Light spills in from a fissure in the rocky cavern’s ceiling, dancing on the walls as it reflects off the aquamarine pool below. Water also tumbles from a skyward outcropping, slapping the warm mineral pool filled with a therapeutic blend of sodium, potassium, magnesium and zinc. Despite its exotic beauty, this underground grotto isn’t tucked into a mountainside on the Italian Riviera. In fact it’s about a four-hour drive from Chattanooga.
The Grove Park Inn, in Asheville, NC, offers some of the most unique spa services in the country.Ranked among the best spas in the world, The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, N.C., receives regular accolades from top travel publications like Travel + Leisure, Fodor’s and Conde Nast Traveler – just to name a few. The brainchild of Canadian architect Robert LaBlonde, the 43,000-square-foot subterranean spa is dug into a hillside in the Blue Ridge Mountains, featuring clandestine rock alcoves as well as breathtaking mountain views.
“It’s just the easiest place to be – everything is right there for you,” says Chrissy Jones, event coordinator with the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband Drew honey-mooned at the Grove Park last summer.
The mountain resort was a far cry from their original tropical honeymoon plans, which were canceled the week of their wedding due to a passport snafu. As a result, Drew’s parents surprised the couple with a three-night stay on the hotel’s concierge floor, which granted them full spa access.
“After breakfast every day we would change into our bathing suits and robes and walk down to the spa,” she recalls. “I think Drew spent the entire time floating in the pools. He still talks about it on a weekly basis,” she laughs.