When Sonoma County's tourism bureau sought a slogan that would attract the most travelers with the fewest words, writers zeroed in on three themes: the wine, the coast, and the spas. The result is widely advertised this spring, along with a new regional image: Sonoma Country: America’s Premier Wine, Spa and Coastal Destination.

Competing with their neighbor to the north, Napa Valley, Sonoma Country now has an interactive Web site where you can locate wineries, inns and resorts, and spas. Go online at www.sonomacountry.com and the images that capture your imagination are an enzyme bath at Osmosis, and thermal pools at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn.

But who knew that members of the Jacuzzi family were building a winery?


Sonoma County has quietly become home to 40 spas – one for every 12,000 residents – but there are no data on number of visitors or spending. Clearly on the upswing, Sonoma competes with Napa by a combination of natural beauty and small-scale charm. Spas can be found in restored Victorian homes and Japanese-style retreats, in inns and farmhouses, in luxury hotels and shops along city streets, on the coast at Bodega Bay.

“It's pretty much mandatory to have a spa in the Wine Country now if you're a larger hotel,'' says Circe Sher, co-owner of Hotel Healdsburg in Healdsburg, noted for its restaurant. Nearby, new owners of the Kenwood Inn & Spa plan to expand the former B&B with 36 rooms and upscale spa facility.

The typical spagoer fits the profile of the average Wine Country visitor – 44 years old, health-conscious, with a household income of $75,000, according to the International Spa Association – says Ken Fischang, president of the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau. Two-thirds of visitors are women, but the number of men going to spas is rising gradually.

“It's one of our biggest hooks to get people to extend their stay or convert a day trip to an overnight trip,'' said Fischang. The driving force behind Sonoma County’s new tourism development program, he told me that using spas as part of the county's image was also a competitive decision. “Monterey, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Scottsdale – they're all very strong in spas,'' Fischang said. Broadening the Sonoma Country experience are Farm Trails, theme tours that visit organic farms and orchards, as well as off-the-beaten-track villages where the real charm of country living is sampled. After picking apples at Gabriel Farm near Sebastopol, I headed down the road to Willow Wood Café and Market, a great little restaurant with creative menu featuring local ingredients.
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The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau is currently running a 12-week radio campaign in the Bay Area on five radio stations. The campaign is called “A Postcard from Sonoma Country” and features five new commercials each week, as well as wine and spa-related advertorials, on-air promotional mentions, web and email (www.postcardfromsonomacountry.com/2007), and a Sonoma Country sweepstakes prize package. The SCTB invested $245,000, will receive a minimum of $390,000 of airtime and promotional value.

The drive from San Francisco International Airport takes 75 minutes, less from Oakland. With new spas and wineries opening this spring, Sonoma Country is the hot destination for Bay Area escapes.



Coldwater Creek Spa opened last August in Santa Rosa, the regional business center, marks the entry of a fast-growing women’s clothing retailer to capitalize on the upscale lifestyle of women who wear the label. Coldwater Creek Spa may go national after its shopping center debut here. Along the Russian River, the charismatic town of Guerneville has a range of family-oriented accommodations, notably the newly upgraded West Sonoma Inn & Spa.


Innkeeper Karen O’Brien brings Irish spunk to the task of converting this cluster of bungalows with her Pakistan-born husband David. They were working on the spa cottage when I visited last October, so offered in-room massage and a suite upgrade for $115 per couple. Instead, we went kayaking with Mike Stusser and kids.

Just down the road, the county’s largest gay resort draws bikers.

The area’s oldest resort spa is probably the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, which has provided baths in natural mineral hot springs for more than a century. Today's travelers want activities, not just a place to stay, and a spa often makes a difference in which hotel a visitor chooses, says Michelle Heston, Fairmont regional director of media relations. “I've become a junkie since I started working here,'' Heston adds. “I'm a runner. After a hard run, I'll go and sit in the water. It feels like it pulls the achiness and stiffness out of my muscles.''

Central to the visitor experience and community life is Sonoma Plaza, a cluster of boutiques, restaurants, and tony hotels surrounding the historic Spanish-colonial mission. Here you can sample organic and artisanal cheeses and wines, or get a sea kelp and mint mud mask.



The Sonoma Spa on the Plaza offers dry saunas with aromatherapy, moisturizing body treatments, and local lavender-infuseproducts to take home. “People come in stressed, and when they go out they are so relaxed they can barely write their names,'' says owner Deanna Wieskamp.

The first spa of the modern era was Osmosis Enzyme Bath & Massage in the tiny town of Freestone, near the Russian River and the railroader hangout in Occidental. Begun in 1985 in a former railroad station, Osmosis features the only Japanese-style cedar chip enzyme baths in the United States, a natural sweat that soothes body and mind. Owner Michael Stusser has watched through the years as interest moved out of the counterculture and into the mainstream. In 1985, he had one employee and did most of the work himself. Twenty-two years later, Stusser has 50 employees and 10 times the gross sales he had in 1990.

There's been a whole shift in the culture, says Stusser. “When I started in 1985, the word `massage' raised an eyebrow; people associated it with illicit activities, bankers balked at lending startup funds. But that's changed enormously. People have had an incredible awakening to the effect of touch and the shortcomings of medical practice for some of the problems they face.''

Along with the new spa culture came a wave of hip urbanites from the San Francisco Bay area. A winery owner converted the gas station in Freestone with a beautiful new wine tasting showcase. Just down the road, a bakery turns out the baguettes from a wood-burning oven, voted best of the Bay.

Osmosis expanded with an authentic Japanese garden where massage becomes part of the ritual in private pavilions. The spa’s popularity has grown in direct proportion to the increase in the speed of computer chips, Stusser believes. “The faster computers go, the faster people think they have to go to keep up with them. It's taken a huge toll.''

Getting There
Easy to access from airports in San Francisco and Oakland, Sonoma Country has limited public bus service. The Golden Gate Bridge through Marin connects to the county’s main artery, Hwy. 12. Transportation and tours are provided by California Wine Tours (www.californiawinetours.com).

The Sonoma County Airport has nonstop flights from/to Los Angeles and Seattle with Horizon Air, an affiliate of Alaska Airlines. From the East Coast, avoid city traffic by using JetBlue Airways at Oakland International.

With more than 200 wineries and tasting rooms in the area, as well as organic orchards, and a vibrant arts scene, Sonoma Country’s Visitors Guide includes a listing of spas keyed to wineries. For a free copy, call 1-800-576-6662, or www.sonomacountry.com.

Driving through the scenic Russian River Valley, you can combine both Pacific beaches and redwood forests with spa visits. The laid-back town of Occidental provides easy access to Osmosis, the enzyme bath and Japanese garden (www.osmosis.com). An outstanding B&B in the center of town, the Inn at Occidental has wine/spa package (www.innatoccidental.com). Suite with fireplace and kitchenette at West Sonoma Inn is $115 through end of March (www.westsonomainn.com).

Hikers and naturalists can join Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, a preservation and educational organization, for day trips: 707/869-9177, www.stewardsofthecoastandredwoodsorg.d .



© SPA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL - MARCH 2007