Salt Boutique Spa, Bristol RI

The Bristol branch of Salt Boutique Spa serves the East Bay, the stretch of Rhode Island between Providence and the Sakonnet River that most visitors to the state never see.

Bristol is worth the detour regardless. The town has run the oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration in the United States since 1785, keeps a red-white-and-blue stripe painted down the centre of Hope Street year-round, and holds one of the better-preserved collections of colonial and Federal architecture in New England.

The spa pairs halotherapy with sauna. Salt therapy involves sitting in a warm dim room where micronised salt is dispersed into the air, typically for around forty-five minutes; the practice derives from European salt mines and the respiratory health of their workers, with clinical evidence that is real but modest and largely confined to respiratory symptoms.

Combined with a sauna the two make a longer session with contrasting textures — one demanding, one entirely undemanding.

Bristol sits on the East Bay Bike Path between Providence and Newport, and parking is far easier than in either. Sessions run on fixed times; book ahead.