San Francisco's 13 best hotel and day spas

By Ann Abel, Mary Bemis, and Deborah Kay, Luxury SpaFinder Magazine

updated 7:07 p.m. ET Sept. 15, 2005

In spas, as in politics, San Francisco marches to its own drummer. Its top spas are located not in its luxury hotels, as they are in most cities, but along its shopping corridors and in its residential neighborhoods.

Even the new Four Seasons left out a spa of its own, relying on a health club in the building instead. (To be certain, the hotels are catching up: The new St. Regis will have a 13,700-square-foot Remède Spa when it opens in September, and the W is adding a Bliss in July.) But great day spas tend to rule here, especially around Union Square and in Nob Hill and Pacific Heights. They run the gamut from a Pop Art palace with a sassy treatment menu to an Indian fantasia where Ayurveda provides the ethos. Jurlique's gentle organic facials can be had just a few blocks from the city's best high-tech heavy hitter, Spa Radiance, whose $750 Grand Luxe Facial uses every device in the aesthetician's arsenal. (See Day Spa Dossier in the May-June issue of Luxury SpaFinder.) Here's a look at some of the Bay Area's best.

A PASSAGE TO INDIA
Kamala spa
Opened last December, this exotically outfitted day spa is a love letter to India. (The name means "lotus" in Sanskrit.) It was created by globe-trotting husband-and-wife team Christopher and Amber Marie Bently, who visited India for inspiration. Treatment rooms resemble tents, with yards and yards of rich-colored fabric draped from the ceilings and walls, and the color scheme is deep and seductive: greens, burgundies, reds, and burnt oranges in the silk pillows scattered throughout the relaxation room. (The aesthetic contrasts sharply with the location, on the seventh floor of an office building the Bentlys own, overlooking Union Square.) The Indian influence shows in the extensive menu, too: The staff was trained by an Ayurvedic specialist, and the most popular treatment is the Abhyanga Four Hands Massage (90 minutes, $295), performed by two therapists. Nice touch: Each treatment room has its own small steam room. Unusual amenity: Zinfandel and Chardonnay from Napa's Girard Winery, offered along with dosha-balancing teas. -M.B.

Phone: 415-217-7700
Website: www.kamalaspa.com
Address: 240 Stockton Street, 7th Floor (Union Square)

SHOPPER'S LITTLE SECRET
Spa Nordstrom
This spa, on Nordstrom's fifth floor, has been doing a booming business since the store opened in 1988. There's a month's wait for weekend massage and manicure appointments, according to spa director Debbie Carr, who says massages ($80-$100) are the most requested treatment, along with the Brazilian Bronze ($55), an airbrush tanning service. Most treatments begin with a pine and rosemary oil footbath, which soothed my tired feet. I tried the Ayurvedic Bindi Herbal Rejuvenation (60 minutes, $95), which began with a full-body application of a warm botanical exfoliating mask, followed by a brisk massage with warm herb-infused oils. My therapist was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and the gentle scrub left my skin soft. Thoughtful detail: Guests are given heated neck rolls while waiting for their treatments. The spa is slated for a face-lift in October, which it needs. -M.B.

Phone: 415-977-5102
Website: www.nordstrombeauty.com
Address: 865 Market Street (Market Street)

BUFFEST SPA
Splash at the Sports Club/LA
Located on the fourth floor of the Sports Club/LA, in the same Market Street building as the Four Seasons Hotel, Splash is an unusually extensive spa for a health club, with a full-service menu that ranges from acupuncture to microdermabrasion. Still, gym and spa share locker rooms and other public facilities, and the club can be jam-packed before work, making it difficult to get into a spa state of mind. But it's certainly muscular--100,000 square feet, with plans to add another 20,000 next year to accommodate the demand for Pilates and yoga classes--and the excellent Thai massage (80 minutes; $140 for members, $155 for guests) is just the thing for a well-worked-out body. Therapist Carla Peterson, who studied the modality in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has a strong and assured technique. -M.B.

Phone: 800-809-0951
Website: www.thesportsclubla.com
Address: 747 Market Street (Market Street)

BEST VERY SMALL SPA
Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco
The spa in this neoclassical landmark is an amenity with a lowercase a: It has only three large treatment rooms, but the service is terrific and the therapists are attentive. It also has a small fitness center, pool, and coed whirlpool. I had a fairly decent deep tissue massage ($60 minutes, $125; 90 minutes, $175) and a very good Anti-Stress Aromatherapy Body Treatment (60 minutes, $155) from therapist Victoria Martiskova from Czechoslavakia. It began with a thorough dry-brushing and a wrap using a huge moist towel that had been soaked in rose, lavender, and geranium essential oils. During my 30 minutes as a mummy, Victoria gave me a sublime neck and shoulder massage and a foot massage with Pevonia's stress-reducing oil, a blend of aloe vera, camphor, mint, and azulene. -M.B.

Rates: $400-$5,200
Phone: 800-241-3333
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com
Address: 600 Stockton Street (Nob Hill)

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