The Best Spa Hotels and Wellness Retreats to Book in San Diego
Southern California is obsessed with healthy living, and nowhere more so than San Diego. With 26 beaches primed for yoga, surfing and volleyball, 126 trails for hiking and biking along 70mi (113km) of coastline and 266 days of sunshine, who can blame them? Throw in some of the finest luxury spa resorts in the US, and San Diego secures itself as one very appealing wellness destination. So you can start planning your healthy escape, we’ve rounded up the best spa hotels in San Diego, bookable on Culture Trip.
1. Rancho Bernardo Inn San Diego – A Golf and Spa Resort, for a dreamy retreat
Golf Hotel, Spa Hotel, Resort
Lying a little outside the city, this San Diego wellness retreat covers 265 acres (107ha) of North County with its Spanish-style mansions, gorgeous gardens and 18-hole golf course. Weave your way through climbing jasmine and bubbling fountains to the dreamy spa, where you’ll find your own private pool, waterfall whirlpool and curtained poolside cabana where you can have lunch and drinks delivered as you prepare for some serious pampering. A menu of stress-busting treatments is available, including a sensuous couple’s massage in a wood-warmed casita.
2. Paradise Point Resort and Spa, for tropical rejuvenation
Resort, Spa Hotel
3. The US Grant, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Diego, for historic healing
Hotel
Are you ready to be wowed? This historic five-star hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter is so grand that you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a national museum or bohemian palace. Matching the grandeur of the 1910s facade, the interior is decorated with vast chandeliers and gold-leaf details. The spa is fittingly opulent and offers an array of facials, scrubs, wraps and a dry-brush exfoliation that will combat your jet lag. After detoxifying, retox with a tipple at Rendezvous, the hotel’s French-inspired cocktail bar, followed by a seriously good dinner at the Art Deco-style Grant Grill.
4. The Center for Wellbeing at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, for a five-star experience
Resort
5. Pendry San Diego, for personalized treatments
Chain Hotel, Luxury
Stay your way at Pendry, where personalization is the core focus. Just as you can choose from its six in-house restaurants for dinner, so can you select from a wide menu of spa treatments that are tailored to your needs. The level of pampering is off the charts – massages can be paired with soaks and wraps to create aromatic rituals that soothe the soul, while facial treatments can be tweaked to include peels, enzymes, light therapy or sonic infusions that will get you looking 10 years younger. This is one of the very best hotels that Downtown San Diego has to offer.
6. Westgate Hotel, for the sprawling wellness center
Spa Hotel
If you believe bigger is better, opt for the Westgate, home to AquaVie, a 40,000sqft (12,200sqm) wellness center that’s basically its own fitness village. The gym alone has more than 200 machines, and features a raft of instructor-led fitness, yoga and HIIT classes and an outdoor running track. On the pampering side, there’s a rooftop pool, hot tub and spa treatments, including some very serious-sounding facials and a whole separate list for “mommies to be.”
7. Omni San Diego Hotel, for unwinding by the bay
Hotel
Located right on the bayfront, next to the San Diego Convention Center, this resort-style city hotel has all the elements to help you unwind. Exercise in the heated pool or the 24-hour fitness center featuring Peloton bikes, Cybex machines and gym equipment that can be borrowed for in-room workouts, too. Top up your vitamin D levels on the tanning deck, bubble away in the hot tub or hit the spa for a signature treatment, like a massage that utilizes hot paua shells from the South Pacific.
8. Tower23 Hotel, for coastal immersion
Boutique Hotel
Looking for more? Book into one of the best wellness retreats in the state of California, or explore more places to stay in San Diego.
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