The Langham, Chicago

The most complete heat experience in Chicago, full stop. Chuan Spa takes over the fourth floor of Mies van der Rohe's IBM tower and runs its bathing ritual like a discipline — a fresh herbal sauna, a Himalayan salt sauna, and a eucalyptus steam room in sequence, with a hot tub and cold plunge to close the loop, all before you reach the 67-foot pool with the river below. Most hotel saunas are a warm box near the gym; this is a proper circuit with a point of view. The hotel around it is quietly excellent — big rooms, river views, service that doesn't hover. Spa access comes with treatments, so book one and give the thermal suite the full afternoon it deserves.