Arvana Spa – Surry Hills, Sydney

Hello folks,

Ever been to Thailand and had a massage? Do you wish you could have one again? Well now you don’t have to go all the way there to experience some luxury, sure you’re not paying in Thai Baht, but you saved on the airfare at least.

Anyways, we thought we should share this lovely spa with you if you’re in metro Sydney. We’ve now been three times and every time we walk out feeling pretty good and very relaxed. If you enjoy pampering yourself once in a while, it’s definitely worth a try. The service is very efficient and friendly and they have a room for couples, friends or pairs of any sort really, which is great for a gift/treat! The music takes you to another world the aromas lull you into a sleepy daze, while you enjoy the expertise of the Arvana masseuse! You also get tea on arrival and another on completion of your treatment, as well as, a hot towel.

If you’re savvy you can usually also find some of those group discount vouchers, generally something along the lines of $49 for 80 mins, which is pretty good! Their prices are otherwise reasonable for that special treat. Ant and I usually try to make it there at least four times a year as a little present to ourselves every quarter for some relaxation and regeneration. A great wellness treat, though you can’t claim this on any health benefits.

They are currently based on Elizabeth St but will be moving and starting on the 1 Jan 2012 you can find them at:

648 Crown St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
T:+61 2 9698 8100

Open 7 Days
from 10am to 10pm.

http://www.arvanaspa.com.au/

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Endota spa – Martin Place

I received a lovely Spa package gift at Endota spa from Ant, this included a 4 hour treatment for Ant, my mum and myself. Endota has locations all over Australia, but this particular one was located at Martin Place in Sydney in the old GPO. It is located with a hairdresser occupying one quadrant of a square space.

We were running slightly behind schedule so were a bit rushed, but the outside building is beautiful, a hint of a time gone by in one of the older buildings in Sydney. When we arrived we had to wait for a few minutes before we were attended to. Once we were seen to we were taken to a small waiting room, which I was hoping would really give me a sense of relaxation but it was fairly small and we were given clipboards and client cards to fill out. This was done fairly quickly and we had little time to sit and relax (mostly our fault). After we met our beauticians we were whisked around the building to a large room, since we had specified a shared room. This was probably a bad idea as the room looked a little cramped and was not particularly appealing visually. We had actually walked around in almost a full circle as the spa is situated as a square – this was rather detrimental to the actual relaxation since we would later be able to hear all the chatter and hair drying going on in the hairdresser next to us.

The package itself was good; I thoroughly enjoyed the body scrub and facial, but did find the foot bath and massage a little lacking. The foot bath was quite short, we didn’t get to relax the feet much and the scrub was done in about five to ten minutes. I also found it was a little long lying down for 4 hours and I could have done with some water or liquid during the treatment. I could have asked but thought this should have been catered for without request.

I enjoyed the day, but found some things could have been better. Particularly with the bad soundproofing, you could hear everything going on outside.

I would probably recommend shorter treatments and perhaps not doing the package with more than two people. It would have been better in a room that was further from the hairdressers, but I do have to ask the logic of having a hairdresser on the premises as it does break the serenity; the space would have better served as a larger waiting room.

Highlights

• Customer service was excellent when we were attended. They allocated good time to rotate between treatments and were timely for each part of the package.
• The body scrub was refreshing and hot bath was great, we were allowed try/use products to shower/wash our hair.
• I enjoyed the luxury of being able to change robes and towels during the course of the package.

Overall rating

Ease of location – 5/5

Set up of room – 2/5 (due to the poor soundproofing)

Relaxation 3/5 – although I dozed off several times, it would have been nicer without the external sound, also if I had remembered to turn off my mobile phone.

Overall satisfaction with package 3.5/5

 

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