Sasanqua

Sasanqua creates its own quiet island on a peaceful peninsula overlooking the Kiawah River. It’s fitting that Clodagh, the world-renowned designer whose eyes, mind, and hands shaped the spa, was named for a similarly picturesque waterway in her native Ireland.

Intended to be “a quiet space for a few moments of self-centered celebration in today’s time-impoverished world,” Sasanqua’s interiors use natural materials to create a genuine sense of harmony with the world outside. Moss-draped oaks rise through the spa’s courtyard, keeping guests close to the Lowcountry landscape. Natural slate floors and wooden walls suggest the regenerative powers of earth. Fire offers a warm, soothing glow through candles and a fireplace. Artistic water features bring the soothing sounds of the River indoors. The presence of air is evoked by both light drawn inside, and spaces created outside.

From one of the treatment rooms you can watch the river flow through the swaying marshgrasses as stress is massaged away. You could practice yoga outdoors while taking cleansing breaths of the coastal breezes that rustle nearby palmettos. Every aspect of Sasanqua, named after a variety of camellia, is thus designed to heighten individual connections with nature.