Yampah Spa & Vapor Caves — Attraction in Glenwood Springs

Update: The hospitality liason called me to discuss my experience. He was very kind and appreciated my feedback. He said they plan to make some improvements to their spa services and solarium. I look forward to going back soon!

I feel torn writing this review but I feel it is important to share my experiences. First, I just want to say that the staff are all very nice, and I love the vapor caves. I have been many times. I also had the one of the best facials there done by Cindi.

Now, on to the not so good part. I hate to say it but DO NOT waste your money on getting a massage there. I have now done the massage twice now, and both times I was incredibly disappointed.

The first time I got a massage there I could feel on my skin that the MT was wearing gloves the whole time. It was uncomfortable on my skin and the noises the gloves made were annoying. When I booked a massage this second time around I even mentioned it and said if your staff wear gloves for their massages then I will just pass on the massage. I was told they would book me with someone who didn't which they did.

Now, including the tip I paid $140 for an hour massage that is actually only 50 minutes, because they need time to prepare for next clients. No biggie this is common practice.

My masseuse was running behind, and by the time we got started on the massage it was about 10 minutes behind schedule. As I am laying there on the table I hear the person's conversation in the room beside me word for word. Talking about their arthritis and literally their entire life story. I say to the therapist that the massage is not going to be enjoyable if all I can hear is people having conversations about their whole life. She says "I can ring the bell" which I guess is a way to signal to others to quiet down. This bell/signal is loud and annoying, so now, EVERYONE is interrupted by the bell.

The conversation next to me quiets to a whisper for about 60 seconds before they proceed with the life story. I am annoyed but what can I do? Then the MT flips me to my back where I am blinded by the bright a** sun staring directly onto my face by the open ceiling above me. This is almost more annoying than the conversation at this point.

The MT's massage movements felt very rushed. When she was done she left the room for me to get dressed. When I glanced at the clock I was surprised that she had ended the session at the 50 minute mark even though she got started 10 minutes late. So ultimately I paid $140 for a 40 minute massage that was "asian massage at the mall worthy at best" and once again I walked away feeling like I had completely wasted my money, and we are not talking about $10 on a salad I hated.

The solarium, which is a room to relax in, is not very relaxing either. It could be relaxing but again there is a huge skylight that makes the entire room so bright that you need sunglasses just to actually be able to lay down and relax without being blinded.

When I ended my day, I mentioned to the staff that my massage was not good, and that all I could hear was people talking the whole time. He said that the staff encourage a personal connection to clients and that they “have the space they have” I was not asking for a refund or any kind of discount, which wasn’t offered anyway, I was just trying to give honest feedback. So to be told “they have the space they have” was basically like saying “what do you want me to do about it?”

The space is ABSOLUETLEY not set up for massage AT ALL. They are charging high end resort prices for a massage that you would expect to get at the mall. Thankfully the area for the facial was far away from everything else, and was in a quiet and relaxing room with ambient lighting.

I will go back here, only because I enjoy the vapor caves so much, but I will NEVER do any of their spa services aside...

My friend and I recently visited Yampah Spa and our experience was far from relaxing or enjoyable.

From the moment we arrived, it was clear the facility was not up to standard. The whole place presented as bare minimum effort, like the staff went out of their way to ensure every comfort, safety feature, and cleanliness standard was completely ignored. The whole place exudes a vibe of "meh, that'll do.”

The changing room is incredibly small. The locker room/prison-style showers lack any semblance of privacy. To reach the facial spa services, we had to walk through the employee break room—a bizarre and uncomfortable path. The Solarium (waiting room) was filled with sweat-stained lounge chairs.

The underground vapor caves are dimly lit and have an overpowering sulphuric smell, though the murky atmosphere and stench can't be helped. It feels more like a haunted house than a wellness retreat. After reading reviews of some questionable characters, I wouldn’t recommend women visit the caves alone. The staff should be doing regular patrols to ensure the good people of the world are breathing and safe, and that the shady characters are not plotting their next moves in the darkness.

The facial and massage schedules were running behind. To catch up, they cut my services short—cheating me out of time and money (no apology or compensation offer). The massage rooms are open-ceiling with curtain doors, making it impossible to relax as you listen to every conversation around you. The treatments were hurried, rough, and careless. It felt less like pampering and more like being roughed up. Honestly, my husband has more awareness, and his idea of a massage is a few awkward pokes and pats.

The mud wrap was the worst part of the experience. My friend and I had to share a room due to “space constraints. We were promised a non-awkward experience where we would be “covered at all times” but this was far from the truth. With bright lights on, we were both instructed to de-robe, walk the few steps to our tables, and lay face down with only small towels covering our butts. One employee handled both wraps, leaving one of us exposed and cold while she worked on the other. After being covered in mud and wrapped in Dollar Store plastic, we were rolled up in thick crinkly tarps—feeling very much like being trapped alive in body bags. Afterward, we walked down a hallway to the shower area wearing only a small muddy towel, adding to the overall discomfort. I have never had such a bad experience in other spas. Yampah’s mud wrap service is mortifying and a complete disaster.

The employees are friendly and polite but clearly overbooked and run ragged. If they choose to play along with deliberate overbooking and unprofessional management practices, they'll inevitably be tied to the bad reviews this place garners.

This facility has the unique charm of being built into the side of a mountain, but unfortunately, it's more claustrophobic than cozy. There's no room for expansion, and space and privacy are almost mythical concepts here. In the right hands, this could be a fun, unique, and satisfying escape. However, it feels like the current owner/management team sees each visitor as a dollar sign rather than someone in need of relaxation. If they would spend the time and money to reconfigure the layout, it might just transform into the gem it has the potential to be.

If you go, bring a sense of humor and a love of tight spaces. I will never return to Yampah and cannot recommend it to anyone. Save your time and money and look elsewhere for a truly relaxing...

Given the few negative reviews, I was hesitant, expecting a dark, poop filled dungeon. Not so. The facility was thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing. Don't go there expecting to find a romantic, secluded get away. This place gets a lot of visitors and in no way was it private. But it was enjoyable if you are a bit adventurous, but still relaxing and feels nice. There was a diverse crowd of baby boomers, twenty somethings singles and couples, and some foreigners. For the most part everyone respected the signs that said speak quietly. The few foreigners, they sounded like some part of Eastern Europe and were speaking somewhat loudly and had to be shushed a few times. I hope the staff can make it clear or put multilingual signs up in the future to ensure foreigners understand they need to speak quietly.

The Cave: The cave is not "pitch black". It is dimly lit. It is like the pathway in the move theater, between the hallway and the opening to the seating. It is darker than the pictures on their website, but not too dark you can't navigate your way. There are spot lights pointing up at the ceiling of the cave throughout. Although it was a busy day, we had no trouble finding a seat. They are literally marble slabs, hot but not too hot that it would burn you. It was relaxing to sit on. You can also lay on them. As you can imagine, it is like a steam room, the floors are wet with shallow puddles, then benches are slightly damp, and you start sweating quickly. There was also buckets you can fill with the cave water and put your feet in, although it might take a couple of minutes for the water to cool off enough to do so. To get into the cave, you walk down a narrow set of concrete stairs from the hallway above. There is a slight sulfur smell, it was slight enough that it did not bother me. The smell was not as strong as the sulfur smell at the hot springs pool.

The Facility: The facility is standard decor, spa and massage facility. The solarium has chairs and padded recliners for you to relax while you cool off to go back into the cave. They offered lemon water, and played relaxing spa like music, and had an array of plants throughout.

The locker room was a single row of lockers and with a curtain between it and the hallway. Be prepared as there is no individual rooms to change.

The bathrooms needed a bit more care than they were getting. They weren't dirty, but they weren't spotless either. The toilet wouldn't flush in one, as the chain had broke on the inside. The lid was also not on the tank. The other bathroom was out of paper towels and I had to dry my hands off with tissues.

There were both men's and women's showers, although they were community, so like the locker rooms, don't expect privacy. The lemongrass shampoo in the showers smelled really nice.

The facility also had an outside lounge area to cool off, but it is about 40 feet from the highway, so it was a bit noisy.

It was a busy day when I went and there was no parking, but the owner was nice and let me park in a non parking space next to the dumpster. The hallway, while not crowded, is high traffic as it serves as access to everything, and it was a busy day.

The Staff: The staff were friendly, accommodating, and patient and gave you a tour of the facility before letting you go. While there is many services to choose from, they didn't try to sell you anything extra, so you weren't pressured to...