Palm Springs has pools on every corner, so is a spa half an hour down the valley worth the drive? Here’s my review of Agua Serena, the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells’ adults-only spa: what a day there is like, which pass to buy, what treatments cost and how to get there.
On a November road trip around California, I took a day trip from Palm Springs to Agua Serena Spa in Indian Wells. I was based at The Cole, a small adults-only hotel on North Palm Canyon Drive, and drove down for the day.
The spa belongs to the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas, known as the Hyatt Regency before a $64 million renovation and a new name announced in June 2024. It covers around 30,000 square feet, set around palm-lined fountains with the Santa Rosa Mountains behind.
Quick verdict
If you’re staying in Palm Springs and want one proper day off, Agua Serena is an easy drive. A $45 spa pass covers the steam room, sauna and fountain patio, and the desert-inspired treatments, like the cactus and date scrub I had, are the real draw. It’s adults only, you need to book ahead, and prices climb once you add a treatment, the service charge and parking.
My rating: 5/5
Agua Serena Spa at a glance
- Where: Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas, 44600 Indian Wells Lane, Indian Wells, CA 92210
- Hours: 9.30am to 6pm daily, October to June; 9.30am to 5pm in summer (30 June to 30 September), closed Mondays and Tuesdays
- Prices: spa pass from $45; a 50-minute treatment with a spa pass from $245 (both through ResortPass)
- Ages: 18 and over
- Booking: ahead only, online or on 760 674 4100; cancel at least 24 hours before
My spa day: a cactus and date scrub and rosé by the pool
The first thing you notice is the water. A long fountain channel runs between sandstone columns and wooden pergolas, with jets arcing in from both sides and date palms leading the eye to the mountains.
My treatment was the Signature Cactus & Date Scrub, and it was wonderful. After being on the road for a few weeks, it was a real reset, and it left my skin glowing.
The scrub blends nopal cactus and medjool dates with sage, grapefruit and juniper: a date sugar exfoliation, then a hydrating cactus moisturiser. It comes in 50 and 80-minute versions, and the longer one adds a full-body massage.
There was time for a glass of rosé by the pool too, on a lounger in the sunshine with the fountains beside me.
What I loved
- The scrub: wonderful, and it left my skin glowing.
- A real reset: just what I needed after a few weeks on the road.
- The fountain walk: palms, pergolas and running water at every turn.
- Rosé by the pool: a glass in the sun beside the fountains.
The catches to know before you book
- Prices aren’t on the menu. Hyatt lists its treatments without prices, so ask when you book or use ResortPass, which shows the total upfront.
- Extras add up. ResortPass package prices include a 22% service charge, and self-parking at the resort costs extra.
- No walk-ins, no under-18s, and in summer the spa closes on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Spa passes, treatments and prices
A ResortPass spa pass (from $45) gets you the eucalyptus steam room, dry sauna, outdoor jacuzzi and fountain-side patio for the day; add the resort’s pools and the HyTides water park with the Spa + Resort Amenities Pass (from $112). The men’s and women’s areas are separate, and the Reflection Patio is the co-ed space where couples and friends can meet between treatments.
The menu runs to massages (Flowing Palms Swedish, Serena Custom Therapy, Desert Hot Stone, Deep Tissue Muscle Melt and CBD among them), facials (Biologique Recherche, HydraFacial and the Signature Codage Facial) and body treatments, including the Signature Cactus & Date Scrub and an 80-minute detoxifying mud wrap. On ResortPass, a 50-minute Swedish massage or Codage facial with a spa pass costs $245, and the Serena Custom Therapy massage $260.
How to get to Agua Serena from Palm Springs
Follow Highway 111 from downtown through Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert to Indian Wells: about 20 miles and 30 minutes outside rush hour. Allow a little extra time to park and find the spa.
There’s no need to move hotels. Staying in the city and driving down for the day, as I did, leaves your evenings free. My Palm Springs guide has 27 ideas for the rest of your stay, and Agua Serena sits alongside Joshua Tree and the Cabazon Dinosaurs in my round-up of day trips from Palm Springs. Palm Desert’s El Paseo shopping street is about ten minutes from the resort.
My verdict: is Agua Serena Spa worth it?
Yes. The Signature Cactus & Date Scrub was wonderful and left my skin glowing, and after a few weeks on the road the whole day was a real reset. Book your treatment ahead, add a spa pass so you can linger by the fountains, and make time for a glass of rosé by the pool.
My rating: 5/5
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Read next
- 27 things to do in Palm Springs, Old Hollywood’s favourite desert hideaway
- The best day trips from Palm Springs
- How to spend 2 days in Palm Springs (and still catch sunrise in Joshua Tree)
- The ultimate California road trip itinerary
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