Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa
“A Spa with a Mission”
A short hour north of San Francisco, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa is the ultimate indulgence for a complete wine country experience. It is truly world-class and is a luxury spa resort with its own source of thermal mineral water, registering 135 degrees as it flows at 1,100 feet directly beneath the Inn.
How does this sound for a bathing ritual? Exfoliating shower, warm bath, hot bath, cold drink, cool shower, herbal steam, sauna, cool drink, cool shower, rest while you wait to be called for the moor mud flotation. There’s the outdoor thermal mineral swimming pool, outdoor thermal mineral Jacuzzis, dedicated Watsu pool, herbal steam room, sauna, indoor lounge with fireplace, outdoor resting loggia and the Spa Café. If you should still have an aching muscle somewhere in your body, there are over 50 treatments to choose from. Like the Sonoma Stone treatment, a ritual of warm stone therapy, in keeping with the Native American founders of the waters. A blend of ‘hands on’ techniques and the flow of warm stones over the body is touted to bring deep relaxation, improve muscle tissue and soothe the nervous system. Tired feet? The Sonoma Foot Ritual, based on the ancient ritual of cleansing feet, will have you walking on orange blossoms. Or fill a morning with a yoga class, an aquatic challenge, and a body sculpting class. Is it your head that needs a treatment? You won’t want to miss what’s known as a kur, combining scalp treatment and massage. Oh, and the co-ed steam, sauna and mineral pools mean you need to bring your bathing suit!
Beneath all of its glitz, this is a spa with a history. Native Americans were the first to revel in the natural underground hot mineral waters with their healing and ceremonial powers. Then in the 1840’s, a San Francisco physician bent on easing the stress of gold miners constructed a small bathhouse near the hot springs, creating the country’s pioneer health resort. Next was Captain Boyes, an Englishman who acquired the property in 1890 and struck 112° water. Within five years, he had built the Boyes Hot Springs Hotel on the site of the current Sonoma Mission Inn.
A ferry trip across the Bay and an 80-cent train ride brought San Francisco’s tired city dwellers to the depot on the hotel grounds. This ritual was interrupted by a disastrous fire, but in 1927 the rustic bath house was rebuilt as the Sonoma Mission Inn, an architecturally accurate replica of a California mission, and Boyes Hot Springs was back on the map. It lost its glamour over the years, but a new source of natural hot artesian mineral water was discovered in 1991, and in 1999 the Inn underwent a $20 million expansion to restore its roaring 20’s grandeur, complete with a new 40,000 square foot spa providing all the benefits of a modern therapeutic experience.
If you’re looking for more than a spa, you won’t be disappointed. The resort offers 18 holes of championship golf and superb dining with a world-class chef and his staff of 150. The concierge organizes exclusive winery tours, and when the valet brings you your car, you’ll find it stocked with a fresh bottle of water! As is fitting in the Napa Valley, the Sonoma Mission Inn Spa is aged to perfection.
Find out more at their website:
SonomaMissionInn.com
100 Boyes Boulevard, Sonoma, CA
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