You can’t beat geothermal heat. That’s what warms the many hot springs in California, which make a disparate yet tempting bunch, from rustic roadside holes in the ground to luxurious Napa Valley retreats.
There are dozens, especially in Calistoga (Napa Valley wine country) and Desert Hot Springs (a Coachella Valley city that has not yet followed Palm Springs and environs into full-blown desert gentrification).
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At any place with overnight accommodations, you can count on lower prices midweek. Whatever the price point, each of the spots listed here offers a chance to retreat from the daily hubbub and steep yourself in hot water. (That water, by the way, shouldn’t be more than 104 degrees, health officials say.)
With winter days upon us, here is a look at 10 hot spring sites that Times writers have tried in recent years.
Glen Ivy Hot Springs
Corona Experience
We know that the word “spa” can sound intimidating. But Glen Ivy isn’t that way. As then-Times travel editor Catharine Hamm wrote after a visit in 2017, “It feels accessible, not exclusive, meaning you can sit back and relax.”
Glen Ivy has 19 pools on 12 acres, including some of the same mineral pools that were the star attraction here in the late 1800s. There’s no hotel. But it has a Grotto (when skin hydration happens) and it has Club Mud, where you may be slathered with red clay. You could alternate between the hot and cold plunge pools, grab a bite at the Ivy Kitchen or try a 50-minute quartz massage (dry heat from warm quartz sand) for $165.
The cost of admission with a Grotto visit is $120 per head; admission plus a HydroMassage, $125. Basic admission (access to the pools and Club Mud) is $94, reservations required. Open to guests age 18 and over.
Glen Ivy has 19 pools on 12 acres, including some of the same mineral pools that were the star attraction here in the late 1800s. There’s no hotel. But it has a Grotto (when skin hydration happens) and it has Club Mud, where you may be slathered with red clay. You could alternate between the hot and cold plunge pools, grab a bite at the Ivy Kitchen or try a 50-minute quartz massage (dry heat from warm quartz sand) for $165.
The cost of admission with a Grotto visit is $120 per head; admission plus a HydroMassage, $125. Basic admission (access to the pools and Club Mud) is $94, reservations required. Open to guests age 18 and over.
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Two Bunch Palms
Riverside Experience
This adults-only resort between Palm Springs and Joshua Tree goes back to 1940 and got an upgrade in 2018. One of the suites is named for Al Capone, said to have been a good customer under previous management. But the best-known Two Bunch Palms bather might be Tim Robbins’ character in the 1992 film “The Player,” who comes for a mud bath. (Complications ensue.)
The resort includes 65 guest rooms and suites on 240 acres, along with plenty of palm trees. Rooms typically run $325-$525. The spa menu, which includes many CBD treatments, starts with a 60-minute massage at $165.
The resort includes 65 guest rooms and suites on 240 acres, along with plenty of palm trees. Rooms typically run $325-$525. The spa menu, which includes many CBD treatments, starts with a 60-minute massage at $165.
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Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel
Hot Springs
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The three-pool, 20-room Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel, 70 miles southeast of downtown San Diego on the dusty road to Arizona, spent its first life as an early-1950s motel.
Since reopening in early 2024, this hotel has been outfitted with spa features, a restaurant, bar and global desert vibe. Designers Melissa Strukel and Corbin Winters pay homage to influences from Mexico to Morocco. Its pools include the large, outdoor Ritual Pool (100 to 101 degrees); the smaller, quieter outdoor Solstice Pool (100 to 101 degrees) and the small, indoor hotel-guests-only Echo Room (100 to 102 degrees).
Besides its guest rooms, the hotel rents out several guest houses, including one rambling mountain cabin known as the Lodge. On weekends, in the candlelit ruins of an old bathhouse down the street, the resort stages live music. The hotel’s owners also have revived a small neighboring lake (open to the community) and planted palm trees.
All overnight guests must be at least 21; no pets permitted.
The hotel serves as a nerve center to the tiny town of Jacumba Hot Springs, which sits half a mile from the Mexican border, surrounded by high desert, hills and boulders.
Room rates typically start at around $400-$500 a night on weekends, $200-$350 on weeknights. Day passes to the Ritual and Solstice pools cost $53 to $127 per adult, depending on day and duration.
Since reopening in early 2024, this hotel has been outfitted with spa features, a restaurant, bar and global desert vibe. Designers Melissa Strukel and Corbin Winters pay homage to influences from Mexico to Morocco. Its pools include the large, outdoor Ritual Pool (100 to 101 degrees); the smaller, quieter outdoor Solstice Pool (100 to 101 degrees) and the small, indoor hotel-guests-only Echo Room (100 to 102 degrees).
Besides its guest rooms, the hotel rents out several guest houses, including one rambling mountain cabin known as the Lodge. On weekends, in the candlelit ruins of an old bathhouse down the street, the resort stages live music. The hotel’s owners also have revived a small neighboring lake (open to the community) and planted palm trees.
All overnight guests must be at least 21; no pets permitted.
The hotel serves as a nerve center to the tiny town of Jacumba Hot Springs, which sits half a mile from the Mexican border, surrounded by high desert, hills and boulders.
Room rates typically start at around $400-$500 a night on weekends, $200-$350 on weeknights. Day passes to the Ritual and Solstice pools cost $53 to $127 per adult, depending on day and duration.
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Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort & Spa
San Luis Obispo Experience
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Sycamore Mineral Springs, set in a shady canyon along a country road between San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach, has 72 hotel rooms and suites, each with a hot tub on its balcony or patio. Rates are typically $264-$514.
The resort also has 24 private outdoor tubs, which are arrayed on a hillside, surrounded by an oak grove. The cost is $22.50-$27.50 per hour per person (and another $3 for towel rental) and you’ll be climbing up to 100 steps to reach your designated tub. (Tubs can accommodate up to eight people.)
Pro tip: If you’d rather combine your soaking with a cabin, tent or RV camping, nearby Avila Hot Springs is also worth a look.
Even if you don’t want a soak, you may want to explore the resort’s Secret Garden. This semi-rustic, kid-friendly, dog-friendly area, which includes a concession stand with beer, wine and snacks, is across a bridge from the main part of the resort. It’s also right next to the path of the Bob Jones Trail, a 3-mile-long walking and cycling route that follow San Luis Obispo Creek and ends at Avila State Beach. I had a tasty salad and wished I’d brought my bike.
The resort also has 24 private outdoor tubs, which are arrayed on a hillside, surrounded by an oak grove. The cost is $22.50-$27.50 per hour per person (and another $3 for towel rental) and you’ll be climbing up to 100 steps to reach your designated tub. (Tubs can accommodate up to eight people.)
Pro tip: If you’d rather combine your soaking with a cabin, tent or RV camping, nearby Avila Hot Springs is also worth a look.
Even if you don’t want a soak, you may want to explore the resort’s Secret Garden. This semi-rustic, kid-friendly, dog-friendly area, which includes a concession stand with beer, wine and snacks, is across a bridge from the main part of the resort. It’s also right next to the path of the Bob Jones Trail, a 3-mile-long walking and cycling route that follow San Luis Obispo Creek and ends at Avila State Beach. I had a tasty salad and wished I’d brought my bike.
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Travertine Hot Springs
Mono County Experience
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Last fall, on a road trip up Highway 395 through Owens Valley, I made a small detour to check out Travertine Hot Springs. It’s not a resort. It’s not even a building.
It’s a patch of public land at the end of a dirt road, hot water bubbling from the earth, just south of Bridgeport along 395. Free to all. In some of these natural hot tubs, you can adjust the temperature by placing pebbles to divert the incoming hot spring water.
When I arrived, Opie Owens, 32, was unwinding in one of the tubs. He had just attended 13 Phish concerts in 16 days and he was in no hurry.
By the way, locals say the dirt road to these springs gets buried when serious snow comes. I wouldn’t try it in the winter.
It’s a patch of public land at the end of a dirt road, hot water bubbling from the earth, just south of Bridgeport along 395. Free to all. In some of these natural hot tubs, you can adjust the temperature by placing pebbles to divert the incoming hot spring water.
When I arrived, Opie Owens, 32, was unwinding in one of the tubs. He had just attended 13 Phish concerts in 16 days and he was in no hurry.
By the way, locals say the dirt road to these springs gets buried when serious snow comes. I wouldn’t try it in the winter.
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Murrieta Hot Springs Resort
Murrieta Hot Springs
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Murrieta Hot Springs, just north of Temecula, is a palm-shaded haven of steaming streams and coveted mud that used to be a Christian Bible college. Before that it was a TV-free vegetarian commune. Before that, a popular mostly Jewish resort.
Since a major renovation that concluded in early 2024, the property has been a 174-room resort hotel and spa with two restaurants, a bar, a little lake and more than 50 pools and other water features. The resort covers 46 acres. Though water comes from the ground at more than 120 degrees, the resort cools it to 104 or less (as state law requires) before it reaches guests.
Some buildings go back to the 1920s; others were added in the 1960s.
You can spend the night, have a meal or do spa services or get a day pass — $119 per adult Friday through Sunday, $99 Monday through Thursday. (Use of lockers and robes costs extra.)
The day pass gets you access to 25 pools, most of them fed by all-natural geothermal mineral water, along with cold plunges and an adult-only panoramic sauna. Winter room rates in the hotel typically start at about $330 nightly on weekends, $290 on weekdays.
Since a major renovation that concluded in early 2024, the property has been a 174-room resort hotel and spa with two restaurants, a bar, a little lake and more than 50 pools and other water features. The resort covers 46 acres. Though water comes from the ground at more than 120 degrees, the resort cools it to 104 or less (as state law requires) before it reaches guests.
Some buildings go back to the 1920s; others were added in the 1960s.
You can spend the night, have a meal or do spa services or get a day pass — $119 per adult Friday through Sunday, $99 Monday through Thursday. (Use of lockers and robes costs extra.)
The day pass gets you access to 25 pools, most of them fed by all-natural geothermal mineral water, along with cold plunges and an adult-only panoramic sauna. Winter room rates in the hotel typically start at about $330 nightly on weekends, $290 on weekdays.
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Dr. Wilkinson's Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs
Napa Experience
This sleek spot in Calistoga was born in 1952, which gives it a Midcentury Modern flair to go with its emphasis on alternative wellness. (Design-wise, it’s like a little piece of Palm Springs broke free and ran away to Napa.) It has all the modern conveniences, including 50 guest rooms, restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining, spa, seven indoor mineral baths (and two outdoors), mud baths, family rooms and loaner bikes for no extra charge, plus a throwback neon sign and vintage-looking fridges in the guest rooms.
Management likes to call it the Doc — a welcome little bit of irreverence.
Rooms and cottages typically run $277-$679. Spa prices start at $169 for an hourlong whirlpool bath “infused with Epsom sea salts, and a facial mask, steam room and blanket wrap.”
Management likes to call it the Doc — a welcome little bit of irreverence.
Rooms and cottages typically run $277-$679. Spa prices start at $169 for an hourlong whirlpool bath “infused with Epsom sea salts, and a facial mask, steam room and blanket wrap.”
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Indian Springs, Calistoga
Napa Experience
This 17-acre haven in the northern Napa Valley is full of Mission Revival buildings that hold 116 guest rooms, bungalows and cottages, along with a restaurant, Sam’s. It has an Olympic-sized mineral pool (built in 1913). There’s croquet, bocce ball, shuffleboard, loaner bikes and a Himalayan salt therapy room. The property also includes four geysers.
Overnight rates typically start at $319-$659. A 60-minute mud bath is $170; a 45-minute mineral bath, $105. And a 100-minute CBD massage is $390 per person.
Overnight rates typically start at $319-$659. A 60-minute mud bath is $170; a 45-minute mineral bath, $105. And a 100-minute CBD massage is $390 per person.
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Esalen
Monterey County Experience
One of this state’s most storied hot-spring bathing spots since the 1960s, the Esalen Institute educational and retreat center is perched on the cliffs in Big Sur.
To get into the spectacularly sited, clothing-optional mineral baths, which were largely rebuilt after storm damage in 1999, most guests sign up for a multiple-day workshop or self-guided exploration which includes accommodations and meals. (Prices begin at $560 for a two-night stay in an area shared by people in sleeping bags.)
But there are two other ways in.
One way is to sign up for Day Pass Visitor privileges along with a 75-minute massage ($401 and up) or book an astrological reading or comparable service ($380 and up).
The other way is by working. You can sign up to volunteer for three hours of labor at Esalen, cleaning guest cabins, working in the kitchen or working in the garden. Sign-ups open 14 days before the day you’d like to volunteer.
On the day that you work, you’re allowed to arrive as soon at 8:45 a.m. and stay as late as 8 p.m. When not working, volunteers can soak in the baths and sit in on daily class offerings and join in meals in the lodge.
To get into the spectacularly sited, clothing-optional mineral baths, which were largely rebuilt after storm damage in 1999, most guests sign up for a multiple-day workshop or self-guided exploration which includes accommodations and meals. (Prices begin at $560 for a two-night stay in an area shared by people in sleeping bags.)
But there are two other ways in.
One way is to sign up for Day Pass Visitor privileges along with a 75-minute massage ($401 and up) or book an astrological reading or comparable service ($380 and up).
The other way is by working. You can sign up to volunteer for three hours of labor at Esalen, cleaning guest cabins, working in the kitchen or working in the garden. Sign-ups open 14 days before the day you’d like to volunteer.
On the day that you work, you’re allowed to arrive as soon at 8:45 a.m. and stay as late as 8 p.m. When not working, volunteers can soak in the baths and sit in on daily class offerings and join in meals in the lodge.
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Gaviota Hot Springs
Experience
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Located on the longest remaining undeveloped coastline in the lower half of the state, Santa Barbara’s 3,000-acre Gaviota State Park has shaded oak woodlands, sculpted wind caves, a beautiful beach framed by a railroad trestle and even a secret shore accessible only by water. After a full day of exploring, visitors can rest their legs and relax their muscles with a soak at the Gaviota Hot Springs.
Park at the dirt lot and find the trailhead for Gaviota Peak. From there, you can either take a strenuous trip to the summit or a quarter-mile walk under oak and sycamore groves. Turn left at the junction with the Trespass trail, and at the next junction, turn right onto an overgrown trail, full of California blackberry bushes, and follow the creek (and the smell of sulfur) to its source. Here, half a mile from the trailhead, you’ll find two milky blue pools — the larger option is framed by a man-made cement rock wall and comfortably fits five or six people (clothing is optional). Enjoy a foot soak or fully submerge yourself in the warm bubbling water.
Park admission is $10 per car. Hikespeak.com notes a $2 fee for parking in the dirt lot.
Park at the dirt lot and find the trailhead for Gaviota Peak. From there, you can either take a strenuous trip to the summit or a quarter-mile walk under oak and sycamore groves. Turn left at the junction with the Trespass trail, and at the next junction, turn right onto an overgrown trail, full of California blackberry bushes, and follow the creek (and the smell of sulfur) to its source. Here, half a mile from the trailhead, you’ll find two milky blue pools — the larger option is framed by a man-made cement rock wall and comfortably fits five or six people (clothing is optional). Enjoy a foot soak or fully submerge yourself in the warm bubbling water.
Park admission is $10 per car. Hikespeak.com notes a $2 fee for parking in the dirt lot.
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Montecito Hot Springs
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(Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times)
Before you can hike and soak at Santa Barbara County’s highly popular Montecito Hot Springs, you’ll need to arrange a ride-share or grab an early parking spot — probably before 9 a.m. (There are only eight or nine spots at the Hot Springs Canyon trailhead, and curbside parking is scant in this neighbor.hood of gated mansions.)
Next you hike 1.2 or 1.3 mile upslope among boulders, oaks and a meandering creek, gaining about 800 feet of altitude and crossing the creek at least once near the end. The path can be challenging and busy, especially on weekends, especially if it has rained recently. A Los Padres National Forest spokesman warns that “the foothills of Santa Barbara are especially fragile and hiking is especially precarious in the aftermath of heavy rains.”
Also, there are no bathrooms or trash cans on the trail or at the springs.
Near the pools, you’ll pick up the scent of sulfur and see a hand-lettered CLOTHING OPTIONAL sign.
Arriving, you’ll see a series of spring-fed pools of varying temperatures, some only a foot or two deep. These pools, as a Los Padres National Forest told me, have been created by “trail gnomes,” no government entities involved. Thus, the pools get rearranged from time to time, especially after substantial rains. Take care on the way back down. You’ll be soaked and mellow, but that mile-plus of downhill trail requires some attention.
Bonus: Within about 20 yards of the pools you’ll find stone ruins that were part of a 19th-century hotel, later a private club, which was destroyed in a 1964 fire, The hot springs, ruins and surrounding land have been part of Los Padres National Forest since 2013.
Next you hike 1.2 or 1.3 mile upslope among boulders, oaks and a meandering creek, gaining about 800 feet of altitude and crossing the creek at least once near the end. The path can be challenging and busy, especially on weekends, especially if it has rained recently. A Los Padres National Forest spokesman warns that “the foothills of Santa Barbara are especially fragile and hiking is especially precarious in the aftermath of heavy rains.”
Also, there are no bathrooms or trash cans on the trail or at the springs.
Near the pools, you’ll pick up the scent of sulfur and see a hand-lettered CLOTHING OPTIONAL sign.
Arriving, you’ll see a series of spring-fed pools of varying temperatures, some only a foot or two deep. These pools, as a Los Padres National Forest told me, have been created by “trail gnomes,” no government entities involved. Thus, the pools get rearranged from time to time, especially after substantial rains. Take care on the way back down. You’ll be soaked and mellow, but that mile-plus of downhill trail requires some attention.
Bonus: Within about 20 yards of the pools you’ll find stone ruins that were part of a 19th-century hotel, later a private club, which was destroyed in a 1964 fire, The hot springs, ruins and surrounding land have been part of Los Padres National Forest since 2013.
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