China spa reviews
 

As many of you know, spa going is my favorite hobby in China. While I've written about spas in the past, I've never done so in an organized fashion. Given the dearth of info out there about Chinese spas, I am starting this thread so that myself and other spa enthusiasts can share intel.

Jiuhua Spa and Resort
 

Location
In Changping (Beijing), 15 km north of the Lishuiqiao urban rail station. Tel: 6178 2288. Web: www.jiuhua.com.cn

How I found it
I tried to go to one of the places in That’s BJ’s spa listings, but discovered that it was closed for renovations. Since I had already traveled 40 minutes from home, I jumped in taxi and asked him to find me a 温泉. After several stops for directions, we ended up at Jiuhua, which I now understand is relatively famous.

Overview
Jiuhua is a full on resort. It consists of around 50 buildings on a theme-park sized plot of land. It even has its own monorail. There are numerous outdoor hot springs scattered about the grounds and many of the rental villas have private baths.

But, I went to the indoor spa, which is housed in an enormous 11-story building.

Pricing
The door fee was y100 and that included a 45-minute massage or a bathing suit (facilities are coed so bathing suits are required). Room prices start at y200 on week days. (It appears that majority of customers stay over.)


Opulence
(6/10)

My first impressions of the facilities were a bit of letdown. Unlike Morley’s, there wasn’t an abundance of marble, high ceilings, or expensive decor. Additionally, the toiletries were cheap and the service below average. But, I can’t give a place with a monorail a failing grade.

Jacuzzis
(8/10)
My initial skepticism was quickly quelled by the sheer abundance of soaking options. There were around 10 pools with that featured various herbs and spices, including a wine bath, a Himalayan bark bath, and a lemon bath. They also had, what has to be, the coolest pool I have ever seen. It was around 400 square feet and enclosed in a fairly dark cave. There were around 5 of those water lounge chairs. Anyway, I lounged for around 5 minutes (so far, pretty normal experience) and then the attendant hit a switch. Some strobe lights and a siren blared (Chinese spas aren’t quite as serene as their Japanese counterparts). Then, the pool started to drain rapidly; within 3 or 4 minutes, it was completely empty. Next, all of the missing water was dumped back into the pool. I’m glad I still have my contacts.

Saunas
(7/10)
The saunas weren’t too shabby either. Varieties included jade, crystal, red light, herbal medicine, etc. Comparable to Sea Clouds in Shanghai.

Massage
(8/10)
As mentioned previously, my door fee included a 45 minute massage. I went with body since I had done foot the night before. They gave me a small room with a TV that I could watch, even while on my stomach. The massage itself was pretty solid – much better than your average spa and close to Taipan standards. Interestingly, it lasted for close to 90 minutes. I didn’t complain.

Other facilities
(3/10)
Jiuhua’s biggest weakness, in my opinion, was that it really didn’t have any relaxation areas aside from the massage rooms. This is presumably because most people stay overnight and, therefore, relax in their own quarters. The food also looked pretty bad.

Moondog, my wife and I will be in BJ next week, and might want to visit a spa. Since you seem to be our FT resident expert on BJ spas (I've read several of your comments on several places), I would be interested in your recommendation for a couple. Where are the best co-ed facilities? Thanks.

While my spa knowledge is certainly well above average, unfortunately I'm afraid that I've barely scraped the tip of the iceberg insofar as the big picture is concerned (in case you're curious, I'm told that some of the Japanese guidebooks provide decent listings). But, I will say that my research suggests that most of the more interesting coed facilities are to the north (45 minutes to 1.5 hours from here).

If you're not up for that sort of time comitment, you might want to consider a more local option. Very few of these allow coed bathing, but I doubt you'd have any regrets.

Would moondog or others in the know have spa recommendations in Shanghai? Prefer hot tubs and saunas to massages and Japanese style design to elaborate ornaments.

Sea Clouds (near Xujiahui) is my favorite and the Gubei Xiaonanguo (close enough to the airport to hit before or after a flight) is my second favorite.

However, my best spa friend in SH bought a Japanese spa directory about 6 weeks ago, which he has since put to good use. He claims that most of his new discoveries put Sea Clouds to shame. This is saying a lot since he's the guy that introduced me to Sea Clouds.

I just sent him an email and will post his recs here, assuming he replies to me.

Thanks a lot. It's scorching hot today so thinking about a post afternoon nap spa excursion. And if your friend is willing to divulge his secrets I for one would be very delighted.

Does anyone know of a good spa in Guangzhou?

I've heard they have some good ones down there, but have no personal experience. I suggest you ask your concierge for a rec and report back here.

I will be there in October and I will check a few spa's out. I will, like you said, report back here my opinions.

Thats gold Jerry, GOLD!

Regretably, I am posting here today to black-ball Sea Clouds on the grounds of worthless customer service. When I was last there 3 months ago they were renovating my favorite saunas (including the Chinese medicine sauna, which was very cool).

In the absence of these special saunas, Sea Clouds is nothing special so I asked me friend to call them to inquire about the progress of the zhuangshou in advance of our visit today). They told him all was well. However, it turned out that the cool saunas were still blocked off.

In spite of our disappointment, we stuck around for 3 hours because we had traveled half-way across town to get there and were sans-yifu (and shoes, of course).

Upon check-out, we tried to get some money back or future coupons as compensation for the lie that led us there, but were completely shut out by a woman that claimed to be the manager, yet had no authority to do anything.

If you're in the area, you might as well check it out because it is cool, but it no longer has my seal of approval.

I'll try and ask around for an authentic 24h Korean sauna if that exists in the Shanghai area. The local modest sauna/spa/golf range complex near our manufacturing plant in Suzhou didn't survive the hot summer, RIP. :td:

Spent a good part of yesterday with an old Korean friend in the Hongciao area of Shanghai. Post-lunch and pre-dinner activities were limited to a rather leisurely meeting and then a few hours in a splendid local Korean sauna/spa called New Star.

It's located on South Jinhui Rd. and tel number is 021- 34 34 17 17

The clean and pleasant sauna premises are on the first floor. As you enter shoes are collected against the locker key (with complimentary polishing) and then it's onwards to the respective cabins.

Two saunas, dry and steam, three pools (40c, 45c and Jacuzzi), Korean style cold rainforest shower, good shower area, massage area and barbershop are on this floor.

The second, rest, floor has various sleeping areas, PC area, cinema and tv rooms with slumber sofas, foot massage room and coffeeshop. All of this in pyjamas provided by the house.

Next to the entrance/exit there is also a Korean restaurant with a good assortment of teas and juices.

You pay for services by signing a bill with your key number and then pay at the exit when leaving the premises. After paying you get your polished shoes back against the receipt.

The spa at the Beijing InterContinental hotel is excellent, but a bit overpriced.

Ritz
 

I've tried the spa at the Intercontinental and Westin. But their neighbor, the Ritz Carlton has them both beat. The Ritz has perhaps the finest wet facilities of any spa in the city. Everything is oversized so you will never feel cramped here. Great service too and probably the highest prices. ;)

I especially love the jacuzzi beds. I've never seen this anywhere else. You have the normal jacuzzi basin, then you have these molded recliners with jets built into them. So you lay down and relax and the jets pummel your body, mostly on the back and shoulders. The only drawback is that like every other hotel outside of Japan, the jacuzzi isn't hot enough. The steam and sauna however are hot enough and well sized.

They gym is nice and well equipped and the pool is good too. To me this ranks very well with the Grand Hyatt for the best hotel fitness spa facility. The GH has a better pool of course and has yoga classes, but the Ritz is better in most other ways.