Spa Review: Crystal Spa at Crystal Mountain Resort
Crystal Spa is an 18,500-square-foot, LEED-Certified oasis at the heart of Crystal Mountain Resort in northern Michigan.
Crystal Spa is a favorite not only for Michiganders, but for anyone who travels to the state to golf, to ski or just to enjoy the beauties of Northern Michigan.
I first learned of Crystal Spa while I was at another resort in Northern Michigan more than a decade ago. We were in the common area talking to another guest and she raved about Crystal Spa, calling it the best spa she’d ever been to. Within a few years, my husband and I decided to take advantage of a spa package deal they were having at Crystal Mountain Resort and paid our first visit there. Our last—until November 2021—was in 2011 when we enjoyed a couples massage and water treatment services.
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Returning in 2021, my husband and I arrived after stressful weeks for both of us—ready to not just indulge in Crystal Spa’s award-winning services, but to renew our spirits so we could return to the work that awaited us afterward.
Crystal Spa honors the art and natural beauty of northern Michigan in a setting that awakens and inspires.
One of the things that makes them stand out is the training they commit to. My esthetician, Gretchen, said they have quarterly training sessions with Eminence Organic Skincare, the providers of their facial products. My massage therapist, Lauren, talked about how they all recently underwent oncology training from a Beaumont Hospital professional so that they could help alleviate the symptoms cancer patients experience while undergoing treatment.
Crystal Spa—and the professionals who work there—are committed to ongoing training of all sorts so that they can better provide renewing services to their guests. They have also won awards for their green practices, both in the spa and throughout the resort.
Here’s what you’ll love about Crystal Spa:
The spacious locker rooms include luxurious amenities and anything needed to transition to and from spa services. They contain heated towels near the showers. Between the infrared sauna and steam room is a pitcher of ice water and cold washcloths to take with you into the heated rooms.
The service professionals are among the top in their fields, experts at the services they provide. They are informative, warm and excellent at their jobs.
The massage beds—read on for why they may have some of the best beds out there, game-changers as my massage therapist promised.
Spa amenities include heated towel racks so guests can enjoy warm towels.
We went directly to the spa before checking into our rooms at the resort. Crystal Spa is tucked away in the middle of the resort at Thompsonville, a northern Michigan town filled with trees and near several lakes. The spa is one of many resort amenities designed for health and wellness.
Spa receptionists greeted us upon arrival. I was given a tour of the locker room and provided with a roomy robe that fit well—not something that always happens for a person living in a large-size body.
Another receptionist gave my husband a verbal tour since there wasn’t a male one on duty at the time. My husband said they showed him a plastic sheet with diagrams and pictures, a map of the locker room. They explained how the locks on the lockers worked. He was assured that it was OK if he forgot the numbers.
“You wouldn’t be the first,” the receptionist told him. “You wouldn’t even be the first today.”
Each locker room is beautifully equipped with large showers, a mirrored area filled with amenities such as hair blowers, mouth wash, toiletries, brushes and razors.
They have both an infrared sauna (with detailed instructions on how to get the most out of it) and a steam room. Between those two are tables with wet washcloths and a pitcher of ice water with plastic cups that can be taken into the steam room and sauna. Across from the showers are heated towel racks so you can immediately grab a warm towel.
The locker rooms are equipped with a wide variety of self-care products and personal items.
We had arrived early, so I took my time in the locker room. While I enjoyed the steam room, my husband indulged in the shower.
“I like the ladder effect with the two showerheads that you can have up above or push it down and turn the nozzles so they shoot where you want them on your body,” he said.
He mentioned that when he came back to the locker room at the end of his services, there was an attendant applying sanitizing spray and wiping down the locker room.
“She was in the far end spraying things down,” he said. “She just very quickly turned and left through a door that leads to an employee area. She was very discreet.”
When I left the locker room for the relaxation room, I indulged in some of the herbal tea. They had two kinds: one was a muscle and joint tea featuring red hibiscus, turmeric, ginger root and anise. The other was a stress tea combining lavender, linden, oatstraw, holy basil and shisandra. I made time for both. For those not wanting tea, there was cucumber/mint-infused water. They had available a bowl of fruit for those who wanted it.
The relaxation room features a long fireplace, reading materials and candles. An entire wall opens to the outside where a bricked-in patio has loungers and a hot tub. The bricked wall is covered in a three-dimensional mural reminiscent of Lake Michigan.
Crystal Spa serves guests various teas in addition to infused water.
I met my husband there and we enjoyed relaxing with our tea and talking quietly until our therapists came to get us. My husband was especially fond of the relaxation area.
“What’s not to like about it?” he said, describing the big long fireplace with the inviting bench in front of it. The music was meditative spa music. He recommended using the hot tub even if it is cold.
The spa’s hot tub is enjoyable year-round, even during the colder months.
“I appreciated the lounge area and the sunlight through the window,” he continued. “The hot tub garden area has a wall around it so you get natural light, but you are cut off.”
The outdoor relaxation area.
The spa treatment rooms are down a set of stairs in a quiet, softly lit area. There is a “whisper room” where you can sit between services.
“I love the downstairs,” my husband said. “It takes you from one area to another. Everyone gets quieter and it is darker. The lighting is much more subdued. The carpets are rich, even the waiting area—the whisper lounge—is quieter.”
Lauren welcomed me and told me what my Nirvana Stress Massage would entail. It is a revitalizing treatment that uses aromatherapy and long, full-body strokes from ankle to shoulder during the massage. It also includes a hand and arm massage focused on relieving technology fatigue and includes aromatherapy.
Lauren is a second-generation massage therapist who has been at Crystal Spa for nine years. She encouraged me to share with her any needs I might have—physical or emotional.
“Therapist is part of the title,” she reminded me.
She then showed me the bed, promising that it was a game-changer—and it was. Yes, it did such things as heat up and move to various positions. What really made it special was that not only was it wide enough to accommodate people of many sizes, but it was made with large-breasted women lying on their stomach in mind. With a push of a button, the bed lowered the breast area so you didn’t have to squirm with smushed boobs throughout the massage. It was the ultimate in comfort. There is also a way to drop out the middle to accommodate a pregnant belly.
The massage beds at Crystal Spa are game-changers that heat up, move to different positions, and accommodate different body types and sizes.
The face piece was also wonderful, featuring a cool gel mask.
Lauren left the room and I disrobed and melted into the most comfortable massage bed I’d ever been in. When she returned, she began the aromatherapy, which was a combination of sandlewood, ginger and clove.
As she began the massage, she led me in a meditation of gentle words and restful breathing. Using her forearm, she began the long strokes across my body, starting at my shoulder and moving all the way down in slow, firm movements. It was, as promised, very relaxing and when she saw me fighting sleep, she said, “Snoring is a compliment.”
In addition to the expert massage, she also led me through some stretches—or rather, she did all the work, pulling on my arms and legs to stretch them out. She told me it was a little like yoga except she did the stretching for me.
Not only did the massage leave my body feeling rejuvenated, but Lauren herself was an absolute delight and the service left me in an uplifted mood as well as feeling good physically.
After the massage, I enjoyed some water in the Whisper Room while waiting for my husband to finish his body treatment—as his service provider, Gretchen, would be the one doing my facial.
When he came out of the room, he looked like a new man. He let out a long, extracted sigh of pure joy and happiness suffused his face.
“I’d never had the body thing before,” he said—I had scheduled it for him without consulting him because while I was pretty sure he’d say he didn’t want it, I also knew he would love it. “The scrub rub, oh my word, it was unbelievable. You know how much I love having my back scratched. It was amazing.”
He said she explained to him how it would work. It started with the exfoliant, which was easily his favorite part. Afterward, she started the shower so it would warm up and put in the scent blossom, he thought it might have been apple ginger. She then stepped out so he could shower and get the exfoliant off.
Afterward he got what he called “massage-lite.” She moved and stretched him, applying a moisturizing lotion. She also put a mask on his face, resting it on his eyes when he was both face up and face down.
“It felt good coming out of it,” he said. “The scrub exfoliant really did it for me.”
We also experience an Eminence Organic Skincare facial using the Arctic Berry Peptide Peel.
Gretchen then took me to a facial room, where we chatted about the spa and she carefully explained everything to me. She showed me the spatula she used to not just apply product, but to soothe my skin. I was getting the age-corrective facial that targets fine lines, wrinkles and loss of elasticity—the sorts of things that happen when you are 53 years old.
The products were part of the Eminence Organic Skincare line, using an organic Arctic Berry Peptide Peel. With such things as Swiss green apple stem cells, hibiscus, botanical peptides and an ice wine active, it is designed to boost collagen and elastin and improve the appearance of puffy tired eyes, sagging skin and deep expression lines.
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She applied a mangosteen cleanse followed by a Neroli toner, a calm peel exfoliant and a bamboo masque. The peel was gentle and also acted as an exfoliant. While I was already still in a state of nirvana from the massage, the facial took me even deeper in. Gretchen did an amazing job of letting me drift away as she created an atmosphere of tranquility, moving quietly, massaging my head, hands and feet.
My husband, just coming out of his body treatment, said his facial had more of a diagnostic feel to it. His therapist, Katarina, placed suntanning glasses over his eyes while applying a bright light to diagnose his face to start the Men’s Revitalizing Facial, something they describe as “fitness for your face, but you don’t have to move a muscle.”
The therapist told him that he had some dryness in the T-zone on his face and applied some mild exfoliant. She worked around his very full beard and mustache.
“She was very skilled with the head massage,” he said. “That was amazing.”
He was surprised when she used an applicator to apply a lip balm, but he described it as pleasant.
“Nothing made me feel uncomfortable,” he said. “Nothing burned my skin. There was strawberry rhubarb for the exfoliant. I was pretty spa head by the end.”
When we got ready to check out, both of us had baskets with products that our therapists and estheticians recommended for us. It came with a “home care routine” card that not only listed the products used on us, but made recommendations for ongoing care. My card also had a restaurant recommendation on it that we had talked about during the service.
Crystal Spa uses Eminence Organic Skincare products in their treatments and also sells them in the retail area.
The retail area is amazing and well stocked. And if you don’t get what you want at the spa, many of the spa products are available at the resort store in the lodge. We made sure to get some of their signature lavender-mint products as gifts for those we had left at home. For those making return visits (and why wouldn’t you?) you can bring your clean and empty bottles of lotion, body wash, shampoo, conditioner or facial and skin cleanser and they will refill them for $8.
The spa visit was everything we hoped for and more. We can’t get back there soon enough.
When we got ready to check out, we were given a basket with products that our therapists and estheticians recommended for us along with a home care card.
Cost: Nirvana Stress Relief Massage, 50 minutes, $155; Lavender-Mint Body Treatment, 45 minutes, $145; Age Corrective Facial, 50 minutes, $165; Men’s Revitalizing Facial, 50 minutes, $145
Insider Tip: Crystal Spa runs all sorts of specials year round where you can get different deals. We have found it best to go in their “shoulder” season—the time between golf and ski season.
Hours: Sunday through Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Address: 12500 Crystal Mountain Drive, Thompsonville, MI 49683
Phone: 231-378-2030
Email: spa@crystalmountain.com
For more information and to book a service, visit the website. Follow on Instagram: @crystalmountainmi
[Images by Bridgette Redman]
Bridgette Redman, who is a second-generation journalist, fell in love with spas and travel while working as a writer and editor for 16 years at the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. As a freelancer for the International SPA Association, she co-wrote two textbooks, nine workbooks and numerous case studies on spas. Her freelance career began in the 80s and she has written for publications in Michigan, Arizona, California, and Texas along with several regional and national publications. She is a committed storyteller who loves sharing narratives which improve people's quality of life and build community. Born and raised in Michigan, she currently lives in Lansing with her husband and son. See more of her writing at www.bridgetteredman.com