Tennessee offers a diverse choice of overnight spa experiences at price points. In its 25th year, Tennessee Fitness Spa is a renowned budget weight loss spa. Blackberry Farm, a luxury farmhouse inn and spa, is at the other end of the price spectrum for those with real money. A beautiful hotel spa is located in downtown Chattanooga.
Family-friendly Dollywood and the Smoky Mountains are both close to Pigeon Forge. Tennessee, in other words, has something for everyone. It offers a family-friendly resort near Dollywood and a surprisingly affordable resort spa with log cabins for rent. Although some of these Tennessee spas are affiliated with overnight facilities, others serve as day spas for locals.
1. Tennessee Fitness Spa
Most individuals come to this low-cost spa to lose weight and exercise for a week. Tennessee Fitness Spa, located 95 miles southwest of Nashville near Waynesboro, began as a fishing camp in the 1930s and is home to the world’s only double-span Natural Bridge. In a multi-story chalet, expect tidy motel-style rooms.
Everybody gets a fitness evaluation, and the centerpiece is a morning stroll in the woods that can range from 2 to 10 miles in length, based on your ability. There are classes available all day, an instructional program in the evening, and a low-calorie menu to aid weight loss.
You can participate in as few or as many as you choose. A room with four people is the cheapest option (women only). Massages and other spa services are not included. From December to March, the spa is closed.
2. The Wellhouse at Blackberry Farm
Blackberry Farm, one of the country’s finest small luxury inns, is located on 4,200 acres near the Great Smoky Mountains, just 25 minutes from Knoxville. The main house, three guesthouses, and 20 cottages make up this picture-perfect Southern paradise.
The activities are positively upper crust – riding, fly-fishing, even fox-hunting – and the dinner package costs a pretty penny. Cycling, yoga, and kayaking are just a few optional activities.
Hydrotherapy is available at the Wellhouse’s state-of-the-art wet treatment room, which features a seven-headed Vichy Shower, heated tile floor, and Scots hose for luxury water treatments. The spa and restaurant are solely open to guests.
3. The Spa at The Chattanoogan
If you want to pass near museums, art galleries, shopping, restaurants, and attractions like the Tennessee Aquarium, the Chattanoogan Hotel is a terrific spot to stay. Although it looks like a historic hotel, it is modern and spacious, with plenty of room for corporate groups.
What are your options? Take a journey down the Tennessee River on the Southern Belle Riverboat and view the historic Walnut Street Bridge, one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges, which spans the river.
The 9,000 square-foot spa inside the hotel offers treatments like the Rock City Stone Massage and the Ruby Falls Mineral Wrap.
4. The Spa at Oak Haven Resort
Oak Haven is a beautiful assemblage of themed log cabins in Sevierville, Tennessee, amid the fantastic hiking and fishing of the Smoky Mountains. Cabins range from modest one-bedrooms that sleep four to monstrous seven-bedroom cabins that sleep 20. (A family reunion, perhaps?) They are very reasonable and feature a private hot tub, stone fireplace, huge kitchen, and private screened porch.
What are your options? In nearby Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Oak Haven is convenient for golfing, outlet shopping, fishing and boating, superb dining, and the family attractions of Dollywood, The Titanic Museum, and Wonderworks. Locals can purchase a membership to the spa for $49 per month, which covers treatments.
5. RiverStone Resort and Spa
This is another option for lodging in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, but it has a very different vibe. The RiverStone Resort appears to be a large hotel, but the rooms are condos with one to four bedrooms (a couple of which allow dogs) and a large whirlpool tub. Oh, and Dollywood and the Smoky Mountains are right outside your door.
LED light therapy and microdermabrasion are two treatments you won’t find at most resort spas. The indoor/outdoor pool complex features a meandering lazy river housed in a two-story glassed atrium.
