For this month’s Spa Spotlight, written by Carole Jacobs, Health, Fitness and Spa Editor at RealFoodTraveler.com, Austin takes center stage. Carole introduces readers to the Lake Austin Spa Resort, a lauded, all-inclusive place to stay, dine, improve health and rejuvenate. 

Save this spa spotlight article about the Lake Austin Spa Resort to Pinterest to help you plan your trip. Photos courtesy of Lake Austin. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

Spa Spotlight: Lake Austin Spa Resort

Long before Austin became an artsy hipster haven, and whose proud, self-proclaimed slogan, “Keep Austin Weird” is plastered on t-shirts to billboards, Austin was home to an unpretentious spa resort that seemed light years removed from its locale deep in the heart of Texas.

Forget about don’t-mess-with-Texas cowboy country and culture. With just 40 charming cottages and bungalows reminiscent of your favorite aunt’s lake house, Lake Austin Spa Resort, tucked on a tranquil bend of the Colorado River in the Texas Hill Country, almost looks like it floated in from the Italian countryside.

Hungry for more? Discover Texas Hill Country’s Fredericksburg for year-round fun.

Combining the personalized attention of an intimate spa with the world-class fitness, spa, and wellness amenities found at mega spa resorts like Canyon Ranch, Lake Austin Spa Resort almost feels like your own private wellness paradise.

Despite its size, the resort has scored big when it comes to accolades. Conde Nast Traveler named it the #1 Destinaton Spa in the U.S. and #3 in the World, and the resort has also won best-of-awards from Travel & Leisure, Prevention, USA Today, Oprah’s Daily, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Elle, US News & World Report, Elite, Town & Country, Southern Living, and others.

An aerial view of Lake Austin Spa Resort. Photo courtesy of Lake Austin Spa Resort.

Have it your way

With all due respect to Burger King, “Have It Your Way” could be the official MO at Lake Austin Spa Resort. Forget about boot camp. With hammocks dotting the property, quiet nature trails, cooking classes, and astrologer-led stargazing sessions, the emphasis is on creating your own fitness and wellness journey from the resort’s vast menu of exercise, wellness, and mind-body classes.

Not only can you do as much or as little as you’d like, but you can also forget about the hassles of pay-as-you-go. At Lake Austin, everything’s included: lodging; meals; unlimited access to the spa, and fitness center; use of two pools with food and beverage service; full lake access with free water sports equipment — even tips and gratuities.

Everything is included in the cost of staying at Lake Austin Spa Resort, from the lodging, to food, to experiences, and opportunities to languish by the pools.

Lake Austin Spa Resort Close-up

Set on the picturesque hillside of its namesake lake, the resort is study in native stone that blends in seamlessly with the landscape. The mirror lake doubles as the resort’s outdoor wellness aquatics and water sports center, with classes ranging from yoga on the dock to floating fitness, floating meditation, paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, and hydrobiking.

The Pool Barn is the site of a variety of unique exercise classes.

You can also work out or unwind in the sprawling fitness center, with the latest and greatest equipment and classes; unwind in the 25,000-square-foot state of the art spa, or take a dip in the sprawling resort pool with poolside cabanas and a jacuzzi or in the Pool Barn set inside a picturesque, restored barn.

Lake Austin is also renowned for its award-winning garden-to-table cuisine, fueled by its on-site organic gardens and local farms, and served at the resort’s lakefront restaurant, The Venue spa café, and on a variety of lake cruises.

Room With a View or a Private Meditation Garden

Whether you want a room with a view of the lake, a cottage with a private meditation garden, or a bungalow with your own personal hot tub, it’s all here. The Hill Country Bungalows have enough room for the whole family while the premier Lady Bird Suite has an art-and-antique furnished living room and a private outdoor garden and hot tub.

A charming spot within the Lady Bird Suite at Lake Austin Spa Resort.

All cottages and bungalows come with porches overlooking the views and a bevy of luxury touches: custom-designed beds, plush bedding with a pillow menu; sunlit bathrooms with Kohler Soaking tub and shower, vitamin C infused shower heads, and lavender-scented bath products from the resort’s own line (also used in spa treatments). Artwork and pillows mimic nature with wildflowers and wildlife.

An example of a King guest room at Lake Austin.

Work Up a Sweat

Lake Austin’s state-of-the-art fitness facility overlooks the lake and has everything from bikes, rowing machines, and weight machines to a wide range of indoor and outdoor fitness and wellness classes. Just a few include:

• Hiking on miles of scenic trails.
• Nature & Sound Bathing Yoga, a sensory experience with nature and crystal bowls that bathes mind, body, and spirit.
• TRX Barre Fusion, a mind-body strength workout combining the core-strengthening benefits of TRX suspension training with the sculpting movements of barre.
• Barefoot Chi, a grounding, calming practice that promotes balance, flexibility, and inner peace.
• Water sports galore in the lake include wakeboarding, kayaking, paddleboarding, wake surfing, water skiing, tandem kayaking, hydrobiking, plus a wide range of aqua wellness activities (see below).

Hungry for more? Read about Rancho La Puerta Spa in Mexico.

Make Waves for Wellness

Lake Austin is famous for its AquaStretch® therapies, all performed in the warm, shallow, and soothing waters of the resort’s Pool Barn.

• Myofascial Release is ideal for those experiencing limited mobility or pain. This groundbreaking treatment can be life-altering and delivers a feeling of lightness, freedom, and renewed bodily ease.
• Driftaway Floating Meditation combines the calming effects of water with guided meditation.
• Aqua Core is a low-impact water workout that targets the abdominal muscles, improving stability, posture, and overall strength through resistance exercises.
• Blue Yoga Flow takes the gentle, therapeutic benefits of flowing yoga movements to the water.
• Lake Lotus improves core strength and stability using paddleboards and balance.
• Healing with Water is a gentle AquaStretch session using guided stretches and myofascial release techniques to relieve tension, improve mobility, and promote deep relaxation.
• Floating Fitness or Yoga uses a BogaFit Floating Mat for a tailored session of yoga, balance, and/or strength.
• Flute & Float Sound Bathing Relaxation is a guided floating meditation on buoyancy mats done to soothing live flute music.
• Driftaway Floating Meditation combines the calming effects of water with guided meditation.

Ah, Apa

The resort’s 25,000-square foot LakeHouse Spa has all the usual facilities (sauna, steam room, whirlpools, etc.), a full range of standard and only-found-here massages, facials, scrubs, wraps, thermal mud, CBD treatments, LED light therapy, and the resort’s signature aquatherapy treatments and treatments that utilize honey and wildflowers grown on site, plus The Lab, a one-of-a-kind social spa sanctuary with a thermal mud bar, rain shower, cold plunges, LED facials, and high-tech meditation loungers. The first of its kind in the U.S., The Lab is designed to restore muscle, skin, and circulation for immediate, radiant results.

Just a few spa treatments include:

• Weekend Warrior Massage: This massage for the active lifestyle incorporates stretching and massage to achieve muscle recovery.
• Lavender Body Scrub & Massage: Begin with a gentle lavender salt scrub to exfoliate and renew, then unwind with a 50-minute full-body massage using hydrating shea body butter.
• Tour of Texas: Embark on a rejuvenating Texas journey with a prickly pear scrub that awakens your senses and preps skin for an agave nectar moisture wrap. The treatment ends with a 50-minute, Texas-sized massage with nourishing cactus cream.
• Texas Starry Night: This treatment combines Swedish massage, energetic patterned touch, and an anxiety-reducing weighted blanket to lull you into a state of deep rest.

The resort also offers a host of special day spa packages and resort offerings, including October 2025’s A Gathering of W.I.S.E. Women, a month-long wellness series with expert talks, women’s health, mindfulness, and renewal.

Enjoy a variety of spa treatments at the LakeHouse Spa.

 Mind-Body Treatments

Lake Austin also offers a wide range of integrative health treatments to nourish body and soul.

• Vibroacoustic Meditation is an immersive experience using proprietary sound frequencies, synchronized binaural beats, and soothing music—sometimes paired with guided meditation—to gently shift brainwave patterns into states of deep relaxation, restful sleep, and heightened mental clarity.
• Gamma meditation: You slip on noise-canceling headphones and a light-blocking eye mask for full sensory immersion that’s clinically proven to reduce stress, improve sleep, and support overall well-being.
• Sound Therapy Massage: Using Tibetan singing bowls and Swedish massage, this treatment helps align the chakras and balance vibrational frequencies to bring a high state of consciousness.
• Wellness Alchemy Reading and Healing: This treatment combines energy work, clairvoyant insights, and personalized techniques to restore balance, release blockages, and promote healing.
• Sign up for a private integrative wellness class with a registered dietitian, life coach, or resident artist. Classes include weight management, nutrition for stress, disease management and prevention, an ayurvedic lifestyle consult, nutrition for menopause, energy flow, and personal tarot, oracle cards, and runes to connect with your intuitive higher self.
• Bliss for couples: Tucked among lush gardens, native trees, and soaring bamboo, the Serenity Suite offers a serene, open-air escape with a private cold plunge, outdoor garden shower, and a self-guided hydrocircuit featuring thermal mud, a private rain shower, and invigorating water experiences. The 4-hour experience includes massages, fresh fruit and champagne (non-alcoholic options available), lunch at The Venue (spa) Café, use of LakeHouse Spa amenities and pools, and a spa gift.

Eat your heart out at Lake Austin Spa Resort

“Have It Your Way” also extends to the culinary experience at Lake Austin Spa Resort. Whether you want to lose a few pounds or indulge in Texas-style feasting, the resort believes that dining should be a joyful experience of your own choosing rather than a one-size-fits-all diet.

Meals revolve around natural ingredients from the resort garden and local farms, with offerings that run the gamut from healthful, gluten-free spa cuisine–think acai bowls, gluten-free granola, and green juice; to full-on hearty Texas fare –think classic Texas tacos, steak, and margaritas.

Breakfast includes superfood muffins and egg white scrambles to classic tacos. For lunch, there’s a Mother Earth Bowl with ancient grains to flamed-seared Angus burgers. Dinner entrees range from cauliflower steak and forest mushroom panzanella to grilled pork chops.

Menus call out which ingredients were grown at the resort’s on-site gardens and offer detailed nutritional facts for each dish.

In keeping with the resort’s indulge-your-way credo, the restaurant also has an extensive list of beers, red and white wines, champagne sangria, and martinis, plus zero-proof cocktails like Blood Orange Margaritas and Black Pom Martinis.

Wish you could make Lake Austin’s food at home? The resort’s culinary classes can show you how. In “A Taste of Texas,” the staff Mixologist plucks ingredients from the on-site gardens and demonstrates techniques for making homemade salsas and margaritas.

You can even enjoy Lake Austin’s scrumptious fare on a variety of boat cruises, including The Quench Boat & Float Sightseeing Picnic.

A lot of delicious attention goes into the cuisine served at the Resort.

 Nighttime Magic

The action at Lake Austin doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. Here’s two memorable ways to cap the day.

• Take a “Wind Down Wine Cruise” featuring fine wines, stunning views, and relaxing vibes as you cruise beautiful Lake Austin.
• Catch the night sky (and see what the song is all about) with “The Stars At Night,” an educational journey in astronomy basics taught by a guest astronomer.

Learn more about Lake Austin Spa Resort on their website.

-Story by Carole Jacobs, Real Food Traveler Health, Fitness and Spa Editor. Photos provided by Lake Austin Spa Resort

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