King Ventures, plans to add high-end residential units in little villages on the 200 acres surrounding the spa. But no trace of Capone remained until the recent return of his steel-plated Duesenberg.

Don’t run for cover. Capone’s car could outrun the Feds, says owner John Walton, whose mother was a mobster. What accounts for the laid-back resort’s survival? Serenity and a sea of thermal water. Built in the 1920s, the fortress-like house said to have been Capone’s hideaway overlooks the spa. An extraordinary menu offers forty-five treatments, from traditional Swedish massage to energy channeling based on Native American healing. At the open-air Clay Cabana, you are immersed in greenish mud drawn from the pools of thermal water on the property. But some guests were shocked recently when a man emerged from the mud bath totally nude. Clothing-optional rules still apply. For more information call (760) 329-8791 or visit www.twobunchpalms.com

Get Chi in DC

Bathtubs are disappearing from new hotels. Going against this trend to save space, the Park Hyatt Washington rolled out spa-like bath environments designed by Tony Chi as part of a dramatic $24-million re-conception. Now you can have a private spa in the city.

The renovation features the Tea Cellar, which brews rare single-estate teas to your taste. The Blue Duck Tavern manned by executive chef Brian McBride, features blue burlap walls, Shaker-style wooden benches, and regional organic cuisine. McBride prides his cuisine on its freshness, sourcing eggs from a cooperative of Pennsylvania Amish farms, and hand-churned ice cream from the Mennonite-owned Trickling Springs Creamery.

Chi’s spa-inspired bathrooms have dark gray limestone on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Gone is the shower stall. The effect is like walking into a Zen mountain sanctuary. A soak in the deep tub, with the rain shower overhead completes the bath ritual. Amenities by Parisian artisan perfumer Blaise Mautin infuse the Park Hyatt’s signature shampoo with scents of cherry blossoms. In-room treatments will get even more glamorous this spring when Chi completes the Hyatt’s top-floor suites.

For more information call (800) 233-1234 or visit www.parkhyattwashington.com