Featured Spa Reviews

Roses are red.  Violets are blue.  If your weakness is chocolate, this review is for you!

Two hours at The Chocolate Spa and I’m already waxing poetic.  Chocolate just brings out the happy in all of us.  With Mother’s Day fast on the horizon, now is the perfect time to consider giving the gift of chocolate to the special woman in your life.  If you’re that special woman, and chocolate’s been calling your name with a blow horn, then answer the call with an indulgent visit to the Chocolate Spa.

Located within the sprawling Hotel Hershey grounds in Hershey, PA the Chocolate Spa delivers what it promises: chocolate.  While the spa did not provide the most consistent spa service that I’ve ever received, it did deliver the most chocolate I’ve ever received.  In this case, the chocolate wins and I suggest this spa for this distinctiveness alone.

The staff is especially happy here (go figure) and the vibe is unpretentious and friendly.  If you’re seeking exclusivity, you may want to look elsewhere as The Chocolate Spa is popular; perhaps a little too popular.  I found this out the hard way by having to wait for a changing room in the crowded women’s locker room during a recent visit.  Be prepared to share the spa with a steady flow of guests as there is no slow season - I asked.

Elegant and classy in the way that grand old establishments often are, the spa’s décor is a mix of sophistication and comfort.  Gold mirrors, fancy chandeliers, and painted ceilings combine with dark wood paneling and plush seating to provide an ambiance of warmth and luxury.  While the spa is well kept and very pretty, it is cumbersome in design.  To utilize the relaxation rooms, the steam room, and the dry sauna one must visit the third, second, and first floor respectively.

My favorite room in the spa was the Quiet Relaxation Room.  Unfortunately, this was everyone’s favorite room.  Simply put, it’s where the chocolate is served.  The hot chocolate is especially divine.

If you find yourself at The Chocolate Spa, now is not the time for temperance.  Now is the time for greedy indulgence.   Put the diet on hold, listen to the little devil on your left shoulder, and pour yourself a cup of chocolate…or two.  Okay, I actually had three cups.  As a general rule that I just made up, you should drink one cup of chocolate for every 30 minutes spent at the spa.

No sooner had I downed sinful cup number one then my name was called for my first treatment.  Licking the chocolate mustache from my lips, I quietly followed the bath attendant into a dimply lit room for the Whipped Cocoa Bath.  This treatment was a disappointment for me and I can’t recommend it.  Expecting a creamy, chocolate milk type of a bath, I instead found powdered milk and cocoa powder (the same kind that you would bake with) sprinkled on top of the bath water in a brown, murky mess.  Think “puddle water” and you’ll have a proper assessment of the appeal.

If you read again, you’ll notice that I just gave you the recipe for the “Whipped Cocoa Bath”.  Paying $50 to soak for 15 minutes in powdered milk and cocoa powder didn’t sit right, literally.  The tub jets were too strong on my back, to the point of bruising, and when I shut them off using the panel next to me, I earned a reprimand from the peeping bath attendant who said only she could change the jets.  I say peeping because she failed to knock or speak before poking her head into the bath room on multiple occasions and I found it unprofessional.  On to much better things, like chocolate.

My second treatment of the day was near perfection.  I highly recommend the Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry.  Guess who got to play the part of the strawberry?  Yes, Yours Truly.  My professional spa therapist gave me a treatment I won’t soon forget, starting with a strawberry parfait sugar scrub.  She used the perfect degree of firm pressure while applying the strawberry seed scrub and I found the procedure invigorating and enjoyable.

A quick rinse with the handheld shower nozzle, and it was time to for this strawberry to get dipped.  Using warmed moor mud infused with essence of cocoa, the therapist literally painted the chocolate goodness on me from my feet up to my neck.  This rich, dark mixture left me looking like the human brownie – an appropriate nickname for this treatment.

I was quickly wrapped in a plastic sheet, followed by a space blanket, and then a wool blanket for final insulation.  Heat helps the nutrients of the chocolate mud to penetrate the skin better, and I was left for 25 minutes to let the effects sink in.  I would have loved a face or scalp massage to help pass this time as it was a long wait.  Even so, there are worse things than to be left alone to sleep in a chocolate cocoon.

A luxurious vichy shower washed the chocolate off my skin when the time came.  A vichy shower is a horizontal bar with spray nozzles that is placed over you as you recline on the treatment table.  The treatment concluded with a strawberry lotion body massage and I was thrilled with the results.  My skin had shed its winter doldrums and was a rosy hue of pink from the invigorating scrub.

I was warned by my therapist to stay away from pets for a while as they can’t seem to resist the chocolate-strawberry scent on skin.  While I was able to avert animal attention the rest of the day, I was not at all successful with my husband.  Like I said, chocolate brings out the happy in all of us.  I’ll drink a cup of you know what to that.  3.5 Stars