A visit to Athens’ top-quality spas and hammam bath houses can be the perfect gift to offer yourself or a loved one this year. A deep, powerful massage with essential oils and other sumptuous ingredients in a calm and soothing atmosphere can be an excellent way to de-stress after a busy day, week or year!
The combination of soft lighting, music, and healing aromas creates a calming environment, while the massage itself can help alleviate even chronic muscle tension and promote deep mental, physical and emotional recovery. It’s vital that we take time for self-care, and visiting the places we recommend here is the perfect way to do so.
Hotel Grande Bretagne
With classically lavish aesthetics, the spa at the Hotel Grande Bretagne is one of the most luxurious in the city. It offers a broad range of sophisticated body and facial treatments, as well as a choice of ‘Pre & Post Natal Treatments’. To experience ultimate relaxation and rejuvenation, you could treat yourself to the 4.5 hour “Signature Ultimate Urban Retreat” which includes body wraps based on your personal needs, a hot stone massage and the “GB Prickly Pear Luxury Facial”, a natural lifting method that provides a rejuvenating effect using natural active ingredients such as skin-renewing prickly pear seeds and acai berry. Don’t miss out on a dip in the indoor heated pool and a visit to the sauna or hammam. Sessions are concluded with a light meal on the patio.
We tried the Ayurveda session, which starts with a foot bath followed by skin exfoliation and a body wrap, and then a relaxing massage on the body’s energy “marma” points, as well as the application of hot stones and warm essential oils of Ayurvedic herbs. The session is concluded with a head massage and the inhalation of healing aromatic oils. The impressive spa menu includes many exfoliation treatments, therapeutic massages that focus on relaxing the deeper muscle groups (like the “Deep Muscle Massage”), and firming, lifting and hydrating facial treatments. You can also choose a combination of treatments for two people in the beautiful Couples Suite.
Holmes Place Spa
Holmes Place’s spas are ideal for both after-work and after-work out pampering. Located in key locations in Maroussi, Athens and Glyfada, they offer a range of treatments that will not only relax but also rejuvenate you. “Holmes Place Relaxing Massage” is a unique experience aimed at reducing fatigue and restoring strength and balance. It is a combination of specialised massage techniques that combines the use of hot stones with warm herbal pouches that are placed on the chakras to activate Kundalini energy.
If it’s a good detox you’re after, have a “Lymphatic Drainage Massage“, which helps to remove various toxins that are stored in the tissues and helps boost the immune system and keep your skin looking and feeling radiant. If you have a tension headache or tense neck, then the “Indian Head Massage” is for you; it promises to help your head, neck and shoulders feel alleviated of all the worldly weight you have been carrying. For a full body treatment that combines relaxation with beauty, choose the “Secret of Argan” which includes a full body exfoliation, a relaxing body massage with beurre d’Arganier, an ultra-nourishing butter, and a lovely facial massage with argan oil to regenerate and the skin while reducing tiredness.
Hammam
Bathing House Athens Particularly atmospheric despite its minimalist aesthetics, this Hammam has three stores in central Athens and in Thessaloniki. You can combine a steam bath with a massage or just try one of the two. “Ali Mama” is a body exfoliation with a traditional “ketse” glove that is used to create a foamy full-body wash with olive oil soap, followed by a relaxing head and body massage. If you choose the “Hamamda” you will enjoy a full body massage with olive oil soap foam followed by a muscle-relaxing massage based on a combination of various techniques, pressures and stretches.
Another powerful treatment is “Gommage“, in which after slathering your body with black soap, your skin is exfoliated and then massaged with green soap foam, followed by another exfoliation with salts and honey, followed by a clay mask on the face and body and a hair mask with clay, shea butter and argan oil. If you prefer to go Greek, there’s also the “Ancient Greek Massage“, a holistic treatment using brushes, powder and suction cups that help boost circulation and release muscle tension, and a full body massage with various oscillations and reflexology pressures.
Polis Hammam
At Polis Hammam you can try a series of bathing sessions such as the “Ancient Greek“, “Moroccan”, “Egyptian” and others, each with its own uniqueness. The “Ancient Greek Bath” aims to provide detoxification, relaxation, anti-ageing, longevity and radiance. It combines a sweating bath with masks on the body, face and hair made from natural minerals that are packed with over 70 trace elements. For the body, the recipe used is said to have been also used by Alexander the Great: a cocktail of beneficial oils with fragrances that relax the muscles, immediately soothe the nervous system, relieve musculoskeletal pains and clear the respiratory system.
The “Egyptian Bath“, inspired by the habits of the pharaohs, combines a steam bath, body and head wash with special mineral and vegetable oils, skin exfoliation, body, face and head massage with donkey milk, honey and many other ingredients as well as a brief head-to-toe massage. The “Moroccan Bath” also combines relaxation with beauty. Here they use precious ingredients such as activated charcoal, volcanic clay from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and soap and argan oil. If you just want a simple massage then try the “Olympus Massage” which helps release tension and stress and rejuvenates the senses and skin through a combination of controlled manipulation, gentle strokes and pressure on various muscle groups.
Old City Hamam
The Old City Hamam has a slightly more oriental atmosphere and hamam and massage services that will aim to make you feel light and tranquil. The “Original Hamam“, a traditional cleansing treatment that includes a refreshing bath, exfoliation, foam massage, hair wash, head massage and stretching exercises is an optimal choice. As is the “Royal Hamam“, in which a classic full body exfoliation with a ketse and scrub with Turkish royal coffee and rose water is followed by a natural soap foam massage, as well as a head wash and massage.
At the end, a mask of 100% natural honey, sesame and natural lavender is applied to your body, leaving your skin deeply nourished, soft and bright. Another great option is the “Bamboo Massage” in which warmed bamboo branches are used to help relax your muscles, circulate blood and release toxins. The “Thai compress massage”, on the other hand, with warm lavender pouches, rejuvenates the body and mind and induces a wonderful feeling of peace and tranquility.
Al Hammam
Traditional Baths In a wonderful traditional Turkish atmosphere with lit candles and warm colours, you can enjoy a relaxing hammam that will leave your skin soft and your mind relaxed. You’ll find everything from simple hammam services where you can have an exfoliation with the ketse, an olive oil soap foam massage and more specialised treatments such as the ‘Sabun Beldi Morrocan Hammam‘ which includes the use of black soap and a clay body mask.
The “Harem” is even more indulgent as in addition to the steam bath, exfoliation with the ketse, olive oil soap foam massage and hair shampoo, it also includes a chocolate wrap to rejuvenate the skin and then a back massage to release tension and stress. The “Ottoman” is also excellent, lasting 2.5 hours and in addition to the basics, you will enjoy a deep relaxing rose water body massage for an hour and a thirty- minute facial massage. You can also add other treatments to your massages such as a foot bath with salts or foot massage and body scrub with gold, jasmine or chocolate.
The Margi Hotel
Soothing colours, warm wood features, low lighting and minimalist eastern aesthetics create a uniquely serene ambience at The Margi Hotel’s spa. It has three lovely single treatment rooms, as well as a sauna, hammam and an indoor pool for refreshing dips. If you want to relax to the max and get rid of any muscle aches and tension, then try the four-hand massage, in which two therapists synchronize their movements. If you like rituals, then book the “Ila Prana Vitality Massage” a treatment that helps eliminate toxins, reduce fatigue and restore strength and balance.
Another great option is the “Ila Kundalini back“, a gentle treatment centred on balancing the chakras, which includes sound healing and is meant to activate your Kundalini energy, located at the base of the spine, and to bring the body back into complete balance and harmony. “Margi Rejuvenation” is another magical treatment that uses herbs from the hotel’s farm to rejuvenate tired skin and combines an orange essential oil massage with a body scrub with sea salt, pure olive oil and turmeric or a body wrap with yoghurt. If you want something quick yet relaxing, try a 35-minute foot or back massage.
Cocoon Urban Spa
Another temple of relaxation and rejuvenation is Cocoon Urban Spa in Halandri. With a relaxed atmosphere and interesting décor touches, its staff is friendly and provides a wide range of treatments such as face and body massages, scrubs, aromatherapy and more. We tried the “Double Herbal Nirvana“, a ritual with elements from India and Thailand that is essentially a massage that starts with herb-filled and warmed linen pouches being placed onto tense parts of the body with the aim of reducing aches and inflammation, and is then followed by a relaxing full-body massage. The “Ayurveda Journey“, a treatment based on the Indian medical philosophy of Ayurveda, which aims to restore innate harmony and relieve you of all kinds of stresses and strains, is another highly recommended choice.
As is the “Hatsumomo” session, a combination of treatments with elements from the Far East. It involves a body exfoliation with sandalwood and powdered bamboo bark, a mask of green tea and clay, a hot bath with lemongrass-scented salts and finally, a head-to-toe massage with relaxing essential oils of lime, ylang-ylang and petitgrain. There are also treatments suitable for pregnant women that protect the skin from stretch marks and relieve tension in the back and legs.
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