New York City is home to some of the most luxurious spas in the country, and there’s one for every appetite. Relax poolside with an Aperol spritz in hand at the QC NY Spa, escape the city noise for a day of serenity at Aman or feel at one with nature at the Bamford Wellness Spa.
But it’s not only the atmosphere that makes these spas indulgent; it’s also the treatments. From a diamond-powder facial to an ice bath that promises to soothe sore muscles, the treatments in these spas are experiences worth seeking out. Read on to plan your next spa day.
Courtesy, Aire Ancient Baths
Aire Ancient Baths
When you’re looking for: an escape in the middle of Tribeca
What to expect: With a candlelight atmosphere and lingering orange blossom scent, Aire Ancient Baths is all about tranquility. This spa, inspired by the baths of ancient civilizations but located in an old textile factory, is known for its six thermal pools of varying temperatures, including a cold plunge at 46 degrees Fahrenheit and a saltwater bath at 97 degrees. In addition, Aire offers steam rooms, as well as traditional massages, face masks and body wraps, which you can book in between bathing.
Don’t leave without trying: While the baths are the star, Aire’s spa packages are equally worth attention. The Signature Wine Experience ($679), for example, includes a 30-minute private wine soak along with a cranial and full-body massage. Bath access is included with the experience.
Price range: $183–$679 for a single package; couples’ packages are also available.
Courtesy, QC NY Spa
QC NY Spa
When you’re looking for: a spa day that feels like an Urban Oasis
What to expect: Located on Governors Island (a short ferry ride from Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge Park or Red Hook), QC NY Spa presents its wellness offerings against the stunning backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Explore the many relaxation rooms, like the fireplace room where you can lounge in cozy chairs with the sound of a crackling fire or the upside-down room with giant floor pillows to lay on. Or cycle through the five saunas and two steam rooms, trying out the lotions and creams that are available everywhere you turn. But the true draw of QC? The year-round outdoor pools, with jets, underwater music and panoramic views. This spa is more of a social scene, so it’s best to go with friends, grab a few drinks at the café (which serves juices and cocktails, plus food) and hit the pool.
Don’t leave without trying: Everything. Arrive on time so you can leisurely experience the pools, lounge in all the relaxation rooms and hop between the steam rooms and saunas.
Price range: Entry from $98–$124; massages start at $100.
Bamford Wellness Spa at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
When you’re looking for: a holistic experience in Brooklyn
What to expect: Located in the chic 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, the Bamford Wellness Spa is the namesake of Carole Bamford, an English beauty and lifestyle expert focused on organic products and sustainable living. When you walk in, you’re instantly transported to the English countryside, with rustic interiors and nature elements. The spa menu is filled with massages, body polishes and facials––all with a holistic approach.
Don’t leave without trying: The signature 1 Hotel Experience treatment ($400) begins with a breathing meditation and ends with a body and head massage that combines Japanese, Chinese, Swedish and Indian techniques to leave you feeling restored.
Price range: Massages and facials start at $220; packages from $220–$470.
The Spa at the Mandarin Oriental
When you’re looking for: a calming retreat overlooking Central Park
What to expect: Tradition and modernity come together at the 14,500-square-foot spa at the Mandarin Oriental. The interiors are influenced by Japanese, Chinese and Thai cultures, with natural stone and bamboo floors, but also have a modern touch, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows looking over Central Park and out to the Hudson River. Amenities include a 75-foot lap pool, a fitness center and a tea lounge. Treatments use aromatherapy, ancient practices and a wide range of other techniques to help you unwind and feel restored.
Don’t leave without trying: The menu extends into specialized packages, such as the Digital Wellness Escape ($260–$280), which focuses on areas of the body that are strained by using technology, including the head, neck, shoulders, hands and feet.
Price range: $250–$735
Great Jones Spa
When you’re looking for: a relaxing escape in Noho
What to expect: You can absolutely come to this cool, dark and peaceful NoHo spa for its classic treatments like aromatherapy massages, HydraFacials and body scrubs. But what makes Great Jones Spa special is its water lounge—complete with a three-story waterfall, cold-plunge pool and whirlpool—plus a eucalyptus-scented steam room and river rock sauna, all of which you can use within two hours of your treatment. Hot tip: The water lounge is free with any treatment that’s over $100.
Don’t leave without trying: Great Jones’ signature massage combines hot stones, hot towels and aromatherapy with Swedish massage techniques ($195–$275).
Price range: Body treatments and massages, $175–$275; nail services, $40–$105; waxing services start at $15.
Courtesy, The Rockaway Hotel + Spa
The Rockaway Hotel + Spa
When you’re looking for: a beachy vibe in Queens
What to expect: Enjoy relaxing seaside vibes all year round at this spa in Rockaway, Queens. You’ll smell the salty air from the beach just steps away the moment you arrive. The space is airy and modern with luxurious treatments inspired by the ocean. Think: aloe and seaweed body wraps and hyaluronic marine moisture facials. If you come from November to April, you can enjoy the hotel’s heated pool, outdoor saunas and winter pool house, a cozy lounge complete with faux-fur chairs and blankets. You can even add on short treatments, such as a 30-minute neck or scalp massage.
Don’t leave without trying: Take a look at the seasonal specials available during your visit for truly one-of-a-kind treatments. Currently, the CBD Herbal Bliss Treatment ($260) includes a 30-minute herbal body scrub, followed by a 50-minute CBD massage.
Price range: Winter pool house day passes from $30–$80, with add-on treatments from $45-$75; body treatments, $170–$260.
Spa De La Mer at the Baccarat Hotel
Spa De La Mer at the Baccarat Hotel
When you’re looking for: an A-list experience just off Fifth Avenue
What to expect: When you hear “Baccarat Hotel” and “La Mer” together, you know it’ll be luxurious. Inside the crystal-adorned Baccarat Hotel lies the first spa by renowned luxury skin-care brand La Mer. Like the hotel, Spa De La Mer exudes elegance, with Baccarat crystal light fixtures in every room, marble countertops and a sea-inspired aesthetic. Treatments have a bio-fermentation focus and all use La Mer products. In between treatments, you can relax by the pool, which is itself a showstopper, with a dramatic checkerboard tile.
Don’t leave without trying: You can’t go wrong with anything by La Mer, but the facials are a standout. Our recommendations: La Mer Baccarat facial ($355–$445), which includes a diamond-powder exfoliation, and the Miracle Broth facial ($375–$445), which uses La Mer’s popular Miracle Broth to smooth and moisturize the skin.
Price range: Facials from $285–$975.
Courtesy, Shibui Spa at the Greenwich Hotel
Shibui Spa at the Greenwich Hotel
When you’re looking for: a spa day that makes you feel grounded in nature
What to expect: Visiting the Shibui Spa in Tribeca feels like a spiritual journey during which modern meets tradition to leave you grounded and balanced. Shibui roughly translates as “rich yet understated beauty,” and this spa embodies that ethos in its interiors and treatments. You’ll notice the influence of Japanese design all around, from the beautiful lantern-lit heated swimming pool to the wood paneling reclaimed from a 250-year wooden and bamboo farmhouse imported from Japan. The spa’s relaxation lounge is another place to further unwind. At Shibui Spa, nature plays a big role in the experience, be it the earth-toned interiors or the plant-based products.
Don’t leave without trying: In Shibui’s Signature Massage omakase ($430–$615), a therapist creates a customized session, employing stones, dry brushing and other techniques as needed to destress, relieve pain points and reenergize the body, mind and spirit.
Price range: Facials from $225–770; massages, $280–$615.
Courtesy, The Spa at the Equinox Hotel
The Spa at the Equinox Hotel
When you’re looking for: a modern, innovative spa experience in Hudson Yards
What to expect: Much like any Equinox gym, the spa is sleek and minimalist, with innovative, recovery-based treatments like cryotherapy, infrared sauna and even LED plasma light therapy. Its five-circuit approach organizes treatments around beauty, performance healing, temperature therapy, inner body and sleep, so guests feel good in every aspect of their well-being. The luxury gym group puts its health and wellness expertise at the forefront of the rich spa menu, with treatments created by a leading plastic surgeon and acupuncturist.
Don’t leave without trying: The brightening, pore-refining Gold Collagen Facial ($350), designed by plastic surgeon Lara Devgan, combines techniques like deep tissue lymphatic massage and microdermabrasion exfoliation with ingredients like niacinamide-fortified hyaluronic serum and vitamin C to support collagen and reduce the appearance of fine lines.
Price range: Cryotherapy from $60–$70; infrared sauna, $45–$65; facials, $325–$625
Courtesy, Aman Spa New York
Aman Spa New York
When you’re looking for: indulgent, personalized treatment
What to expect: Housed in the first home of the Museum of Modern Art, the Aman Spa New York, open to guests of the hotel and Aman Club members, redefines luxury with exclusive offerings that make you feel like you’re worlds away from Fifth Avenue. It spans three floors and 25,000 square feet, and amenities include a 20-meter heated pool, two private spa houses (a marble hammam or wood-clad banya), a Pilates studio, a cryotherapy chamber, a fitness center and more. Traditional treatments like massages, wraps and scrubs are complemented by choices tailored to your personal goals, with enhancements like vitamin infusions. In fact, this spa puts wellness and longevity first by providing a complementary wellness assessment and health consultation for each guest.
Don’t leave without trying: For the ultimate experience, book the hammam or banya spa house. Each offers a double treatment room, a spacious living area with a fireplace and a large private outdoor terrace with a hot bath and cold-plunge pool.
Price range: Call or email the wellness concierge at Aman to customize your spa experience.
Bathhouse. Photo: Adrian Gaut
Bathhouse
When you’re looking for: a chill, restorative spa haven in Brooklyn
What to expect: With locations in Williamsburg and now the Flatiron District, Bathhouse is ideal for relaxing on something resembling a budget. The Brooklyn facility is in an old industrial factory and features thermal pools, saunas (your choice of dry or tropical) and the Starlight Steam Room (which feels like a rave) for guests to bounce around. There’s a menu of massages and scrubs to add on as well.
Don’t leave without trying: The Hero’s Journey package ($340–$355) allows you to have both a full-body massage and hammam scrub for an all-inclusive, sensory experience.
Price range: Day passes from $47; treatments, $130–$235.
Remedy Place
When you’re looking for: an exclusive social wellness club in Flatiron
What to expect: Remedy Place bills itself as a “social wellness club” where members can not only practice self-care but also make human connections. The club has an open layout with tons of couches and seating to encourage socializing. Its warm-toned furnishings make the space feel exclusive and luxurious (like if you were at a members-only club). Head downstairs and that’s where the magic happens. Unlike traditional spas with facials and scrubs on the menu, Remedy Place calls its services “remedies.” There’s also cryotherapy, an infrared sauna, a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and more to help members heal, relax their bodies and feel their best inside and out.
Don’t leave without trying: The ice bath studio is a popular remedy ($50). You start by completing 11 minutes of breath work to prepare your mind before you submerge yourself in a tub of 39 degree Fahrenheit water. You’ll feel more resilient and rejuvenated.
Price range: $50–$600 for nonmembers; memberships begin at $350 per month.
