These spa shops are hidden in downtown areas, so you may fail to find them very often. Their distinctive characteristics, however, have attracted numerous people to come and enjoy a spa there repeatedly. Therefore, maybe you'd better get to know them now.

I.O SPA

The purest Turkish bath

There is an ordinary-looking iron door on the south of the nearby east gate of the Workers' Stadium and just inside the door there is an arch bridge. On the other side of the bridge, you’ll find an independent four-storey tower surrounded by the bridge, a brook and some weeping willows, with a style of the Yangtze River Delta. It is the I.O SPA private club. Some said the Turkish hamam treatment there is the purest inBeijingor even the wholeAsiaand it is even difficult to find a hamam in Turk that is so accordant with the hamam tradition.

After entering the steam room, you’ll find that every part of the room has the same temperature as it maintains a high temperature of 41.5 degrees Celsius all year round. Before the start of the treatment, you lie down on a warm marble bed and a therapist will help you remove the horniness on your body first, and then clean your body with shower gel and essential oil foams. You will feel extremely comfortable with the soft and smooth foams on your body. During the course of the treatment, the therapist repeatedly splashes water that is a bit cooler onto your body to stimulate it with warm and cold wateralternately, which is believed to be very helpful for the functions of your heart and lungs.

After the bath, you can select a kind of essential oil and enjoy a massage in a suite. The experienced Malaysian therapists, who have inherited the techniques of South Asian massages, will make you relaxed soon. The 13 theme suites absorb the cultural essence of spas from different countries, such asFrance,Italy,BelgiumandIndonesia. What is especially worth mentioning is the Egyptian-style soul bathtub that perfectly imitates the shape of the pyramids and a one-million-yuan worth of super luxury water bed, which is the first and only of its kind in mainlandChina. TheUnited States’ former president Gorge W. Bush used a similar one in a White House bathroom.

You can have a break or open the window and have a look at the small bridge over the flowing stream outside the bathroom after the massage. The Buffalo Stone restaurant downstairs also features a good environment and an impressive flavor, making it an ideal place for dates. What is more, the roof garden, with an open-air swimming pool and a unique birdcage-like bathroom in it, is absolutely a novel choice for private parties.

It is located at 150 meters to the south of the east gate of the Workers' Stadium in Changyang District. Tel: 6553 1666.

Other highlights: waterbed floatation and massage services offered at a price of RMB2,300 per 120 minutes, a fantastic way to relax and cure insomnia; the French-style Bonheur room with the minimum charge of RMB5,000, a private holiday paradise where you can make an appointment for all the treatment procedures and accommodation.

Zen SPA

Zen SPA

Asian customs in a quadrangle courtyard

You can never realize that ZenSPA is a spa club if you don’t walk into its yard. With a city moat in front of its gate and some bamboo outside its yard, the quadrangle courtyard is filled with a fresh yet classical temperament, reminding you of a royal house of the past or a celebrity's former residence. There is a tranquil pool with flowing water in the yard, reflecting the green tiles, red corridors, blue sky, white clouds and some thin and short trees. This view can calm you down quickly.

It’s most distinctive, mixed Asian-style relaxation massage may be a good choice for you if you know little about it before you enter the yard. In the simple but classic rooms, with all the windows blocked and all the light coming from well-controlled lamps, you will become sleepy to some extent before the start of the massage you are going to enjoy. A Thai therapist will come in after you have had a bath on the floor paved with cobblestones and then the treatment begins.

The Asian blended massage manipulation combines the hand forms of press, knead, push, seize, point, and pinch of traditional Chinese, Thai and Japanese massage therapy. You can feel the forces of Thai massage with the stimulation of related points of the body of Chinese massage style and with the pressure on internal organs of Japanese massage style.After the combined massage treatment, your muscle soreness and fatigue will disappear and you will feel comfortable. After massage, you can also enjoy a pot of Thai bunga raya tea, which can purge your bowels and retaincomplexion.

No. 1 Yard,8A

Xiaowuji Road

Other special treatments: The Summer Detox Spa Package: 30 minutes of brown sugar body scrub aromatherapy, 30 minutes of traditional Thai herbal bath, and 60 minutes of detox aromatherapy massage. With the original price of RMB1,400, the package is now available with the price of RMB980 before August 31st. In addition, the special treatments of traditional Thai massage and the Javan royal massage are also worth a try.

I Spa

I Spa

The authentic Thai style

The newly opened Gulou branch of I SPA is located at the ground floor of Gehua New Century Hotel Beijing between the Bridge of Gulou and the Bridge of An Hua. Entering the shop, you will feel yourself shut off from the outside world with an exotic expression intended to be left by each I SPA shop to its guests: completely Thai style décor, furnishings of Thai style, the steady elephant statues or the niches for Buddhist statues. As for roses, you can never find a more romantic place than here, with vases full of roses and bed, bathtub as well as bathroom full of rose petals. To meet the demand for roses, one truck of roses has to be delivered to the shop each morning.

In summer, we recommend you to enjoy a body scrub treatment to remove the horniness on your body plus a I SPA exclusive massage session (RMB628 for 90 minutes or RMB2008 for 4.5 hours), which can make you enjoy the ultimate comfort. After reservation, the front desk staff will help select the proper body scrub for you, such as wine anti-aging and green tea cleansing scrubs; you can also select your own home massage essential oil, such as rose and relaxing essential oil. After the petal foot bath, you lie back on the massage table with a flower right under your face. With the horniness and scrubs washed away, the exclusive massage starts. Without any special massage manipulation, just the atmosphere with the slow speed of massage will make you into a state of hypnosis to turn these 90 minutes to an exclusive relaxing time for you.

After the massage session is over, the therapist will retreat quietly with the door closed, with you left on the table to indulge in the pleasure time. When opening your eyes, you will find the refreshments and sweat water beside you. You can provide your best friend’s contact information in the feedback card, and I SPA will offer her a surprise for you. By the way, I SPA also has a Chinese name of “Tai Mei Hao”.

1F, Gehua New Century HotelBeijing, 19 Gulouwai Dajie (Tel.6202 8888 to 6666)

Other special treatments: The I SPA general manger has also recommended special treatment for male guests, which includes 90 minute body massage during the middle way of which a session of facial treatment by a second therapist, and if the guest has more free time, he can also enjoy a session of petal bath before the massage to enjoy the ultimate relaxation. This treatment is the favorite among many business executives.

ESPA – A blissful experience of the mind and body

If you want to enjoy the ultimate sensual experience for body and mind, ESPA Spa at the Peninsula Beijing is a definite must visit.

After the reservation time is set, the spa’s service person will remind that you should come one hour earlier to indulge yourself in the cold and hot bath facilities and to relax and reduces muscle soreness so that your body and mind will be prepared for the coming treatment. Once entering the spa center, you can receive a comprehensive and thoughtful consultation while drinking the favorite herbal tea. The therapist trained by the ESPA headquarters in UK will first ask about your recent physical conditions and skin characters and then decide the treatment details tailored for you.

With the soothing and melodious music, as well as the incense in the air selected by the therapist, you just lie on the world famous Clodagh Gemini fully automatic massage table, which is created by renowned designer Clodagh in partnership with Oakworks and offers a variety of positioning capabilities according to your body curves.

During the treatment, you can feel the magic hands of the therapist with appropriate forces applied on each part of your body as if he could read your thoughts. Followed by the traditional Chinese holistic philosophies, combined with the traditional Chinese massage and the foot massage, the treatment based on the balance of nature can bring you a deeply peaceful experience to refresh yourself without any pressure and tension from travelling and busy work.

To ensure the tranquil and isolated environment, each treatment room is equipped with self-contained air-conditioning system to avoid the interference of noise and incense from adjoining rooms. In addition, each room is designed as a multi-function room to offer both facial treatment and all kinds of body treatments.

8 Jing Yu Hu Tong, Peninsula Hotel, Wangfujing, Beijing

Other special treatments: Just as the traditional Chinese massage, the tepid jade massage is also an innovated body treatment offered by ESPA especially for the Peninsula Beijing. The half-day spa journey package of luxuriating is now available form Monday to Thursday for only RMB1,300 per guest, includingbody scrub, massage and western foods with access to spa facilities and the swimming pool.

Oasis Beauty offers the ultimate floral experience

You may not head of Oasis Beauty, but you must hear of H2O. The Oasis Beauty spa at Sun Dong An Plaza is a spa shop run by the famous cosmetic band H2O. The spa shop is not large but very popular as a premium beauty shop recommended by many fashion magazines. The most unique care service is the Treatment of Five Senses. The skilled professional therapist will find the weakest sense among your five senses including sight, smell, taste, touch and mind based on your body’s skin conditions, and then provide you with recommended treatment and selected essential oil, such as Australian grape seed oil and detox purifying essential oil.

The care services such as the classic body lymph detox treatment are very popular, with tow options of RMB380 for 50 minutes and RMB520 for 80 minutes.

Before the treatment, the therapist will arrange a cup of selected scented tea for you and wash her hands with scented water. With the flower massage oil, the whole treatment process will be immersed in the light scent of flower. The facial treatment and slimming treatment here are more famous and many celebrities often visit the Oasis Beauty spa shop in Hong Kong.

Rm 803, Tower 2, Sun Dong An Plaza, 138 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District (Tel. 6522 8699)

2F, Shin Kong Place, 87 Jian Guo Road, Chaoyang District (Tel. 6228 5511)

Comfort Zone brings Italian SPA home

With a simple yet sophisticated Italian design style, Comfort Zone has been selected by the world’s best spa resorts and premium hotels. Now, the pas has opened its own spa shop at Sanlitun, which is also its first flagship shop in the world. The active components in the products of Comfort Zone are extracted from the nature through high technology, and then combined with its unique body care processes with renewable energy, which can effectively restore the balance of elements in your skin and recover the anti-oxidation functions.

For example, the tranquil fragrance care product now available in the shop contains essential oil of mixing formula with rose, palmarosa, cedar and vanilla, which can reduce pressure and nourish the body with massage treatment. In addition, each product series of Comfort Zone is composed of professional skin care products and household care products, thus you can also enhance the treatment effect at home after the holistic spa treatment at the shop. During the Father’s Day promotion, the male’s space moisturizing emollient cream and cleansing lotion with original price of RMB850 will be available with the price of only RMB650.