The following information is from the Travel Berkeley Springs office:

Berkeley Springs is the ideal break from holiday activity PLUS offers some wonderful New Years fun. Whether post-Christmas shopping or smoothing those tense nerves with a rejuvenating massage -- Berkeley Springs lives up to its centuries-long reputation as the getaway of choice.

Let's start with all the New Years specials. Most every dining place in town is open on New Years Eve and is planning to go all out to make the transition from 2009 to 2010 a tasty one. We advise reservations just to guarantee no disappointments. Cacapon State Park has a New Years Eve buffet featuring prime rib, flounder, shrimp and asparagus w/ hollandaise -- and it comes with dancing to the live music of The Shades plus a midnight toast. Temptations has become a new favorite eatery in town and is open from breakfast until 10pm on New Years Eve and then again all day on New Years Day. Their house special coconut cake will set the standard for the year to come. Panorama at the Peak has a special New Years Eve dinner planned with a final seating at 8:30pm, but they are taking New Years Day off.

Tari's Cafe celebrates New Years with dinner specials including veal and lobster served until 9pm on New Years Eve and remains open from 11am to 9pm the next day. Lot 12 is one of the best dining places in the region. They remain open all week serving on a rare Monday and Tuesday night, offering a four-course, fixed price dinner on New Years Eve at 6 and 9pm and then closing for the month of January on the 4th. Take the opportunity to dine there now. If sushi is what you crave, you'll have to wait until March when the Rose Cafe reopens.

The Country Inn has a spectacular weekend planned to welcome 2010. Start with the New Years Eve dinner and gala. The four-course dinner is from 5:30 to 8:30pm and then the party starts at 9pm featuring the live band "The Moonlighters" including a toast at midnight followed by a breakfast buffet at 12:30am. There's even more on New Years Day with a lunch buffet featuring slow-roasted pig with all the trimmings.

The Troubadour welcomes in the New Year with a great party featuring the live music of The Tonehounds starting at 9pm. There will be snacks and party favors provided.

One of the most elegant ways to welcome the New Year is at Highlawn Inn with their Silver Service Dinner. This intimate dining opportunity requires reservations. If you are fortunate enough to stay at this award-winning inn, you also get to greet New Years Day with one of Highlawn's spectacular breakfasts.

For the full extent of what there is to eat in Berkeley Springs -- check the dining page.

New Years Day finds a few of our shops closed for the day but most are open. Creekside Creamery is both an eating and shopping opportunity, open New Years Eve until 5pm then closed the next day. The RAG Shop is closed for most of January while owner Trish Shunney recovers from some unplanned surgery. If you are downtown searching for Homeopathy Works, they are no longer operating the retail shop across from the park but have moved everything down to their manufacturing operation at the 522 Business Park. It's easy to order online from their website.

All the spas but the one at Berkeley Springs State Park are open New Years Day -- and everyone will be open daily thereafter so have no fear -- your body can be tuned up for the new year. And, there are plenty of fabulous treatments beyond a dozen types of massage. You can have steams and baths; rubs and scrubs; manicures and pedicures; and other treatments from reflexology to acupuncture. There is a reason Berkeley Springs is the country's first spa -- and it's not just the history; it's what can get done to you now.

There are wonderful places to stay for during the week or weekend from elegant B&Bs in town or the Country Inn to many different country sites including cabins, fully equipped vacation homes and the lodge at Cacapon State Park. Both Cacapon State Park and the Country Inn have lodging packages for New Years that include all the partying.

Make 2010 the year that Berkeley Springs becomes part of your regular getaway plans -- and start at the beginning. Hop in your car today and head to the mountains. Warm water is closer than you think.