Best Spa

For only $25 you enter a room large and pristine. From here on out you don't need anything but your birthday suit. Women and men enter separately into private areas with lockers, dry sauna, wet sauna, cold tub, hot tub, even hotter tub and showers. They even provide razors and toothbrushes. Splurge on the body scrub. There's something special about being rolled around wet and naked on a table while an old Asian lady scrubs inches of your body that have definitely never been exfoliated. Believe it when they say one loses two-three pounds of dead skin in the process. It's grossness followed by silky, baby-butt smoothness. The community area has heated marble floors, offers acupuncture, cupping, foot reflexology, and massages, although overpriced. You can sleep overnight in the sleep pods or take a nap in one of seven community saunas that are decked TF out. Perfect place to ride out a storm too. If there was a Jeju South, we'd spend the night there weekly. less...

Remember that scene in The Matrix where Neo is presented with the option of taking the red or blue pill? Sometimes we’re slaves to our ego. Fears become demons, blocking us from being our better selves. What we need is a breakthrough, a respite to reawaken our capacity for self-improvement. EXHALE SPA AT LOEWS ATLANTA HOTEL offers all that and some. With a staff of passionate, trained professionals, they specialize in everything from traditional massage to energy healing (reiki), from acupuncture to om body therapy “tui na.” No matter what choice you make, you’ll leave better suited for returning to mere existence as usual. www.exhalespa.com/spa. less...

Perennial favorite Jeju offers the adventure of a Korean bathhouse at a pauper's price. For $25, customers gain access to 10 unisex saunas and steam rooms, Jacuzzis, and shower areas. Included among the domed saunas are the Jade Steam Room (for increased metabolism and circulation), the Charcoal Room (for toxin absorption), the Rock Salt Room (for stress release), and the Baked Clay Sauna (for melting muscle tension). Gender-specific areas are clothing-optional. And the Korean food court and massage options require additional costs. With 24/7 hours, it's always a convenient and economical escape to relax, release, and rejuvenate. less...

Hotel spas aren't just for business travelers anymore. Located within Midtown's luxurious Loews Hotel, Exhale Mindbody Spa offers city dwellers a temporary reprieve from the daily grind. Midtown residents get $10 off membership and service options, which range from yoga and core fusion studios to cycling, cardio, and boot camp classes. This is a place to splurge on yourself. The gym is massive without the massive wait for workout equipment. And the spa services are mind-altering. The hammam therapy room features heated stone surfaces for full-body detoxing. Other services include eight different facial and body peels, 18 types of massages and acupuncture, body and brow waxing, manis and pedis. The treadmill view is the best: As people scurry like ants through the streets below, you'll feel like you're floating above the stress - if only for the moment. less...

Yeah, that’s a lot of money — especially in these bank-account-depleted days. But at BLISS SPA, $500 goes really, really far. The venerable skincare line and beauty outpost, which originated in SoHo and now operates 16 locations worldwide, has two locations in Atlanta (only New York has more). But expansion has hardly left Bliss with stretch marks. In fact, the spa’s signature treatments have never been more fashionable. Start with the triple-oxygen facial to get that youthful glow, follow up with the “fatgirlslim treatment” to improve body tone, continue with the “blissage” massage to melt away anxiety, and finish with a hot cream manicure. Hey, it’s cheaper than plastic surgery! W Atlanta Midtown, 188 14th St.; W Atlanta downtown, 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd. 877-862-5477. www.blissworld.com. less...

If you’re looking to release some tension without releasing the contents of your wallet, the lovely and surreal JEJU SAUNA is the just the space. JeJu’s sprawling, Epcot-esque compound boasts a collection of healing rooms, saunas, mineral pools and spas modeled after a traditional Korean bathhouse — in a setting that’s hands-down the most unusual in the city. The entrance fee will buy you a visit to the Jade Room (for increasing metabolism and improving circulation), the Charcoal Room (for toxin absorption), the Rock Salt Room (for stress release) and the Baked Clay Sauna (for melting muscle tension). In true bathhouse style, parts of JeJu are divided by sex and are clothing-optional. There’s also a food court serving Korean fare, and a menu of spa-styled scrubs and massage. 3555 Gwinnett Place Drive, Duluth. 678-336-7414. www.jejusauna.net. less...