Coordinates: Jenifer Miller, jmiller999@hotbot.com

Sidebar: Your One-Day Getaway

Great day spas offer many of the same services as destination spas -- except that day spas are generally less expensive and more convenient. No, you won't come away feeling completely transformed after a single day of treatments. But you will be able to recharge your batteries, and you'll be reminded that there are places where people talk about reflexology instead of return on investments.

Noëlle Spa for Beauty & Wellness, located in Stamford, Connecticut (about 50 minutes outside of New York City), was launched in 1973 by Noel de Caprio, who's often credited with creating the day-spa concept. De Caprio passed away last December, after a 12-year battle with cancer. But her spa -- which attends to 2,000 clients each week and which has consulted to more than 100 other day spas, including the first day spa in Japan -- continues to thrive.

The 18,000-square-foot facility was built in 1995, after a fire destroyed the original Noëlle. At the back of the spa, which is as serene as a Zen garden, clients receive facials and other treatments. The front of Noëlle is all action: Hairstylists dart about to the constant beat of pop music and to the ring of laughter.

Today Noëlle is managed by Peter de Caprio, who jokingly refers to himself as "Mr. Noel." Here de Caprio explains how he and his wife created a spa that many consider to be a benchmark within the industry -- and that you too might use as a benchmark whenever you want a daylong getaway.

"After the fire, we built the new facility in seven weeks. That project should have taken six months," says de Caprio. "We had two crews working 22 hours a day. We fed them; we gave them massages and haircuts.

"To celebrate the opening, Noel organized a parade that went from the old place to the new one. With my wife, everything was an event. We couldn't get a parade permit for the street, so about 200 of us just marched right up the sidewalk.

"Everything in this spa comes from the heart. As Noel grew more ill, we began incorporating more and more alternatives into our program: reiki treatments, healing baths, oils, crystals.

"From the Ritz-Carlton, Noel picked up the motto 'We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.' That became her golden rule. She expected staff members to treat everybody as if they were treating her. We continue to expect that of ourselves."

Coordinates: $262 for the "Noëlle Day" (which includes a facial, an antistress massage, makeup application, and lunch). Noëlle Spa for Beauty & Wellness, 203-322-3445

Curtis Sittenfeld (csittenfeld@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company staff writer.