We rarely need much convincing to spend a day in robes, but Greater Palm Springs is making the argument especially persuasive this September. Greater Palm Springs Spa Month returns September 1 through 30, with resorts, day spas, hot springs and wellness centers across the Coachella Valley rolling out special rates and experiences.

We’re talking about a much broader definition of spa day here. Yes, there are massages and facials. There are also mineral-water soaks, floating sound baths, yoga, salt rooms, cold plunges and opportunities to surrender your phone for a couple of hours.

Spa Month works particularly well here because wellness isn’t something Greater Palm Springs recently added to its tourism menu. People have traveled to this desert looking to restore themselves for generations. The difference now is the sheer variety of ways to do it.

8 Ways to Experience Greater Palm Springs Spa Month

Here are eight ways to experience Greater Palm Springs Spa Month that caught my attention.

1. Take the Waters at The Spa at Séc-he

Downtown Palm Springs may seem like an unlikely place to find an ancient hot spring, yet one sits directly beneath The Spa at Séc-he.

Séc-he, translated from the native Cahuilla language as “boiling water,” has been part of the (Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians life for generations beyond counting. Fed by rain and snowmelt from the surrounding mountains, the water travels deep underground for roughly 12,000 years before returning to the surface at about 105 degrees. Long before Palm Springs became a resort town, the Agua Caliente people relied on the spring for daily life and ceremony. By the late 19th century, visitors were coming for the water too, and a bathhouse at the site became one of the earliest attractions in the growing desert community.

The 73,000-square-foot Séc-he complex now layers modern wellness over that history with salt caves, flotation suites, cryotherapy, pools and treatment rooms. During September, its Wednesday Taking of the Waters Spa Day Pass is $119, centered around a private soak in the sacred mineral water.

2. Celebrate 100 Years at Spa La Quinta

At the other end of the valley, La Quinta Resort & Club is having a very big birthday.

The resort celebrates its centennial in 2026, and Spa La Quinta has created treatments around that milestone. The 100-minute Centennial Journey combines a 50-minute Tailor Made Massage and 50-minute Clarifying Facial, with a Signature Citrus Blossom candle to take home. Another centennial treatment, the Legacy of Serenity Ritual, begins with a Citrus Blossom garden bath followed by exfoliation, steam, massage, Vichy shower and hydration. Both are currently priced at $450 including the spa’s service charge.

La Quinta’s version of wellness has always felt different from the hot-spring culture farther north. This is classic resort escapism, surrounded by Spanish-style casitas, palms and the Santa Rosa Mountains. The property is also offering a centennial stay package with a $100 resort credit for each night, which can certainly help justify a spa appointment. At least that’s how my math works.)

3. Float Through a Sound Bath at Thompson Palm Springs

One of Spa Month’s more unusual events happens September 2 at the relatively new Thompson Palm Springs.

Good Vibes Sound Bath takes over the hotel’s Upper Stories Pool for a Floating Sound Bath from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Guests float on the water while amplified crystal singing bowls and other instruments create the soundtrack around them. The experience is priced at $165.

This illustrates how much the definition of a spa experience has changed. There isn’t a massage table in sight. Instead, you’re floating in a Palm Springs pool after dark while someone plays singing bowls nearby.

4. Soak All Day at Two Bunch Palms

For an old-school desert experience, Two Bunch Palms remains one of the valley’s best-known wellness retreats.

The adults-only property grew from the mineral-water culture that made Desert Hot Springs a destination for wellness seekers since the 1950s. Its naturally heated waters remain the heart of the resort today, alongside spa treatments, wellness programming and those wonderfully steamy outdoor pools.

For Spa Month, a Spa Soak Pass drops from $165 to $125 and includes access to the mineral waters and spa facilities from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., plus lunch and a non-alcoholic beverage. This is one of the offers I’d consider turning into a full-day retreat rather than racing in and out for one treatment. We’ve stayed here several times, and the gorgeous grounds and peaceful waters make for a great relaxing retreat.

5. Build Your Own Retreat at Korakia Pensione

Korakia Pensione takes wellness in a completely different direction. Rather than a giant resort spa, this intimate Moroccan- and Mediterranean-inspired Palm Springs hideaway creates the feeling that you’ve stumbled into somebody’s very beautiful private compound. Two saltwater pools, fountains, courtyards and gardens set an appropriately slow pace. Guests can start Saturday mornings with yoga and arrange massages, guided hikes and private wellness experiences. Or, like we have done on many occasions, just sit by the pool with legs dangling in the water.

Its Art of Relaxation package turns this atmosphere into a mini wellness retreat, with a 60-minute relaxation massage, private yoga session and sound bath for $600. Korakia also works with practitioners offering meditation, reiki and other wellness experiences.

This is a good option for someone who doesn’t necessarily want a “spa complex.” Sometimes the surroundings do half the work.

6. Stargaze from the Spa Pool at The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage

The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage already wins points for location. The resort sits nestled in the rocky hills high above the valley, which becomes particularly useful after dark.

On September 5, Good Vibes Sound Bath is bringing a Floating Sound Bath with Guided Stargazing to the resort’s private spa pool. The two-hour event begins at 8 p.m. and costs $195, combining floating meditation with the night sky above the Coachella Valley.

The Ritz-Carlton Spa is also leaning into another kind of wellness: getting us off our cursed phones. Its Digital Detox Wellness Hour creates a phone-free period for guests to use the steam rooms, saunas, and water-therapy facilities without the usual electronic interruptions.

The night sky viewing here is also spectacularly relaxing. The desert valley lights below are mesmerizing, and the stars above are clear and bright.

7. Soak and Dine at Azure Palm Hot Springs

Azure Palm Hot Springs in Desert Hot Springs offers one of Spa Month’s better bargains.

The Afternoon Soak & Dine package is $79. This includes access to 10 mineral-water pools from 2 to 7 p.m. and an appetizer, entrée and beverage from the Spa Month café menu. Robe, slippers and locker rental are included.

For something more immersive, Azure Palm is also hosting a September 30 Good Vibes Floating Sound Bath in its mineral pool. Their Float & Dream Spa Month package takes $100 off an overnight stay paired with a sound bath experience.

8. Try a $59 Spa Day at Sunstone Spa

Not every Spa Month experience requires a luxury-resort budget.

Sunstone Spa at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage is offering an all-day spa pass for $59 Tuesday through Thursday, subject to availability. That includes the steam room, menthol dry sauna, halotherapy salt rooms, whirlpool, grounding room, private spa pool, lounge and fitness center.

It’s a reminder that Spa Month can be used as an excuse for an entire Greater Palm Springs wellness getaway, but it doesn’t have to be. Locals and visitors can just as easily carve out one afternoon.

Greater Palm Springs Has Plenty Of Non-Spa Activities

Spa Month may be the excuse to book the trip, but there is no reason to spend the entire getaway in a robe. Greater Palm Springs has plenty to fill the hours between treatments, whether that means getting outside before of after the heat settles in. Explore the Valley’s design and cultural scene, or linger over a great meal. Or simply find an indoor activities to engage your mind and talents. The best spa getaways here tend to work that way anyway: a little restoration, a little indulgence and some time to explore the senses.

Make Your Own Candle

Start in Indio with something creative at Chicano Candle Company, where visitors can pour and customize their own candle. It’s an easy, hands-on break from the spa routine and a fun way to take home something that actually feels personal to the trip. Choosing the scent is half the entertainment, and the finished candle makes a much better souvenir than another logoed water bottle.

Indulge in Some Baked Goods

Next, head to Bread and Flours Bakery  in Palm Springs, the first restaurant to earn official approval from Blue Zones Project Palm Springs. The bakery focuses on scratch-made, plant-based food using whole grains, seasonal ingredients and naturally fermented sourdough, making it an easy fit for a wellness-focused getaway without feeling overly virtuous about it. Pick up a loaf, settle in for something savory or sweet, and consider this proof that taking care of yourself can still involve high-quality baked goods straight from the oven.

The Desert Has a Zoo?

For a little outdoor time, head to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert. The zoo is built around desert habitats, so even a casual visit involves plenty of walking among native plants, mountain views and wildlife from arid regions around the world. September hours start early. This is ideal before the desert heat really kicks in, and highlights include giraffes, black rhinos, wallabies and more than 50 desert gardens. It’s a nice way to add some movement to a spa-focused trip without making the day feel like a workout.

Stargazing Above the Desert Floor

For something completely different after a day at the spa, head to the Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory for an evening of stargazing. The research-level observatory opened in 2018 and uses a powerful PlaneWave CDK700 telescope to bring planets, nebulae, star clusters and distant galaxies surprisingly close. Its free public OPENights give visitors a chance to look through the telescope while astronomers and volunteer docents explain what is happening overhead. After a day focused inward on personal wellness, there is something pretty satisfying about ending it by looking very, very far outward.

Tour the Giant Windmills

Palm Springs Windmill Tours offers a fun way to finally see those gigantic wind turbines up close instead of just watching them blur past the car window. Tours head behind the gates of a private wind farm in the San Gorgonio Pass, where electric golf carts carry visitors among the turbines. Local guides explain how wind energy took off here during the 1980s “Wind Rush.” Some of the newer turbines rise more than 400 feet, which is hard to appreciate until you’re standing underneath one. I’ve driven past these windmills more times than I can count, so getting inside the farm feels like being let in on something that has always been hiding in plain sight.

Why Spa Month Belongs in Greater Palm Springs

What makes this September celebration interesting isn’t simply that a lot of spas are offering discounts. (And there are many – just check out the listings on the Greater Palm Springs Spa Month website.)

The Coachella Valley has been reinventing wellness for well over a century. Indigenous traditions centered around mineral water came first. Hot-spring resorts followed. Then came glamorous desert hideaways, luxury spas, and now floating sound baths, cryotherapy and digital detox hours.

Somewhere along the way, wellness became a very big business. But the reason people keep coming here is much simpler. The desert provides space to change pace for a while, whatever that happens to mean for you.

Personally, I’m willing to try several interpretations. Especially the ones involving a robe.