by Mick Kelley  .  photo by Matt Rose

Sparrow may be WNC’s greenest spa yet. Jen Charlton, who owns Asheville’s two Sensibilities spas, took a leap last fall and opened a third spa, Sparrow, in the new LEED-certified Hilton Hotel in Biltmore Park. The water in the spa—in fact, all water in the hotel—is heated by a huge solar panel installation on top of the building. At Sparrow, which uses organic skin care products, you can get a hot-stone massage, a thermal mud wrap or a manicure treatment with avocado and wild-crafted ginger. 828-209-2772 or www.sparrowspa.com.

You truly feel like you’re entering another world when you step into the Grove Park Inn’s 43,000-square-foot underground spa. With its bubbling waterfalls and vast treatment rooms, it’s hard to beat when you want to escape without leaving WNC. Most treatments are $100 or more, but if you get just one, you get access to the spa for the whole day. 828-252-2711 or www.groveparkinn.com.

Shoji, a Japanese-style spa up a mountain ten minutes from Asheville, has deluxe private hot tubs. Which means you can sit in silence and stare out into the trees, pre- or post-massage. You can also stay overnight; rates start at $195. Asheville residents get a spa discount—a two-hour pass for $42, the regular price for one hour. 828-299-0999 or www.shojiretreats.com.

At the tubs in Hot Springs, you can soak for as little as $12 per person and then camp for $20 a night. 828-622-7676 or www.nchotsprings.com.