Ashland was practically founded on a nonalcoholic drink: lithia water. Okay, this southern Oregon town already existed. But in the early twentieth century, citizens got excited about the lithia levels in a spring a few miles east and decided to pipe it into a creek in their local park—now called Lithia Park. Lithium is known for mood stabilizing, and is used to treat bipolar disorder. Ashland businesspeople marketed the city as a wellness destination where people can partake of healing waters. “Ashland grows while lithia flows” became their mantra.
I recently spent a weekend in Ashland as the first stop on my book tour for Sober Travel Handbook, doing an event at the fabulous apothecary store and NA bar Hummingbird Heart. Ashland has lots to offer the sober traveler.
Mocktails and Elixirs
Your first stop in Ashland—no, make that your recurring stop—should be Hummingbird Heart. They carry a ton of NA spirits, beers and ready to drink mocktails, and have a bar with NA beers on tap. It’s the kind of store full of soaps and lotions and potions that you’ll want to pick up everything and smell it, and then try on some earrings. Owner Anna Blazevich also created the Soul Hum brand of NA elixir, which uses superfoods, vitamins and herbs like ashwagandha and ginseng to add immunity-boosting power to your mocktail.
Anna moved her family and her business from Long Beach, California to Ashland in 2024. “In Long Beach, I feel like I had to explain a lot. I had people come in and be like, ‘Are you serious, there’s no alcohol in here?!’ And I’ve only had one naysayer the whole time I’ve been in Ashland. So that’s pretty dang good.”
I could see this openness to NA drinks in other businesses during my visit. My favorite restaurant in Ashland—I ate there twice in a weekend—is an Indonesian place called Blue Toba. Along with mie goreng (fried noodles) and bakwan jagung (corn fritters) I tried several drinks off the mocktail menu. My favorites were the ginger lemon shrub, made with ginger, apple cider vinegar, lemon and soda water, and the tamarind ginger beer, which combined tamarind, black tea syrup and ginger beer.
What really made me do a double take as I wandered down Main Street was a little dispenser set up outside a specialty oil store called Press for Oil. It was a help-yourself mocktail sampling with a cherry shrub and tiny cups!
Theater Haven
While Ashland promoted its lithia water hard in the early 1900s, by the 1930s, Shakespeare eclipsed wellness. When you ask people about Ashland, the first thing that comes to mind is usually its enormous Shakespeare festival. The ten-play season runs March through October. This is the time to visit if you’re a theater buff.
During my visit, I was just a little bit bummed not to have the chance to see a play. Then again, I bet there are at least three times as many people in town. I enjoyed the quiet of February in Ashland—especially since I got a couple of uncharacteristically warm days.
Shopping!
The shopping bug bit me hard in Ashland. I wanted to check out every store on Main Street. And there are many.
Instead of chain stores, you’ll find locally owned boutiques. The women’s clothing stores are especially good. Again, we can thank Shakespeare. His plays draw an affluent crowd, and they need something to do during the day. You’ll find mostly new stuff, with a few vintage and antique shops thrown in. I bought a sweater (don’t tell me I’m too old for the cropped style) at incense-laden Rare Earth and some dresses on sale at Paddington Station.
Of course, a theater town attracts readers. Bloomsbury Books is a big, beautiful bookstore on Main Street with a café upstairs. Tree House Books has more of a fairy and wizard theme, with good sections for children and young adults. Soundpeace specializes in the metaphysical. For your Shakespeare swag, visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Gift Shop during theater season.
A Spiritual Vortex?
Ashland is often described as a spiritual vortex. As late Ashland resident John Darling put it, “This place is a pressure cooker, a crucible, a front burner, especially around advancing your inner, spiritual life, your emotional evolution, your understand of the promise you made yourself before you were born.” You can get your tarot cards read by a shaman or join a Samhain immersion in the priestess arts.
Guided by what turned out to be an outdated brochure from the tourism office, I took the more traditional path of heading for the Trinity Episcopal Church for a 7:15 AM chanted prayer session. Nope, the adorable historic white church was locked. Instead, I walked in the labyrinth outside. As I’m sure many have noted before me, the labyrinth is just like life. It looks like you’re going towards your goal, the purpose of the whole thing, then it loops away. You can always just walk over the lines, but you know you’re cheating. Sometimes it feels boring and pointless, like TSA switchbacks. I resigned myself to trudging along and forgot what I was even doing or where I was trying to go. Then suddenly I reached the center.
Public Bathing
Visitors can still partake of healing waters in Ashland, though not necessarily involving lithia. My first night in town, I took a very quiet walk into a residential neighborhood to visit Chozu Bath & Tea Gardens. Ashland chiropractor Ilene Rubinstein’s travels in Japan inspired her to create Chozu as a healing oasis. It’s very clean and has an upscale feeling, though it’s not expensive–$30 for 90 minutes, extra if you want to rent a bathing bundle with towel and sandals.
You enter through a wooden house to find a communal hot pool and cold plunge, sauna and steam room in the backyard. Potted bamboos and other plants, artfully placed rocks, and a fountain enhance the garden setting. Soothing music emanates from a speaker by the hot pool. For an extra fee, you can rent your own private pool behind a gate. Cap your visit off with a stop in the tea lounge.
At Chozu, swimwear is mandatory during the day but optional in the evening. I intended to go commando, since I was extremely unlikely to run into anybody I knew. But when I arrived, most people were wearing suits. I got self-conscious so I put on mine, too. Later in the evening it was about half and half.
About two miles outside of town, Jackson Wellsprings has a different vibe. This combination RV park/public bathing hangout is insanely cheap—pay $16 and you can hang out all day. Like Chozu, people wear swimsuits during daytime hours but that’s optional at night.
If you happen to be carless in Ashland, as I was, it’s a very easy $2 bus ride from downtown. It’s not a long walk, but part of the journey is highway shoulder, so I’d advise against it.
Jackson Wellsprings had a more hippie/budget feel than Chozu. The décor is a bohemian cultural mishmash. A Ganesh statue with offerings of oranges and roses stands at one end of the large, unheated swimming pool while Native American art adorns a nearby wall. Moroccan lamps hang over velvet sofas in the event space.
There’s a communal hot pool, a dry sauna and a steam room. A regular wandered into the steam room while I sat there wondering why it wasn’t hot. “Only Jerry knows how to fix it,” he said. “And he’s in Mexico.”
Quotes about silence by Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual master known for his 44-year vow of silence, hang along the fence near the hot pool. (I imagine he wrote these down, rather than speaking them.) But they’re easily ignored. Two dudes had an animated discussion about truck repairs and the scrap business. All in all, I found it a comfortable and entertaining place to hang out for a few hours, and a total steal at the price.
Where to Stay in Ashland
I love a historic hotel, so was thrilled to stay at Ashland Springs Hotel, which celebrated its hundredth anniversary last year. It’s the tallest building on Main Street, so it was easy to find my way back as I wandered around town. My fifth floor room had a deep soaking bathtub. A wedding was going on while I visited, so a sea of burgundy-colored dresses filled the pale yellow lobby. Very beautiful.
The other place I considered staying was the Peerless Hotel, built in 1900. The online photos showed richly colored rooms filled with dark antique furniture inside a brick building with a 1914 Coca Cola ad still visible on one side. When I was walking back from Chozu at night, I stumbled upon the hotel. My first thought: Jesus, this place looks haunted! Indeed, a little girl ghost named Amelia plays in the halls. Ghosts are really intriguing. But not while I’m sleeping. If you’re a diehard ghost enthusiast, don’t miss the Peerless.
And everyone who visits Ashland should go to the main plaza and check out the old fountains that still pump lithia water. Ignore the sign about barium contamination and have a taste. Ah, like cool, fizzy eggs.
WHAT A TRIP! Meet Teresa Bergen: Our Sober Travel Whisperer (and the Woman Bringing a Handbook to the Airport Bar Fight)
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