Entry No. 1 — the Buffalo file — filed under: mineral-baths
The Springs Spa at Clifton Springs
At the end of the 1300-wing of Clifton Springs Hospital & Clinic — a real hospital, coffee in the lobby — Rochester Regional Health runs the descendant of Dr. Henry Foster's 1850 water-cure sanitarium, where the village's sulphur springs once drew invalids by the trainload. Today that means 20-minute soaks in private tubs ($35–57): moor peat, Himalayan salt, lavender, plus an 'immune stimulating sheet wrap' that is exactly as 19th-century as it sounds, alongside acupuncture, Ayurveda, and massage. One honest asterisk: the spa's own site currently admits the baths are running on 100% tap water while the mineral supply awaits sign-off from facilities. The sulphur is still free, though — the creek through the village supplies the smell, and the 1892 Richardsonian Romanesque sanitarium building up the street keeps a Tiffany-designed Last Supper mosaic in its chapel.
→ Three at a time, never the same twice — explore weird Buffalo
The story
Dr. Henry Foster came to this Ontario County village in 1849 hunting a site for a water cure, and found it: sulphur springs, and a population prepared to believe that mineral water and a hard religious revival together could return the sick to useful life. His sanitarium became known across the eastern United States. Work on its grandest incarnation began in 1892 - a five-story, 244-foot brick ell in Richardsonian Romanesque by the Elmira firm Pierce & Bickford, conical towers at each end, a chapel holding a Last Supper mosaic in Tiffany favrile glass. National Register, 1979. Senior citizens' apartments since 1974.
Foster's medical operation never stopped; it turned into a hospital. Clifton Springs Hospital & Clinic, now Rochester Regional Health, still gives the water a wing. The Springs Spa sits at the far end of the 1300-wing, down a corridor with the hand-sanitizer dispensers of a working hospital - which is what this is, coffee in the lobby, nursing-home residents on the books alongside the public. The menu is twenty minutes in a private tub, $35 to $57: Czech moor peat, Himalayan salt with Ayurvedic oils, lavender, Epsom, frankincense. Acupuncture, massage and reflexology fill out the list, along with an Immune Stimulating Sheet Wrap, precisely as nineteenth-century as it sounds.
Settle one thing before driving ninety minutes for it: the spa's own site states that all baths are 100% tap water at present, the mineral supply pending. The sulphur has not gone anywhere - a creek of it still runs past the hospital and the old sanitarium before vanishing under the downtown buildings - but it is not currently in the tub. The village has one further claim on medical history: occupational therapy was founded here in March 1917, at George Edward Barton's Consolation House.
What it's like
Park in the west-side lot off Coulter Road, go in the hospital's main entrance, turn left past the elevators and keep walking until the 1300-wing runs out. There is no locker room, no lounge, no robe ritual and no pool - the spa states plainly that it has no community or group bathing areas. A therapist draws your tub, shows you the room, shuts the door, and comes back in twenty minutes. You undress and get into and out of a full-size bathtub yourself; there are no walk-in tubs. Couples book adjacent rooms and soak in parallel, which is less romantic and more honest than most spa marketing. Appointments only, weekdays only, and new clients have to call to put a card on file before the online booking will take them.
The move: Call (315) 462-1350 and book back-to-back weekday moor peat baths (private tubs, so you soak in parallel, not together), then walk the village to find the sulphur creek and the towered 1892 sanitarium building before a slow lunch on Main Street.
📍 Before you go Weekdays only, appointment-only — no walk-ins; book by phone or via their Mindbody portal. Enter the hospital's main entrance on the west side of campus; the spa is at the end of the 1300-wing. Free parking. You must be able to get in and out of a large tub unassisted (no walk-in tubs). As of mid-2026 the spa's site says baths are 100% tap water pending restoration of the mineral supply — call and ask before making the ~90-minute drive if sulphur water is the whole point.
- 📍 Clifton Springs
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoor or outdoor
Where: 2 Coulter Road, Clifton Springs, NY 14432
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Jell-O Gallery Museum — Le Roy sits directly on the I-90 run between Buffalo and Clifton Springs, which makes the Jell-O museum a detour on the way out rather than a second day trip.
- Medina Culvert (Culvert Road) — Come home on the Route 31 canal corridor instead of the Thruway and you can drive underneath the Erie Canal at Medina - two 1820s ideas about what water is for, in one loop.
- AURA Salt Cave and Wellness — If the tap-water disclosure kills the trip, this is the same instinct - sit in a mineral room, breathe, stop moving - twenty-five minutes from downtown instead of ninety.
More weird in Buffalo
Good to know
How far is it from Buffalo, and how do I find the spa once I'm there?
About ninety minutes east on the Thruway, in Ontario County southeast of Rochester. The address is 2 Coulter Road; the main entrance is on the west side of campus, reached by turning onto Coulter off Pleasant Street from Main. Parking is free. Inside, go left past the elevators and follow the 1300-wing to its end.
Is the water actually the famous sulphur water?
Not right now. The spa's own site states that all baths at this time are 100% tap water while the mineral supply awaits sign-off. If the minerals are the entire reason you're driving, call (315) 462-1350 and ask before you go. The sulphur creek through the village is free and still smells like itself.
What does it cost, and how do I book?
Soaks run twenty minutes, from $35 for the basic bath to $57 for the Czech moor peat, with Himalayan, lavender, arthritis, frankincense, sinus and Epsom muscle-recovery blends in between. Extra time is $10 per ten minutes, added Epsom salt is $10, and the Immune Stimulating Sheet Wrap is $35 on top of a bath. Book by phone or through the Mindbody portal - but new clients must call first to put a card on file.
Can two of us share a tub, and what if I have mobility limitations?
No sharing: every soak is a private tub, and the spa explicitly has no community pool or group bathing area, so a couple books back-to-back appointments in separate rooms. You also need to be able to get into and out of a large bathtub unassisted - there are no walk-in tubs.
Can I see the old sanitarium and the Tiffany chapel?
You can see the building. The 1892 sanitarium stands on East Main Street a short walk from the hospital, but it was converted to senior citizens' apartments in 1974, so it is somebody's home rather than an attraction. Treat the towers and the facade as the visit and don't count on getting into the chapel.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · rochesterregional.org · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-08-25