CONTACTCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Hippocrates treated bronchial and lung disorders with saltwater inhalation. Pilgrims to the Dead Sea have been bobbing in its mineral-rich, super-saturated expanse since biblical times. But the trend of salt spas—entire rooms caked in the stuff—is just taking off, riffing on Eastern European salt caves where microclimates devoid of fungi, bacteria, and allergens and suffused with minerals have been used therapeutically for hundreds of years. The most famous is Wieliczka Salt Mine outside Krakow in Poland. Noticing that miners had markedly fewer lung diseases, a physician founded a spa in the caverns in 1843. Visitors can still book seven-day packages where everything—eating, sleeping, relaxing, physiotherapy—is done 443 feet underground. There?s even a salt cathedral. Known as speleotherapy, it?s been used to treat cystic fibrosis (salt helps dry extra mucus and prevent infections in the lungs), allergies, and asthma, plus skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema.
Stateside, the cave concept gets a (sub)urban makeover at Salt Chalet with a doctor?s office?like approach called halotherapy. Founded in Encino, Calif., with franchises popping up in Beverly Hills and Phoenix, Salt Chalet?s rooms feature six-inch-deep crunchy Dead Sea salt floors and crystal-spackled walls, with saltcicles lending an imagineered ice-cave vibe (sans yeti). Crisp, briny air replicates underground temperatures and humidity levels. Patients book 45-minute sessions, strip down to a swimsuit for skin conditions or stay clothed for respiratory ones (booties protect your feet), settle into a lounger, and chill. Watch some TV, read a book, chat, relax, doze. Every few minutes a nebulizer spritzes a cloud of salt. Supposedly salt?s negative ions also bind to excess positive ones in our body, reducing stress. (Go with it.)
Although some doctors recommend you take the claims with a grain of salt, it?s a countrywide phenomenon. Galos Caves, in a staunchly Polish neighborhood of Chicago, goes full-on with faux stalactites and Technicolor illumination, plus thick accents for authenticity. Farther south, Williamsburg Salt Spa in Virginia imported Polish and Pakistani rock salt to turn a brick colonial home into a candlelit pink grotto, while The Salt Room keeps it clinical in Orlando. In Las Vegas, Spa at Aria takes a mod Japanese bent in its Shio salt room, all illuminated salt bricks, salt lamps (those negative ions again), and curvy recliners vibrating in time to world music.
More Spas
Spa Trends: Springs
Spa Trends: Native Ingredients
Spa Trends: Snow
Spa Trends: Massage
Spas for Paws
Stateside, the cave concept gets a (sub)urban makeover at Salt Chalet with a doctor?s office?like approach called halotherapy. Founded in Encino, Calif., with franchises popping up in Beverly Hills and Phoenix, Salt Chalet?s rooms feature six-inch-deep crunchy Dead Sea salt floors and crystal-spackled walls, with saltcicles lending an imagineered ice-cave vibe (sans yeti). Crisp, briny air replicates underground temperatures and humidity levels. Patients book 45-minute sessions, strip down to a swimsuit for skin conditions or stay clothed for respiratory ones (booties protect your feet), settle into a lounger, and chill. Watch some TV, read a book, chat, relax, doze. Every few minutes a nebulizer spritzes a cloud of salt. Supposedly salt?s negative ions also bind to excess positive ones in our body, reducing stress. (Go with it.)
Although some doctors recommend you take the claims with a grain of salt, it?s a countrywide phenomenon. Galos Caves, in a staunchly Polish neighborhood of Chicago, goes full-on with faux stalactites and Technicolor illumination, plus thick accents for authenticity. Farther south, Williamsburg Salt Spa in Virginia imported Polish and Pakistani rock salt to turn a brick colonial home into a candlelit pink grotto, while The Salt Room keeps it clinical in Orlando. In Las Vegas, Spa at Aria takes a mod Japanese bent in its Shio salt room, all illuminated salt bricks, salt lamps (those negative ions again), and curvy recliners vibrating in time to world music.
More Spas
Spa Trends: Springs
Spa Trends: Native Ingredients
Spa Trends: Snow
Spa Trends: Massage
Spas for Paws
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Ron Amato Retrospective: 75 Gorgeous Images of Queer Men
March 07 2021 12:00 AM
Just in Time for Pride – The 15 Gayest Cities in the World in 2023
April 12 2023 6:47 PM
Turkish Oil Wrestling: Male Bonding at the Kirkpinar Festival
December 20 2022 2:20 PM
The 13 Least Visited National Parks
January 07 2023 5:00 AM
Here are the Best Gay Sex and Male Nudity Scenes in 2022
April 19 2023 5:23 PM
Get Soaked! with These 35+ Steamy Pool Pics From This Year’s White Party
May 25 2023 9:29 AM
Slovakian Jocks With Nothing to Hide
September 28 2021 3:00 PM
12 Years of Intimate Photos of Same Man - Taken by His Partner
August 29 2022 4:00 AM
20 Thirsty Pics of #SniffiesRush Campaign Celebrating Frat Life
December 16 2022 3:19 PM
10 Tips for Traveling With Sex Toys
July 26 2021 4:00 AM
Outtraveler: Featured Video
Latest Stories
Cobblestones, castles, and culture: Your LGBTQ+ guide to Edinburgh
April 30 2025 12:44 PM
My magical and affordable escape to Portugal
April 25 2025 6:08 PM
EDC Weekend Desert Days hits Sin City with Ultra Load
April 25 2025 4:27 PM
Pride-themed Easter shortbread treats!
April 14 2025 11:13 AM
Out and About with Karan Soni
April 04 2025 8:00 AM
Beyond Wonderland's accepting & unifying rave culture is needed more than ever
April 03 2025 12:33 PM
Insomniac & Tomorrowland unite to make EDM history in Las Vegas
April 01 2025 5:08 PM
The Charles is Pacific Grove's new LGBTQ+ hotel
March 28 2025 7:07 PM
Cowboys & Queens U.S. tour by Jane Hilton: A modern American dream
March 27 2025 5:00 AM
Discover the vibrant LGBTQ scene in Asbury Park
March 18 2025 5:00 AM
Where to stay in LGBTQ+ Ireland: Castles, domes and luxury retreats
March 17 2025 11:52 AM
Discover why chic Costa Navarino is Europe's luxury getaway
March 10 2025 5:00 AM
Pride journey Walla Walla: An LGBTQ+ wine, food, and adventure getaway
March 07 2025 12:00 PM
Mike Maimone's new single honors late husband Howard Bragman
March 07 2025 9:00 AM
Luxury and community in South of France at Cinq & Sept
March 06 2025 2:19 PM