As part of a feature on new spa openings around the world, Joanna Booth looks at some of the strangest baths, facials and massages out there
A nice massage, the odd hot stone here or there, maybe some reiki at a push. You used to know where you were with spa treatments, but no longer. Here’s a selection of the strangest out there.
Baths
Plunge into a bath of beer in the Czech Republic. The Hotel U Sladka in Chodova Plana will even give you a glass of the stuff to sip so you don’t resort to swigging your bathwater.
Soak in the beverage of your choice at the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun hot springs spa resort in Japan. Will you opt for sake, green tea, red wine, coffee, or perhaps a ramen noodle bath, which contains garlic extract?
Probably not to be recommended for asthmatics, but the Hotel Heubad in northern Italy offers hay baths. You’re wrapped in hot, wet hay and laid out on a waterbed kept at 40C. Essential oils from the hay are then massaged into the skin, and are said to combat joint and muscle pain.
Facials
For a sweet option choose the chocolate facial at the Aquapura Douro Valley resort in Portugal. High in antioxidants and full of moisturising cocoa butter, it seems chocolate is actually good for you – but only when smeared on your skin.
Putting bird poo on your face might sound odd, but Japanese geishas have known for centuries of the skin-brightening properties of nightingale excrement. At the Shizuka Spa in New York you can try it for yourself, with the droppings powdered and sanitised by UV light.
Massages
The Hotel Cipriani in Venice is offering a 40-minute massage on a gondola. The oils have a high SPF so you don’t get sunburnt, but you may feel the heat of hundreds of eyes checking you out as you float around the canals.
Being massaged with a cactus doesn’t sound the slightest bit relaxing, but that’s just what’s on offer at the Four Seasons Punta Mita in Mexico. They remove the spines from the nopal cactus paddles before using them to apply a liquid made from cactus and agave. Apparently this drains toxins and rehydrates the skin.
