Soap Lake Natural Spa & Resort

What to expect

Soap Lake Natural Spa & Resort, now marketed simply as Soap Lake Resort and part of Wyndham’s Dazzler Select collection, is a lakefront hotel on the main road through the small town of Soap Lake in central Washington. Its draw is the lake next door. The resort pumps water out of Soap Lake, filters and heats it, and plumbs it into every room, so you can run a mineral bath without leaving your room.

Be clear about one thing before you book: this is not a hot spring. Soap Lake is a saline soda lake in the dry scablands at the foot of the Grand Coulee. Its water is not geothermal. Any warm mineral soak here, in your room or in a hot tub, is heated by the resort. If you are after naturally hot water, look elsewhere in the state.

What the lake does have is chemistry. It is one of the most mineral-rich lakes in the country, with 23 minerals in the water. Sodium, carbonate and sulfate dominate, at about 5,760, 3,840 and 2,540 milligrams per liter in 2000 testing. The water is strongly alkaline (a 2008 study measured a pH of about 9.8) and very buoyant, and it feels slick between your fingers. Floating in it on a hot afternoon is the classic thing to do here.

The lake

Soap Lake covers about 2 square miles and is about 70 feet deep at its deepest. It is meromictic: the upper layer of water and a dense, mineral-heavy bottom layer have not mixed in thousands of years. The Soap Lake Conservancy says the deepest layer has probably been separate for at least 2,000 years. Soap Lake is often cited as one of only 11 meromictic lakes in the United States.

In December 2023 Washington named Soap Lake an Outstanding Resource Water, the state’s highest level of protection, after a joint application by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Soap Lake Conservancy. New or expanded pollution sources may not cause any measurable change in its water quality. It was the first waterbody in the state to receive that designation.

The name comes from the natural foam that forms on the water and gives it a soapy look and feel.

History

Native tribes reportedly held truces at the lake and considered its water special. From the early 1900s to the mid-1940s, sanitariums and bathhouses brought visitors to the town for the water and the mud, and 1920s tourist guides billed the lake as the “world’s greatest mineral sea”. McKay Hospital opened in 1938 and was later used to study the lake’s effects on patients. The Depression-era drought hurt the trade, and the town still promotes itself as Washington’s health resort. The resort’s oldest building, the Inn, dates from 1905.

The resort and the town both say people have long come to the lake for skin conditions, joint pain and circulation. Those are traditional claims. Talk to a doctor before treating a soak as medicine.

The rooms and facilities

• The Inn: 23 rooms in the 1905 building, with lake views and mineral water in the tubs.
• Themed cabins: 15 cabins with full kitchens or kitchenettes, sleeping up to four or five depending on the cabin.
• Cottages: 9 private cottages with patios and kitchen options. The resort pitches these at families and longer stays.
• Beach House and executive suites: larger signature stays with full kitchens.
• Outdoors: hot tubs, a barrel sauna, an outdoor gym and direct access to the lake, next to the town’s city park.
• Essense Retreat: a private spa inside the Inn, for resort guests only.
• Solstice BioSpa: the resort’s public spa. Its signature seven-step visit runs through hydrogen water, a sauna with herbal tea, a rest period, a mineral soak with a cold plunge or warm option, a crystal room, a grove and an open porch with a café.

The resort does not publish how many outdoor hot tubs it has or whether they use lake water, so ask if that matters to you.

Prices and booking

The resort does not list room rates on its site; prices vary by room type and season. Book directly by phone at (509) 246-0462, by email at [email protected] or through the booking links on the website. Solstice BioSpa is booked and priced separately through its own site, and runs retreats on a limited schedule.

Mineral water in the room is part of any stay. There is no day pass to the in-room water. If you only want to float in the lake, ask locally about public shoreline access around the city park next door.

Recent guest reviews are mixed on the condition of some rooms, so ask about the specific room and its tub before you pay.

Getting there

The resort is at 236 Main Avenue East in Soap Lake, on State Route 17, which runs through town as part of the Coulee Corridor National Scenic Byway. Soap Lake is about 20 miles north of Interstate 90. From the Seattle side, cross the Cascades on I-90, leave the interstate near Moses Lake and follow SR 17 north. Parking is on site.

When to go

The area gets about 320 sunny days a year and less than 9 inches of rain. Summer is hot, which is when the lake is pleasant for floating, but midday heat on the shore can be fierce. Late spring and early fall are the most comfortable for exploring the coulees. Winter is cold and quiet, and a heated mineral bath in your room makes more sense than a dip in the lake.

Where to stay nearby

The resort is the obvious base, and it has a range of room types. The town of Soap Lake has a few other motels and rentals, and Ephrata, the county seat, is a short drive away. Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park, north up SR 17, has camping in the coulee.

Safety notes

• Alkaline water: Keep lake water out of your eyes and rinse off after a float. Do not swallow it.
• Buoyancy: The water holds you up well, but do not count on lifeguards. Watch children closely.
• Heat: Summer days are hot and dry, with little shade on the shore. Carry water and sunscreen.
• Heated tubs: Keep in-room and outdoor hot tub soaks short, especially after time in the sun.

Nearby stops worth adding

Drive north on SR 17 up the Lower Grand Coulee to Lake Lenore and on to Dry Falls, the dry cliffs of a giant waterfall from the Ice Age floods. Grand Coulee Dam is farther north on the same byway.