Best Spas in Chicago, IL
One of the best ways to recharge is by pampering yourself with a day at Chicago, Illinois’ best spas. Whether it’s a full-day experience or a one-hour manicure, a quick haircut and a shave, or full-on body massage, you’ll leave feeling revitalized and reinvigorated. The city provides the widest array of experiences possible, from an immersive afternoon in a hotel high-rise to a targeted approach that takes care of particular needs with a quickness when you’re short on time. Prepare to feel fantastic, and lose yourself, head-to-toe, at the following venues, each among Chicago, IL’s best spas and places to pamper oneself.
108 E. Superior St.
On the 19th and 20th floors of the Peninsula Hotel you can basically go all out with a full-day treatment. It’s the place for bounteous luxury, whether you’re expecting (go for the Mother-to-Be), a dude (the Swedish or Biologique Recherche Gentleman's Facial), or just looking for the De-Stress, Immune Booster or Anti-Cellulite treatments. Book an appointment, and plan accordingly — be sure to arrive early and think about what you are interested in, as the hotel also offers a half-Olympic length indoor pool, Jacuzzi, mani and pedis, and loads of other ways to feel divine.
809 Civic Center Drive, Niles
We can’t resist saying it: This place truly is King. If you’ve never done a Korean day spa, then make the pilgrimage and indulge (it’s up north in Niles). Hot-, warm-, cool- and cold-water baths prep you for a feast — seriously, they have a wild array of food offerings in their sit-down restaurant to go with the many spa treatments. Lounge on comfy chairs and read for a whole day, or hang out and watch TV in overstuffed fauteuils. Maybe you want to enjoy personal-care services, or visit specialty spots, including the Pyramid Room, Fire Sudatorium, Ocher Room (yellow soil and infrared rays!), Salt, Ice, Amethyst, and the Base Rock Rooms (for a $5 fee). Lie down on your towels! Chill out! Warm up! This place is a trip, and totally worth it. Take a day, especially a frigid weekday, and make an outing of it.
11 E. Walton St.
If you want to really get a refined, detailed, almost elemental spa treatment, the Waldorf is the place to go. A cat eye and re-lashing? Wow. Zen manicures, and the Signature Waldorf Manicure? Yes and yes. These are luxe offerings that go way beyond the traditional no-chip mani (which they also offer). Honestly, the spa menu itself requires a menu: A particular favorite is the Lava Shell Massage, which will set your muscles aglow with heat. The Waldorf-Astoria makes you realize why the Gold Coast is known as the Gold Coast.
330 N. Wabash Ave.
It’s the water treatment for you at the Chuan, which is at the Langham Hotel, right in the heart of downtown, a beautiful, tranquil spot. With rituals for bathing, aromatherapy, acupuncture, a Eucalyptus Steam Room, some serious manicures/pedicures, a Jacuzzi and also, a great all-day dining menu, Chuan Spa provides elegant and sophisticated healing. You move through a series of theme areas (the quiescent Moon Room is a particular fave), and enjoy such amenities as salt stone treatments, and relaxation pods and baths. This is Chinese medicine keyed toward your personal needs — your aesthetician will prescribe treatments following the descriptions of what ails you, or simply, what you request.
600 W. Chicago Ave.
Heavy-duty full-day offerings will spoil you here. The staff is committed to balancing your chakras, and your visit will open you up to the essentials of the current healthful panoply to cure distempers and ailments, from reflexology to hot stone and beyond. They also do waxing, facials and threadings, along with many other kinds of massage. The difference at Allyu may be its emphasis on the mind-body connection: Sure, you have manis and pedis and personal-care as well, and there is a neem and volcanic clay wrap for your skin, and also sugar body polishing, but the sense of being pampered right out of your body is also possible. Intrigued? There are even couple’s services, too.
1914 W Division St.
Massages (hot stone, hand and more), warm rooms, steam, Jacuzzi, a cold pool and vodka flights to go with Russian delicacies? Spasibo! Red Square boasts a bar and restaurant area that’s curiously spare but interestingly enticing. It’s the kind of place you don’t forget, a different sort of spa experience entirely. The food is good, and you will see people in robes drinking on stools at times. Strange? Not really, not after you’ve soaked up the ambiance. The wooden interiors of the sauna (mudmasks, anyone?) are contemplative, in their way, providing a window into the genuine Russian spa experience. No, no, not “Eastern Promises” spa-style, but spa à la Ruski the way Chicago does things (hammered tin roof, hearty food, authentic people). There is a co-ed area inside also, which makes for some mingling.
120 E. Delaware Place
Guys: If you go here, try the Gentleman’s Urban Defence. But that’s just one of the many treatments, and it’s just for dudes. Ladies, many are the signature hotel offerings that will attract you as well, including the Magnificent Mile Facial, the Själ Skincare Signature Facial, and the Intraceuticals Hyperbaric Oxygen Facial, for starters. Pick one. This is to say nothing of the rest of the bodywork, which can be packaged into three 50-minute sessions, and may include the Signature Four Seasons Massage and the Bamboo or Detoxifying Massages, along with Aroma Mixology and other scrubs. These are light on the wallet, but hey — spas are meant for indulgence. Likely high on the list is the Rose-Inspired Manicure and Pedicure, which can last up to 50 minutes and run $100. The quality of care is what you’re paying for: You won’t just feel pampered, but also as if you are genuinely wanted and genuinely cared for, which is all you care for and want in your spa experience, right?
235 W. Van Buren St.
Gents, if you seek a very professional, specific series of personal-care services — in for an hour, out looking tremendous and refreshed — this is your place. Less of a commitment than a full-on day spa, at Van Buren’s you can get your hands detailed, a facial, that beard trimmed ultra-fine (or perfectly sheared, along every lock of hair on your head, if you like), all manner of waxing, your shoes shined, as well as services for the elder paterfamilias taken care of (check the 65 and Up Gentleman’s Facial). A basic haircut is pretty transporting stuff: Sit down, get shampooed, enjoy the hot towel treatment, conditioning, and a cut and style. You can opt for add-ons (a neck trim, perhaps?), and worthwhile memberships abound. We like this as a kind of nice middle ground — you don’t have to settle in fully for rubdowns or three hours of water treatments to feel damn good.
113 – 125 N. Green St.
The interiors here in this basement spot at Soho House are unique, a bit like a cross between RH and a barn. A very lavishly appointed barn. Soho is members only, but Cowshed isn’t, so this U.K.-based business is offering pretty affordable luxury, which can be hard to find in spa experiences. Pedicure and manicure treatments in these rustic environs get the nod from us, as do the comfy beauty spot chairs and products on offer. For some, the massages may be the real draw, as staff seems to work deep into tissue and get the kinks out (especially important in the Chicago winter weather). Relaxation may best come in the full-body, “Moody” Massage, which is the true answer to menu’s own question of “Feeling knackered?” Who isn’t, these days?
2112 W Belmont Ave
A different variety of spa treatment entirely, Healing Foundations offers Reiki, craniosacral, acupuncture, Gua Sha (oil application, followed by scraping), acupressure, shiatsu and Thai massage. This place involves a bit of time and research even, in terms of an initial session with your practitioner, but you will get a rewarding experience. If you’ve never had a Thai massage, then you are in for a full-body transformation. The treatments here address all sorts of energy imbalances, including stress, everyday aches and pains, recovery from injury and, quite simply, emotional distress or life concerns. The techniques, developed from Asian practices dating back, in some cases, thousands of years, may be slow to gain acceptance in the West, but they have made major inroads with mainstream medicine, and will likely become services offered at most of the spas listed here soon enough.
Cheat Sheet
For more on Chicago, IL’s best spas, also see:
· Time Out – The 13 Best Spas in Chicago
· Byrdie - The Best Spas in Chicago