SPA & WELLNESS > Featured - Pamper your body and say spa-aahh!

To relax or invigorate, a facial, massage or scrub is just the ticket

Scrubs, wraps, glows, steams, soaks, showers, baths, "experiences," "rituals."

A variety of luxurious treatments are offered at Miramonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells.(Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun)

They're all part of spa culture and available throughout the Coachella Valley at the spas that very nearly outnumber the more-than-120 golf courses across the region.

But it could be said that spa culture is local culture itself — that we are a region built around some great spas.

The first residents of Palm Springs, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians are named after the waters. Se-Khi means "Boiling Water," in Cahuilla. According to Mildred Browne, Director of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, the tribe is "inextricably linked to the hot mineral springs considered sacred by our ancestors."

The tribe features the "taking of the waters" in private tubs at its Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs and has opened Sunstone: The Spa at Agua Caliente, a 10,500-square-ft. spa at its new resort in Rancho Mirage.

Other tribes have top-notch spas at their properties, including the Morongo Resort in Cabazon and Fantasy Springs in Indio.

Desert Hot Springs is named after the springs that naturally flow through the nearly 20 spas in the city. It also has an official "spa district."

Liz Howard, a yacht broker with Fraser Yachts in San Diego, said Two Bunch Palms is one of her favorite spas in the world.

"I've gone to spas in ports all over. I'm practically an expert. In my business, I can't take a whole day off when I'm on a trip with a client, but I can take four hours for a spa treatment, so that's what I do," she said at a recent visit at Two Bunch.

And the founding of Palm Springs as a get away Hollywood resort, where sun, blue sky, relaxation and privacy intersected with physical rejuvenation continues today in the many varieties of spas in the desert.

There are medi-spas, where clients can enjoy traditional spa treatments and treatments that take a directed medical approach to skin rejuvenation. Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells and La Quinta Resort and Club are two such medi-spas.

There are spas, like the Estrella Spa at the Viceroy, PSYC (Palm Springs Yacht Club) at The Parker, and Spa Terre at the Riviera that have brought contemporary chic and treatments to properties that have a long history of pampering clients including Hollywood stars of the Golden Era.

The 11,000-square-foot SpaTerre at the Riviera Resort & Spa in Palm Springs. SpaTerre features 18 treatment rooms, an indoor coed lounge with Jacuzzi and Watsu pool, locker rooms, sauna, and retail area for spa products. The full service facility also includes areas for styling, salon, as well as manicures and pedicures. Treatment rooms include single massage and facial areas and also a companion room for couples. The resort's decor features a palette of vibrant colors, unique accents, and graphic shapes. Other resort highlights include signature restaurant Circa 59, a pool-side Bikini Bar, and the Starlight Lounge.(Crystal Chatham, The Desert Sun)

There are spas that emphasize escape, with Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs being the gem of this group.

There are spas at the larger resorts that offer the spa experience as part of a luxurious vacation - the Spa Esmeralda at the Renaissance Esmeralda in Indian Wells, and Desert Springs resort in Palm Desert.

And for the adventurous, there are naturist and clothing optional spas.

While prices on some treatments start at about $75 and some are extravagant luxuries costing several hundred dollars, many spas offer good discount packages.

10 Cool Things About Spas in the Desert

1) La Quinta is a city named after a spa resort. The La Quinta Resort and Club has been offering a tranquil refuge since 1926. The city adopted its name as it grew up around the resort, but wasn't formally incorporated until 1982.

2) The desert environment is the perfect setting for treatments involving ingredients like sage, lavender, eucalyptus or grape seed. Leading spas throughout the valley offer these treatments.

3) Desert Hot Springs is named for its world-renowned "curative" waters. The San Andreas Fault split at Miracle Hill divides the hot mineral water on one side from the internationally acclaimed cool drinking water on the other side.

4) The “mud bath” the Hollywood mogul played by Tim Robbins takes at a spa in the movie “The Player” is a signature of the Two Bunch Palms resort in Desert Hot Springs.

5) One treatment available at a number of spas in the desert is the “Vichy shower,” in which a special pressurized flow of water is used to stimulate lymphatic drainage of toxins.

6) Spas now feature treatments that are global "rituals," from Java, from China, from Hawaii, from Native American culture, combining engagement of many senses, the spiritual and the physical.

7) Novelist Kathryn Jordan has written a “steamy” novel called “Hot Water,” set at the Two Bunch Palms spa in Desert Hot Springs.

8) Some local spas let you soak in it, others feed it to you. From a pumpkin puree facial to a cookie dough-scented body treatment to spa experiences that include champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries to snack on, it all sounds good enough to eat!

9) The Estrella Spa at the Viceroy Palm Springs is in a Hollywood Regency style hotel that was a favorite of Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and FDR, where today the grapefruit mojitos are made with fresh juice from the trees on site.

10) Indian Wells Resort, in another city that grew up around a famous spa, was founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball.