villagio inn & spa

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By: Yogi Times

town’s most illustrious pick

Yountville may well be one of the most picturesque little towns in California. Nestled amid 500 acres of vineyards, this Napa Valley hollow boasts a bevy of delights: wine tasting, boutiques galore, bike tours and hot air balloon rides over a patchwork of balmy territory. And of course, epicurean hideaways like the delectable French Laundry lurk around every vineyard or olive grove.

For overnight hedonism in Yountville, the Villagio Inn & Spa is the town’s most illustrious pick. This 23-acre estate – which also harbors a state-of-the art fitness center and spa – is chock-full of plush appointments. The suites are surrounded by Tuscan-inspired courtyards, fountains, olive groves, and tasteful replicas of Roman ruins. It’s the kind of place made for voluptuaries and paramours. The suites also appeal to the senses, with their opulent French fabrics, vaulted ceilings, enormous sunken bathtubs and private balconies overlooking the Napa Valley.

After uncorking a bottle of wine and sitting down with your sweetheart before a wood-burning fireplace, you may be loath to seek indulgence beyond the intimacy of your suite. But aside from the Villagio champagne brunches and afternoon teas, the spa is the best reason to step outside. Of course, you can always ask for an in-room massage, but any treatment at the Villagio is best experienced in the serene refuge of the spa. 

A small yet cushy fixture full of warm, neutral colors and lush background music, the spa is a place full of unique treatments with the purpose of making you feel one with nature. The spa is a beautiful, earthy haven influenced by the restorative attributes of Napa Valley – from plant and flower essences to grape seeds, to local herbs and clays.

While waiting for your first treatment, you may opt for a mineral water footbath steeped in fragrant blossoms. Or, sit atop one of the luxuriant thrones in the pedicure room and get an Essence of the Valley pedicure, which is a warm and rejuvenating delicacy with ingredients like hydrating olive oil and a heated mustard mask. Whatever the case, the therapists at the Villagio ensure that your wait is a delightful part of your personal treatment experience. 

Massage aficionados will want to try the Villagio’s signature River Stone Massage, a rhythmic and therapeutic body rub sure to de-stress the most overworked limbs. Before or after the treatment, take a dip in one of the spa’s Tuscan Deep Soak tubs, dosed with a medley of hand-picked essential oils, so you can fully appreciate the healing properties of the warm stones.

The spa is overtly influenced by the Mediterranean’s rejuvenating elixirs, and this is nowhere more evident than in the body treatments. I was administered with the vigorous Green Coffee Wrap, which involves an attentive massage with a contouring gel, before the therapist wraps you in a cellulite-zapping cocoon of wellness. I was so taken by the organic ambience of it all that I was tempted to continue down the line of the Villagio’s other body treatments. The Mineral Rich Clay Wrap is studded with crushed grape seeds, – an age-old strategy for cultivating younger-looking skin – while the Mediterranean Body Scrub hydrates your skin with an aromatic scrub containing olive oil, sea salts, and blood orange. 

With the spa’s array of temptations, it would be easy to forego the Valley’s other delights and lose oneself in hours of pampering. Yet the Villagio Spa distills all the beauty and magic of wine country, so you needn’t ever venture outside its bounds.

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