The Mandarin Oriental’s Turkish Hammam Steam Room
Seeking Spa Nirvana in Nevada
Here’s your survival guide to the astounding array of Vegas spas, sanctuaries that are a woman’s the best choice for decompressing from the 24/7 fun. No matter what Vegas spa you visit, in the city that never sleeps, you’re going to sleep like the dead.
Lavish, pricey, and exclusive, choosing the right Vegas spa creates an astoundingly difficult array of choices.
Do I want ancient Rome? Need Middle Eastern purification? Want to take the waters European spa-style? It’s all here. Expect every type of service, from upscale hair salons and barbershops to Thai yoga and Ayurvedic treatments, even some you’ve never run across before.
Most importantly, be sure to research which resort to check into since some spas are exclusive to hotel guests only or only accept non-guests on certain days.
The Forbes Travel Guide’s Five Star Winning Spas
The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas.
$40 day fee.
Designed using Feng Shui principles, this spa exudes a hushed Zen calm, away from the clanging Strip. A flat screen TV and a fireplace flicker in the lounge area and the hot and cool plunge area is naturally lit, thriving with palms and orchids. Lush touches abound – a gold Buddha overlooks the treatment rooms’ hallway. Cucumber-iced towels are available outside the sauna, a luxurious touch. Before trying your luck at the tables, try the Good Luck Ritual, based on the Five Elements of Feng Shui, a massage plus a foot treatment, a moisturizing hand therapy and a scalp massage. Open to the public only Monday through Thursday, unless you book a treatment.
The Spa at Encore Las Vegas
$40 day fee.
Enter the palatial lobby and prepare to get wowed by the ornate details and luxe touches reflecting Steve Wynn’s excellent taste. The natural lighting here is a rarity for Vegas spas. Your experience starts as you slip into a silk-lined robe. Rinse in the waterfall showers or recline on the heated stone loungers. Try the Aromatherapy Massage or an ayurvedic treatment. There is plenty of tea, nuts and dried fruit to snack on. Note: the wet area is clothing-optional. Open to the public only Monday through Thursday, unless you book a treatment.
The Spa at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
$50 day fee.
Treatments based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, décor inspired by 1930s Shanghai. Enjoy the Vitality Pool with a view of the Strip or relax on the heated lounges in the Tepidarium. Before or after treatments, savor the orange and apple water, tea, and ice cold towels. Try a Turkish-style hammam treatment for a massage, scrubbing and buffing on a warm marble slab. The Luminescence Massage and Body Treatment finishes with a pearl powder to make skin shine for days. A very pricey spa, perhaps Vegas’ priciest; for example, you’ll pay $620 for the Oriental Harmony package, a two-hour treatment of four-handed massage, a foot bath, a foot and head massage, and a scrub. Open to the public.
The Spa at the Four Seasons Las Vegas
The Forbes Travel Guide Four Star-Rated Spas
Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian & The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas
Day pass $45, $20 with a booked treatment (3- or 5-day passes available).
The Disneyland of Vegas spas, this 134,000 square-foot outpost of the famed Canyon Ranch in Tucson has everything. Probably the best day spa in the country, along with the usual massages, scrubs, and soaks, explore the single sex Aquavana steam, cold mist, rain, sauna and hydro environment. Aquavana’s coed area offers a salt grotto, a meditative Wave Room and a Conservatory. The spa’s unusual Rasul Ceremony is a Middle Eastern purification treatment of herbal steam and medicinal mud. Weekend warriors will love the 40-foot climbing wall, all day fitness and yoga classes, and free lectures from the nutrition, wellness, and exercise physiology departments. A cafe serves healthy cuisine. Open to the public.
Spa Bellagio at Bellagio Las Vegas
$29 day for hotel guests. Open to the public. Day pass $40.
Spa Bellagio recently renewed itself as a 65,000-square-foot Zen sanctuary with sleek lines and natural materials. Besides the four calming reflecting pools of varying temperatures, new treatments, Thai massage and watsu, were added. The darkened Tranquility Room is imbued with the sounds of rainfall, furnished with blankets and day beds for your escape. A 6,000-square-foot fitness center has a wide-open view of the Mediterranean gardens and the pool.
The Spa at the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas
$30 day fee, waived if a service is booked.
www.fourseasons.com/lasvegas/spa
Tiny by Vegas standards, this jewel box of a spa offers the very best in service. Here, it’s all about the treatments, Raindrop Therapy Massage, a 14-carat gold Sugar Scrub or have a custom treatment created just for you. A small fitness facility opens onto the pool area with complimentary cabanas. Each cardio machine has its own TV, and attendants stand by with water and towels. Since the Four Seasons is within the Mandalay Bay Resort, you can visit the Mandalay Bay’s larger spa and the Mandalay Beach. Open to the public.
Recommended Top Las Vegas Spas
Qua Baths And Spa at Caesars Palace Las Vegas
Caesars Palace’s QUA Baths & Spa
Day pass $45.
Acres of marble and waterfalls, Qua Baths takes inspiration from the Roman baths of antiquity. Explore a bathing ritual in three large pools with differing temperatures. Take the waters in the Tepidarium, filled with warm mineral waters, and then on to two smaller pools, the Caldarium and the Frigidarium. The Caldarium’s hot waters soothe tired muscles and the Frigidarium’s cold plunge invigorates. Relax in the super-heated Laconium Room, an Arctic Ice Room with real snowfall or the hush tearoom. Repose afterward on Thermal Stone Deep Relaxation Chaises wrapped in a cozy robe. Use the peppermint towels in the iced bowls throughout the spa. Open to the public.
Golden Nugget Spa at the Golden Nugget Casino
Hotel guest day pass is $20. Day pass $25.
More intimate than spas found on the Strip, this is an old school downtown spa. The hair salon, gym, and reception area open onto a pretty tile Palm Court with mirrored Palladian doors and a glass-lighted arched ceiling. The women’s whirlpool bubbles under a cupola painted with a blue sky mural amid relaxing wall murals and pink marble. Open to the public.
MGM Grand Spa at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino
$25 day pass, (3- and 5-day passes available).
Attentive attendants at this smaller Vegas spa proffer trays of juice to spa goers. Detox your hangover with the Morning After Arabica, an exfoliating scrub with coffee, Dead Sea salts, and peppermint and rosemary oils under the Vichy shower. Or get balanced with their Ayurvedic treatments. The health club facility overlooks the leafy pool complex and has Virtual Reality bikes and Stairmasters. Open to the public Monday – Thursday only.
Spa Mandalay at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
Spa facility day pass of $27 for hotel guests only, waived if a spa treatment is booked for $60 or more.
Modeled after a Turkish-style bath, the stunning wet area has marble-faced hot, warm, and cold plunges surrounded by carved-stone fish fountains. And this area offers plenty of spots for lounging to the water sounds. You can use the Spa and enjoy access to the fabulous Mandalay Bay Beach, in case you need to slip out and work on your tan. There’s also a Quiet Lounge, which gets noisy when it’s crowded, and the spa offers snacks, juice and toiletries. Here, young adults, ages 13 – 17, can partake of a special spa services menu. Try the Volcanic Dust Mask exfoliating body treatment or the Ayurvedic Elemental Balancing massage with healing herbal oils.
Acqua Sulis at the JW Marriott Las Vegas
Day pass $25 (3- and 5-day passes available)
You’ll need a car to visit this spa way off the Strip. Take the waters, European style, in the Ritual area’s hot and cold plunges and a warm floating pool. A Hydro-circuit pool is next, consisting of six invigorating chambers for soaking, ending with a torrential rain shower. Try the Thai yoga massage or a Desert Stone massage. Then relax with complimentary water, juices, and fresh fruit. The state of the art fitness facility offers daily exercise classes. Open to the public.
THEBathhouse at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay
$25 Day pass, waived if a treatment of $60 or more is booked.
Located inside THEHotel, a boutique hotel within the Mandalay Bay, THEBathhouse focuses on the healing qualities of water. This labyrinthine spa consists of charcoal slate walls and a cavernous hydro pool area; you hear the sound of water everywhere. Try the stone massage or a Peppermint scalp treatment. And, a rarity for Vegas spa, there’s a menu of facials, manicures and pedicures for young adults ages 13 – 17. Architecturally, the spa is stunning; some passages are very narrow, lit with mood lighting. Stunning but dark – perhaps a spa catering to zombies? Open to the public.
Sahra Spa & Hammam at The Cosmopolitan
$28 day pass.
Clean, modern simplicity rules here with architecture inspired by desert slot canyons. This spa is on the small side, for Vegas. There’s a cool mist room, a Monsoon rain cave, a whirlpool tub with a waterfall. The traditional Turkish steam room, the Hammam, opens during specific hours so spa goers can enjoy a steam, scrub, bath and the warm mother stone. Try the Red Flower Hammam Experience for detoxification and relaxation on the steaming mother stone as water is poured along your body followed by a spirited scrub, purifying clay wrap and vigorous massage. Open to the public.
The Spa at Red Rock Resort and Casino
$50 day pass.
Very modern and classy, though not spacious, the spa has it’s own fab outside pool area. The rock and stone architecture carries in from the rest of the resort’s design, a soothing palette of warm oranges and browns. The huge bathing room, showers, and wet and dry sauna are very clean. Try the Breathe oxygen facial or a Reiki treatment, a Japanese energy healing for relaxation and balance. Red Rock also offers the Adventure Spa service where you can book hiking, kayaking and rock climbing or horseback adventures. The Resort Fee paid by guests includes use of the spa’s pool, whirlpool, steam and sauna areas, locker rooms, and fitness center. Open to the public Monday – Thursday.
Las Vegas Spas to Avoid
Amid the many excellent places to treat your inner narcissist, I can’t recommend every spa. Here are the ones I think you can skip.
Not Recommended:
Aria Spa at Aria Resort and Casino
Nurture Spa at Luxor Hotel and Casino
Spa at The Palms Las Vegas
Reliquary Spa at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Spa by Mandara at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino
Spa Moulay at Loew’s Lake Las Vegas
Which spa did you pick? Got a tip or concern? Share it.
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About Lenore Greiner
[...] what you pay for.” This is not the Golden Door or Rancho La Puerta. Or over the top like Las Vegas spas. The rooms, though very spacious, are older basic in the style of a Best Western. The bathroom [...]