Qua Spa: Caeser's Palace, Las Vegas

This spa is the biggest and one of the most relaxing and nicest spas I have visited. The whole spa exudes luxury. Qua Spa has a Roman bath theme, with multi-colored/shaped blue and white tiles. The highlight of the spa is the three different salt water pools. As you walk into the room with these pools you first observe the largest pool which is a comfortable temperature, and has water flowing over the sides in three different tiers. Up behind this pool is a circular waterfall falling from the ceiling. Behind this large falling shower is two smaller pools, one hot and the other cold, both with a small waterfall dropping into the end of the pools. As you sit under the waterfalls and look up it there is a "natural" light coming out, so it feels as though you're in a cave with sunlight pouring through. Walking into those two pools and letting the water fall on my shoulders was one of the most relaxing things I have done in a long time. It was so calming that I felt extremely happy and perfectly at peace. Along the outer edge of these pools are heated stone lounges to lay on and relax or read magazines. It was so calming to lay on the heated lounge after dipping into the hot and cold pools that I could have spent all day there.

As you continue on into the spa there is a large tea room with cushy lounges offering magazines and servers to help you select tea from the tea bar. There are about 12 different tea choices and all the ones I sampled were excellent. They also offer iced tea, fruit, pretzels, juice and coffee.

Next as you walk further into the spa is another large circular heated hot pool. Then there is a lovely steam room with eucalyptus essential oil, a nice sauna, and my favorite: the arctic ice room. This room is covered in multicolored bubble shaped blue glass tiles along the wall and ceiling and marble slabs to sit on. The temp is 55 degrees, and has mini snow bubbles falling from the ceiling. There are chips of ice that fall into a bowl for you to scrub yourself with. It feels so great to pop into this room after heating up in the sauna/steam room.

The showers come with nicely scented shampoo, conditioner and body wash. There are lovely marble counters stocked with lotion and hair products to get ready with. Of course you are also given a nice locker with comfy sandals and robe.

I have no complaints with this spa, except perhaps the high entrance fee of $45. But this all seems worth the price considering the service and amenities. I highly recommend this spa as your first choice to visit when going to las vegas. The only problem is that you will then be spoiled and wish that other spas were as nice as Qua.

Drift Spa at Palms Place, Las Vegas

I first selected this spa because it advertised that they had a coed turkish hammam, allowing couples to meet together from both sides of the spa. The spa costs $35 for entrance and use of the facilities.
The theme of this spa is desert minimalism. The entire place is tiled with the colors of browns, grays and cream. The robes are comfortable and the sandals are jelly with massage points on them. The women's side includes a break room where you can lounge on a comfortable leather recliner and can choose to read magazines provided or watch tv on a large flat screen with curtains to enclose you in privacy. The women's facilities also included the pool room with a sauna and steam room. This pool room was covered with gray slate and included a large warm pool and a small cold plunge pool. The room has several sleek modern white chairs that you can sit and meditate in. The whole room has large windows with light from outside coming in. Looking out the windows the spa is enclosed by a fence along with beautiful desert greenery. There is even a spot where you can go outside and lay in a lounge chair. I found myself meditating on one of the sleek white lounge chairs with my eyes closed as the sunlight was reflected off the pools sparkling across the room.
The steam room at Drift Spa was turned up too high so that the instant I went in it felt as though I was being cooked alive. I instantly went out and dunked myself in the cold pool. Later I realized this was perfect hydrotherapy so I continued boiling myself alive and quickly dousing myself in the cold pool.
Later I met Matt in the turkish hammam room. It was covered all over in different colored brown tiles with a huge marble slab stone in the middle and marble benches on the wall to lie on. The lights in the ceiling were made to mimic light pouring in from holes in the ceiling like the turkish hammam in Istanbul I visited 6 years ago. It was mildly steamy and very comfortable to relax in. The only thing I didn't like about this room is they were playing hip hop music instead of calming spa music that was playing in the rest of the spa.
The showers were lovely with large overhead nozzles that felt like I was standing under a large warm rain shower. They provide you with nice shampoo and conditioner, lotion, hair products, blow dryers and a large vanity sinks in order to apply makeup and dress.
I loved this spa because of it's natural minimalist feel. It was so calming and the mix of the greenery outside with the natural light coming through made it a perfect place to calm down and relax.

Spa Reviews

Many of you may know I'm a big fan of spas. It's not just the treatments and massages that I appreciate, but also the facilities. I love going to a place where I can forget the outside world for a moment, detox with hot and cold hydrotherapy, spend some time meditating, drink some tea and catch up on gossip magazines.

I have decided on my trip to Las Vegas, to review a different spa each day, or as many as I can manage to attend.

I think spas and/or personal hydrotherapy are essential to a healthy lifestyle.

Herbal honeys

I'm currently obsessed with honey. It all started after reading "The Secret Life of Bees". I have been using creamed honey, honey with honeycomb in it, and all sorts of different honey like Fireweed, Buckwheat, Wildflower, and Poison Oak. Recently I've been inspired to make herbal honeys. I noticed that I have a massive infestation of Melissa off. (Lemon Balm) and decided to put that herb to good use.

How to Make:

1. First select a small jar that you want to put the honey into.
2. Second chop up the FRESH herb or flower you want to place in there. Start with one layer of the herb, then another layer of honey.
3. Continue until you have the jar filled with herb saturated in honey.
4. Let sit for 2 weeks to several months. The honey will be delightfully infused with the herb. 5. Use it on toast, in tea, or by the spoonful.

Some herbs to consider: Lemon Balm, thyme, spearmint, rose petals (especially good for heart chakra balancing), thyme, rosemary, or whatever your favorite herb is! I'm going to try Monarda (Bergamot) next, (I'm thinking Earl Grey flavored honey).