6 Very Unusual Spa Offerings That You May Not Find Relaxing

At Yunnessen Spa in Japan, you can literally bathe in wine—something I have wanted to do for many years now. While drinking the wine at the establishment’s Red Wine Spa is not advised (unfortunately for me), you can certainly reap its skin rejuvenating qualities. Visitors will also find a Green Tea Spa onsite where you can relax in, you guessed it, a lot of green tea. If you’re looking for something a little livelier upon visiting, check out the large, sea-themed pool—God’s Aegean Sea—with an “illuminated fountain show” with music takes place every 30 minutes.

I won’t say “common,” but there are more of these types of spas across Europe than you may think. If you’re looking for a place to start, the “Original Beer Spa” in Prague—there are two locations throughout the country—offer oak tubs filled with “the natural extracts used to brew Czech Krušovice beer.” The libation is reported to contain vitamins and enzymes that will help regenerate your skin, remove toxins from the body, and (generally) put you at ease. Naturally, you can also drink beer while you’re soaking. Additionally, the spa has a wide selection of beer cosmetics for purchase that are great for skin recovery.

Hotel Heubad has a spa that will wrap you in hay. How do you feel about that? Well, you should feel good because hay baths in this region of the country have been used for detoxifying and purifying the human body for more than a century. The treatment is said to improve skin health, stimulate metabolism, and strengthen the immune system. Per the hotel’s website, the process is as such: you’ll spend 15-20 minutes wrapped up in warm and damp hay, followed by a relaxing, sedentary moment in a lounger—it’s recommended you get a partial massage during this time.

Listen, setting yourself on fire for a wrinkle-free complexion isn’t ideal. Or is it? While initially all the rage a few years ago, it seems this health and wellness fad has somewhat stuck around. Fire additionally plays a very important part in aiding circulation and preventing diseasing-causing organisms from penetrating both your corporeal form and your mind. The procedure begins with herbal products being spread on the area of your body you feel that’s in need of the most attention—the back is a common request (effects the treatment has had on spinal cord disorders have been particularly noted). Next, the area is covered in a towel that’s been soaked in alcohol. And, finally, the towel is lit.

The Hotel Hershey—that’s right, like Hershey chocolate—offers a bevy of chocolate-themed relaxation methods. We’re talking a Chocolate Fondue Wrap, a Cocoa Massage (think your standard Swedish massage with chocolate-scented oil), and the Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Immersion, which features a “strawberry parfait scrub.”

Similar to the above-mentioned in that snakes aren’t initially a common go-to in order to calm your nerves (for me, at least), this reptile-oriented technique sees clients lie down only to have snakes slither all over them. Sure! Why not! Actually, the massage is said to act as a cold compress and is intended to help relieve sore muscles, even migraines, and lighten moods.