Sometimes, you know you’ve got a stupid question, but you have to ask it out loud anyway. It’s just part of being an intrepid journalist… specifically, an intrepid journalist who’s found herself inside the moody, cavernous halls of something called “the Healing Caves,” a not-so-ancient wellness space now located underneath the spa at the Kingfisher Pacific Resort.

I know that we can’t actually be underground (I’m no geologist, but the exposed rockface in the excavated-looking space looks more Sedona than Vancouver Island) and yet the facade is so convincing that I feel compelled to do my due diligence: “This isn’t real, right?”

Unsurprisingly, I’m correct (brag). It’s just a practical illusion that transforms the basement of this tranquil resort and spa in Courtenay, B.C., into another world. But this is Disney-level spatial design, and a space that the resort has poured $3 million into in order to create a unique, 70-minute circuit that’s transportive in a way that goes far beyond your average Scandinavian-inspired spa. 

In the desert-like first cave, designed to look like the sand-and-wind-carved surfaces of an Arizona canyon, guests are whisked away to a warmer (and, yes, sweatier) place; in the next, they step into a next-level aromatherapy experience, finding a seat amid tropical greenery and an in-room waterfall. An ice cave follows to deliver a cryotherapy experience in a convincing simulation of the Arctic tundra; the Astral Cave next door provides red-light therapy in a faux forest grove, with psychedelic animations of outer space playing overhead. (Of course, there’s a Salt Cave and Storm Cave, too, because Kingfisher did not come to play.) Whether all the claims of these healing modalities are accurate is up to science to decide, but what is absolutely true is that these Healing Caves (priced from $250 for a solo guest) are an escape.

If you’ve been to Kingfisher before, you’ll recognize that the caves are the spiritual descendant of the Hydropath experience down the hall, a wildly popular spa option that the Kingfisher has been operating since 2003. Though that candlelit circuit is purely based on water treatments—from personal waterfalls to neck-deep mineral pools with their own indoor rainclouds—the spaces clearly share some DNA, down to the convincing fake-organic surfaces. 

So, sure, maybe the curving, shadowed corridors aren’t “real”; maybe the swirling whirlpool in the Storm Cave is manufactured. But if you’re looking for a little escape from reality, a chance to let go, there may be no better spot. A little break from the real world—just what an intrepid reporter needs after a day of tough questions. 4330 Island Hwy. S, Courtenay 

Kingfisher Healing Desert Cave

Stacey McLachlan

Stacey McLachlan

Stacey is a senior editor at Western Living magazine, as well as editor-in-chief of sister publication Vancouver magazine. She loves window shopping on the job: send your home accessories and furniture recommendations over to [email protected]