Staying at the grand old Claremont Hotel, in the hills on the border of Berkeley and Oakland, is like staying at The Greenbrier or The Breakers or any of the enormous old grand dame resorts of Europe – except with better weather and a killer view of San Francisco Bay.
In keeping with its majestic size, The Claremont offers the largest spa facility in the Bay Area. With 32 treatment rooms, a full-service hair and nail salon, and two heated year-round outdoor pools plus hot tub, The Claremont offers every kind of treatment and conversion you can think of – and then some.
Take my Bio-Energy Reviving Body Treatment, which my therapist described as “a car wash for your body.” The Claremont is one of the few facilities anywhere to offer this treatment, mainly because it takes place on special rubber table suspended over a bathtub, not the kind of equipment found in most regulation-size spas. And if you aren’t cleansed enough following this treatment, you can treat yourself to a turn in The Deluge, which is like getting a barrel full of water dumped over your head (but in the nicest possible way!).
In keeping with its majestic size, The Claremont offers the largest spa facility in the Bay Area. With 32 treatment rooms, a full-service hair and nail salon, and two heated year-round outdoor pools plus hot tub, The Claremont offers every kind of treatment and conversion you can think of – and then some.
Not only is The Claremont a well-seasoned facility, but so are its therapists, highly experienced and professional. I also had a Seasonal Facial to prepare my winter-worn skin for the spring sun and my husband indulged in what he reported was a fantastic massage. We ate excellent oysters for dinner at the convivial and casual Paragon restaurant in the hotel, where they managed to find us a table even though we arrived without a reservation on Saturday night, and had a spectacular swim in the pool before driving off into the morning mist.
Pamela Redmond Satran
Pamela Redmond Satran is a novelist and an entrepreneur who lives in Los Angeles.