At Home in the Hills

How the Bay Area’s premier spa brings Old World charm to the West Coast

Nestled in the lush, rolling hills of California’s San Ramon Valley is the town of Danville—a haven for affluent Bay Area suburbanites seeking the rustic charm of a small town with the modern amenities of nearby Oakland and San Francisco. Home to some of the country’s most expensive and exclusive country clubs and real estate, Danville began as a modest farming community founded on Gold Rush earnings. Since then, it has exploded into an upper middle-class sanctuary that is marked by beautiful, grand California homes and upscale shopping plazas.

Against the backdrop of the imposing Mount Diablo rests the Danville-San Ramon Medical Center. Renown for its award-winning cardiac program, the center is also home to Danville’s premier medi-spa, the Valeria Spa.

Catering to Danville and the surrounding areas, the Valeria Spa has been providing residents and visitors alike with premium clinical skin care services for 13 years. Headed by Valeria Siko, an experienced esthetician originally from Hungary, the spa artfully blends an elegant, Old World demeanor with a modern scientific sensibility. Furnished in rich, velvety reds, dark wood undertones and golden highlights, the atmosphere seems both regal and ethereal.

Guests arriving for a massage or multiple treatments are warmly greeted with plush, white robes and sandals. Those attending spa parties are escorted to one of the facility’s two private salons and lavished with a seemingly endless supply of organic fresh fruit, flavored water and herbal tea. All are immediately enveloped in the spa’s quiet serenity.

Boasting an impressive array of non-invasive therapeutic and aesthetic services, including the spa’s signature Hungarian skin treatment and trademark “cocoon bed” body wrap, it’s easy to see how one can lose himself/herself for hours in soothing indulgence.

“It’s totally friendly, totally relaxing [and] very professional,” Siko says about Valeria Spa’s ambiance.

Despite the variety of treatments available—from simple lip treatments to state-of-the-art acne photo therapy—Siko is quick to point out that each and every procedure is the result of her own arduous research. “I never go with what’s in trend unless I do the research,” she explains of passing cosmetic fads. “I have to see results.”

Siko’s clients certainly have benefited from her intensive cosmetic screening process. When glycolic acid peels were rapidly gaining popularity in the last decade, she refused to offer the service when it first surfaced that the chemical caused irritation. In its place, her spa turned to the non-irritating, chirally correct CosMedix line of peels.

“I’ve had [the CosMedix] line for five years,” Siko proudly notes. “It covers acne well. It covers aging well. […] Rarely can a line do that.”

Since she has carried CosMedix products, Siko’s clientele could not agree with her more. So acute is their demand that she must re-order every two weeks just to keep from selling out. “I cannot keep the products on the shelves,” she says.

As Valeria Spa approaches its fourteenth year in business, Siko looks toward the future with optimism. Thanks largely to her research-driven, results-oriented approach, she has been able to deliver on promise after promise to her clientele. And in light of a growing appreciation for clinical skin care as a wellness necessity rather than a mere luxury, her positive outlook is well founded.

For anyone traveling to the San Francisco Bay area, consider a relaxing day trip outside the city to Danville. From the verdant hills of Napa Valley, to the majestic scenery of Mount Diablo State Park, the area boasts an abundance of attractions.

Valeria Spa
925.736.8226
ValeriaSpa.com