Ten Thousand Waves - Japanese Spa - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Address:3451 Hyde Park Road
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tel: (505) 992-5003

A unique mountain spa resort near Santa Fe, Ten Thousand Waves feels just like a Japanese onsen. It boasts bubbling baths, state of the art treatment areas, and thirteen different hotel suites where guests can unwind and experience a different world. Guests here are first greeted by a roadside banner drawn in perfect Japanese characters, and the highest quality is maintained in all of the services offered, as well as in the architecture, tubs, and landscaping. The main attraction here is the hot baths, both communal and private, which are styled after Japanese bath-houses. With unique experiences like Four Hands One Heart, a massage where two therapists work in unison to free your muscles and your mind of chatter, and Shiatsu-do, a combination of traditional Anma massage and diagnosis of the acupuncture meridians, a visit to Ten Thousand Waves is one experience you won't want to pass up.

Guests are invited to spacious baths such as New Kojiro, (which includes a cold shower at one end of the large sunny deck), which is typically reserved for use as the Women's Communal Bath for most of the day, but can also be rented for private bath parties of up to 20 friends for a few hours each morning and evening. If you prefer to be pampered with spa treatments, try out a Yasuragi Head & Neck Treatment or an Indo-Asian Hot Oil Massage, in which aromatic hot oil is infused with therapeutic flowers and herbs such as lavender, comfrey leaf, and white willow bark. Perhaps the most exotic treatment is the Nightingale facial, a signature facial treatment made from processed nightingale droppings, used for centuries by geishas in Japan to brighten and smooth their skin. If that's a little too over the top for you, do not fret: there are plenty of other equally decadent services, such as the deluxe herbal wrap, and salt glows are available too. There are 13 suites available for rent onsite, but those looking for more moderately priced accommodations can check out the 'capsule' hotels near the station. They offer rentals of 19-foot Airstream Bambi trailers with just the basics.