Day Spas

Day Spas

As deeply as Prague can nourish the mind and the soul with its splendor, intellectual traditions, and arts, it can be also be punishing on the body. Miles of cobblestones pummel your soles while sightseeing, and plates of heavy fried food washed down by a platoon of beers in smoke-filled pubs can make your system protest. Recreational spas are becoming increasingly popular.

Relaxation therapies abound in the soothing spa Cybex (Hilton Prague, Pobrezní 1, Karlín. 224-842-375. www.cybexprg.cz. Line B or C: Florenc). Treatments leave you feeling like an item on the menu at some posh restaurant: duck in here to be rolled in yogurt and mud, smeared with mint gel or various oils, have your hide rubbed with salt or pummeled with stones. Prices are steep by Prague standards, starting at 1,200 Kc for a massage, but the range of facilities matches up.

Turn over your jet-lag aches and pains to the hands of experts from southeast Asia at Sabai Studio (Slovanský dum, Na Príkope 22, Staré Mesto. 221-451-180. www.sabai.cz. Line B: Nám. Republiky) inside a shiny shopping center. Thai massage costs 990 Kc an hour; aroma massage, 1,290 Kc.

Overhaul your energy lines in the very center of the city. Thai World (Celetná 6, Staré Mesto. 224-817-247. www.thaiworld.cz. Line B: Nám. Republiky) offers Thai (600 Kc per hour), foot (600 Kc), or oil (835 Kc) massages to the weary.