Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, an integrative retreat centre, offers guests the opportunity to rejuvenate and heal the body, mind and spirit. The resort features 74 tranquil guest rooms and suites each with a private balcony spa; natural hot mineral springs; an award-winning restaurant; Treatment Center with massage, skincare, and Color Aromatherapy; Healing Arts Institute with yoga, Pilates and meditation classes, and offers customized packages including individual and corporate retreats.

The resort spans more than 100 wooded acres in San Luis Obispo, along California’s Central Coast, approximately one mile from Avila Beach. Located conveniently off of Highway 101, it is only a three or four hour drive from both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is near many wineries and other outdoor attractions as well.

Rooms Mineral Spring queen and two double bed rooms. One and two bedroom suites, a private king cottage, and a three-bedroom guesthouse. All contain private spas, many fed by the natural mineral springs.

History Soaking in the waters to soothe aches and pains has been a hallmark of the resort for more than a century. A natural hot springs spa since 1897, Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort was a favorite of W.C. Fields and other celebrities who rode the train from Los Angeles or San Francisco to visit Hearst Castle. King Ventures purchased it in 2003.

Amenities

Mineral Springs
Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort rests atop hot sulphur mineral springs with healing properties appreciated for centuries. Private outdoor redwood tubs tucked along a forest path are sourced by the naturally heated springs.

Walking and hiking
Guests can enjoy the calming benefits of walking the Labyrinth in the Meditation Garden, taking a brisk walk to the beach, or a challenging hike up to the ridge trail for a stunning view overlooking Avila Bay.

Healing Arts Institute
The Healing Arts Institute offers a range of classes, as well as private instruction in yoga, Pilates, meditation, Tai Chi, the healing arts and more.

Treatment Center
The Sycamore Treatment Center is staffed by massage therapists cross-trained in multiple disciplines along with aestheticians offering a variety of healing and rejuvenating skin therapies.

Gardens of Avila
The award-winning restaurant serves healthy gourmet cuisine.

Drilling for Oil, Finding Health and Wellness

In 1886, two prospectors started drilling for oil in what is now called Avila Valley. Instead of the black oil they had hoped for, white sulfur mineral water sprang from the ground. Naturally hot, this spring water proved to have a therapeutic effect and the "Oil Wells" (as Sycamore was then named) rapidly became a popular spa/resort and location for social gatherings in San Luis Obispo County.

Celebrity Hot Spot
In the early 1900s, the resort was called San Luis Hot Sulphur Springs. W.C. Fields visited frequently, as did many others who stayed at Hearst Castle including Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. The Pacific Coast Railway stopped across the street, enabling guests from both Los Angeles and San Francisco to enjoy a coastal train ride while traveling to the resort. A popular "getaway" special was then a two-day stay at the hot springs combined with the train ride, for a total of $19.

Returning the Focus to Health
In the mid-1930s, new owners restored the facility, naming it Sycamore Mineral Springs. They emphasized its use as a therapeutic center, staffing it with doctors and nurses. People visited Sycamore Mineral Springs for mineral water treatments to cure their aches and pains, arthritis and other ailments.

Spa as Resort
The mid-1970s saw another shift in focus, and Sycamore Mineral Springs once again, became a place to see and be seen in California, one of the first of many spa resorts emerging in key tourist destinations. New owners rebuilt the facility to host the many tourists traveling up and down the coast of California.

Back to Basics: Health and Wellness
Today, entering its third century, Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, now an integrative retreat center, has returned to its roots in health and wellness, offering guests the opportunity to rejuvenate and heal the body, mind and spirit.

The resort features 74 tranquil guest rooms and suites each with a private balcony spa; natural hot mineral springs; an award-winning restaurant; Treatment Center with massage, skincare, and Color Aromatherapy; Healing Arts Institute with yoga, Pilates and meditation classes, and offers customized packages including individual and corporate retreats.

The new paradigm for many visionary corporations focuses on balance just as much as balance sheets. On that note, Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, an integrative retreat centre based in San Luis Obispo, CA, introduces its Corporate Wellness Retreats. Many employers are realizing that the typical corporate skill-building retreats aren't always effective in the long run, by simply offering a band-aid. Employees continue to perpetuate old thinking and detrimental habits shortly after returning from one of these getaways.

Fortunately, today organizations such as Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort offer corporations an innovative way to improve the bottom line, through corporate retreats that integrate business enhancement agendas with wellness and life enhancement agendas.

"This provides employees with tools to think and respond in situations that are grounded in physical behaviors more effectively, both at and away from work," explained Deborah Coryell, Health and Wellness Director for King Ventures, parent company for the resort. End result? Healthy, happy employees and a healthy, well-fed corporation. The two go hand-in-hand.

She added, "We focus on the concept of a corporate wellness retreat where the many disciplines of health and wellness such as breathwork, visualization, meditation, relationship skills, bodywork and nutrition - the whole realm of the healing arts - are married to the kinds of skills that businesses are looking to instill in their managers. Its like Canyon Ranch meets the Harvard School of Business."

Staff at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort work with participants to assemble a curriculum that addresses the company's specific needs.

The Sycamore staff and adjunct faculty draw on programs to build self-esteem, teamwork, creativity, mind-body awareness and non-violent communi-cation skills. While the resort does offer business improvement skill sessions such as team building and motivational seminars, they are interspersed with a slight twist - yoga classes to determine where one is holding tension in his/her body, hikes designed to clear the mind and visualization meditations to spur on creativity.

"What we are really looking at is taking the skills that one acquires on a personal retreat and placing those resources in the workplace for the betterment of each individual, the group and the company. Sometimes all it takes is learning how to talk with each other, breathe correctly, and visualize the results," said Coryell.

Retreat participants can also enjoy massages and skincare treatments, soak away tension in the natural hot mineral springs and eat healthy gourmet meals at the Resort's Gardens of Avila Restaurant.. < PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE >

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