Two Ways to Go

Two ways to go: Asian v European spas

You can "take the waters" in World Heritage spas, or succumb to lavish treatments involving the likes of gold-flake-infused oil. It's a hard choice, but our experts are here to help.

Two Ways to Go

Two ways to go: Asian v European spas

By Amy Cooper and Mal Chenu

Updated April 1, 2025, first published February 3, 2023

You can "take the waters" in World Heritage spas, or succumb to lavish treatments involving the likes of gold-flake-infused oil. It's a hard choice, but our experts are here to help.

ASIAN SPAS

By Amy Cooper

Let's start with the spa wars origin story. In ancient Asian cultures, what we call "wellness" was a way of life. Massage and meditation, mind, body, spirit - that was how they rolled. And kneaded and rubbed. Meanwhile, in a galaxy far away to the west, spas were prescribed for the ailing and afflicted: wounded Roman soldiers, malingering aristocrats, Tuberculosis-stricken factory workers recovering from the industrial revolution in Swiss sanatoria.

Get exclusive travel tips, hidden gems & expert insights: delivered to your inbox

Asian spas were holistic; Western spas were curative. And you can still feel that difference. To me, those big old European bathhouses with their tiled chambers and spooky corridors still emanate strong institutional vibes. When I last visited one, the therapist wore a white coat and the look of someone who'd prefer to be performing lobotomies. Nurse Ratched would have approved.

Last time I was in a Thai spa, I had a treatment called The Voyage of Golden Lanna, with specially composed music therapy and 90 minutes of bliss from two sets of hands and fragrant oil infused with pure gold flakes. I was outdoors, amid birdsong and blossoms. Afterwards, I snoozed on a bed of silk cushions, soothed by perfumed teas. I felt like an empress pampered in a palace, not a patient admitted to a clinic.

Blissing out in Thailand.

Asian spa culture loves the lavish, but it's shaped by spirituality and tradition. Ayurveda, aromatherapy, acupressure and reflexology all hail from the East. They've spread to spas around the world - but wouldn't you rather enjoy them at the source, where delivery of a transcendental foot massage is considered an essential life skill?

Asia has all euphoria's raw materials, too: exotic oils, tropical fruits, heady flowers, coconut, pungent herbs and spices. Cinnamon and turmeric for massaging your muscles the Malay way on the island spa at Pangkor Laut. A revitalising soak of lemons, oranges and pandan leaves at Bali's Fivelements Ubud. And the flowers! I'd rather bask in hibiscus, ylang ylang, lotus, frangipani and jasmine petals than brine myself like a dill pickle in a salt tub.

At traditional Euro bathhouses, at least you know what you're getting into. [Spoiler: it's water]

The balmy South-East Asian climates allow spas in lush jungles, by tropical beaches and in overwater pavilions above azure oceans - locations so idyllic you're blissed out before you even begin. Song Saa Private Island in Cambodia is an open-air "spa with no walls". Malaysia's The Datai Langkawi is surrounded by 10-million-year-old rainforest. Asian spas indulge all your senses. They're imbued with ritual and spirituality, but they get the job done, too. A thorough working over from a Balinese or Thai massage therapist makes the Swedish alternative feel like a tickle from a limp herring. And for as little as $40 for 60 minutes, the cost is the most soul-enriching part of all. In Europe that wouldn't even buy you half an enema from Nurse Ratched.

EUROPEAN SPAS

By Mal Chenu

These days every hotel, resort or cruise ship worth its salts offers a "spa experience". Relaxing? Sure. Authentic? Not so much. Travelling for a genuine spa experience means heading to Europe, where it all began. The Romans knew the benefits of medicinal bathing and found time between pillaging and enslaving for a nice rejuvenating soak.

The word "spa" comes from the Belgian town of the same name, where the world's first health resort was built around the natural mineral springs. To this day, the therapeutic benefit of "taking the waters" is so revered that in 2021, 11 towns - including Spa - were officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Great Spas of Europe. These included Bath (of course) in England, Vichy in France, Baden bei Wien in Austria, Baden-Baden in Germany, Montecatini Terme in Italy, and three unpronounceable towns in the Czech Republic.

Bohemian bath culture in Budapest. Pictures: Getty Images

Beyond these venerated super-spas, there's the bohemian Budapest bath culture, the hot tubs of Herzegovina, the steamy saunas of Scandinavia, the thermal pools of Iceland and the Turkish delight of hammams. Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic states all boast spa towns - and cultures - dating back centuries.

In short, there are more places to get naked (check the signs first) and have a soak in Europe than you can poke a... Well, you get the idea. And most are hot springs, so shrinkage isn't an issue.

European spas typically sit in the middle of lovely old town centres and are contained in and/or overlook magnificent heritage buildings. Bathers in Bath can survey the Georgian town from the rooftop pool at Thermae Bath Spa. Floaters at Friedrichsbad spa in Baden Baden can sink into marble pools under towering domed ceilings flanked by Roman sculptures and frescoes.

At traditional Euro bathhouses, at least you know what you're getting into. [Spoiler: it's water]. New-fangled Asian day spas where your yin and yang yearn for ylang-ylang are no substitute. You can charge up your chi with acupuncture, crystal healing, windchimes, gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, seaweed wraps, kombucha facials, ramen soup baths, carp pedicures, heated stones on your chakras and ginseng, turmeric and bear bile body scrubs with a pan flute backing track as much as you like, but any relaxation is likely to be countered by the anxiety of knowing the last few molecules of your paper spa panties are losing their structural integrity.

So as you sit in your fluffy robe in the recovery room, sipping your goji berry herbal tea, praying for the pan flute to stop and wishing you didn't smell like something tonight's dinner should be basting in, remember to next time heed UNESCO's advice and head to a Great Spa Town of Europe instead.