11 Best Day Spa Experiences Melbourne Has To Offer

This guide to the best day spas and bathhouses of Melbourne is going to help you plan out your day of ultimate relaxation and rejuvenate until you simply melt into a puddle of chilled vibes. Whether you’re looking for a hot stone massage, deep tissue massage, or a full wellness experience, we have a comprehensive list for you.

Treat yourself, treat your partner & let’s get sweaty! Here are some of the best spas Melbourne has to offer.

1. Sense of Self Bathhouse

After taking a world tour of some of the best day spas the dynamic duo Mary Minas & Freya Berwick are bringing some seriously cool self-care offerings to Melbourne.

Located on the border of Collingwood and Fitzroy, Sense Of Self Bathhouse occupies a double-storey converted brick warehouse.

The facilities include a large mineral bath, Finnish sauna, cold plunge, a day spa, a mindfulness studio, beautiful retail, and plenty of space to take your time.

The massage day spa opened in November 2020 when Melbourne was coming out of hibernation from lockdown, and the baths are set to open in early 2021.

Website: sos-senseofself.com

2. Crown Day Spa

Vibe: This is where you come when you want to impress someone.

The best descriptor of Crown Spa Melbourne would have to be ‘opulent’.

From the blown-glass chandeliers to its ancient Grecian and Moorish cues, to the ginormous skylit-pool next to Heston’s “Dinner” that greets you as you enter – it is day spa on an epic scale.

There are more hydrotherapy activations beyond the grand entrance, which split into male and female zones, with a unisex area for hangs after your treatment. The vitality pool and steam rooms (both heated to 35 degrees) are perhaps the most frivolous part of the spa experience, and they sit alongside relaxation rooms with the requisite dried fruit, herbal tea, and mineral water.

There are 17 treatment rooms, including Deluxe and Indulgent suites. The latter is a double-height room the size of a New York penthouse studio. It’s an extra $100 per person to have 30 minutes of this private “Indulgence”. But if you’re treating someone like your Mum or your partner, I say go big or go home.  

The spa also has a full-scope hair and nail salon. Products used here are La Prairie (known for their “Skin Caviar” range and that’s no euphemism, it’s really caviar) and surprise local brand, Subtle Energies, which have an understated organic botanical range.

Spa hours: 6am-10pm

Treatments from: 10am

Website: https://www.crownmelbourne.com.au/hotels/spas/crown-spa/info-booking

3. Chuan Spa at The Langham

Vibe: This is where you come when you need to re-balance

Often cited as “the best day spa in Melbourne”, the Chuan Spa at the Langham has gorgeous Chinese decor and focus on Eastern wellbeing practices.

You can choose the Tri-bathing ritual or to re-balance your Wu Xing, the Five Elements, a foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). When I booked online I did a survey to find out which of the Five Elements was out of whack. Earth was the element I needed to harmonise, so I chose to be scrubbed and mudded before hitting the bathing and body massage.

In terms of bathing, the Chuan has a pool, a salt-water jacuzzi, a river stone snail shower, and a heated sauna. The mixture of hydro experiences was invigorating.

Hours: Monday to Sunday 6am – 9pm

Website: www.chuanspa.com/en/Melbourne

4. Park Club Health & Day Spa, Park Hyatt

A lovely spot to stroll to on a weekend afternoon, Park Hyatt is nestled between St Patrick’s Cathedral and Parliament. The building has an air of old grandeur – a place your aunty Millicent would feel quite at home. And the fresh lemongrass and deeper patchouli scents help to transport you into the ‘zen zone’ as you descend into the belly of the day spa.

Park Hyatt has quite a famous indoor pool, with pillars that resemble the Pall Mall Royal Automobile Club’s famous Roman columns. It’s a little more intimate, but it’s got a vibrant mosaic of water goddesses on the end wall that frames a 25-metre lap pool, jacuzzi and (I must say) tasteful children’s pool.

Each change area has a steam and sauna room, so both genders can smoke, steam and dream. There are single rooms if you’re alone and double treatment rooms for partners looking to get a couples massage. The products used in the spa are local Melbourne brand USPA and new UK brand Linda Meredith, which is supposedly great for more advanced beauty treatments on dry or mature skin (see: Aunty Milly). For those on the go, Park Club Health also offers great facial and scalp massages.

Members & hotel residents: Mon – Fri 6:00 AM – 9:00 PM & Sat-Sun 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Spa treatments: Mon – Sun from 10:00 AM

Vibe: This is where you come on a rainy day for a high-tea and spa double-feature.

Website: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/spas/Park-Club-Health-And-Day-Spa/home.html

5. Peninsula Hot Springs

Vibe: This is where you come for family-friendly Hot Springs, just be sure to come early or it will be hectic!

When we all started travelling a little more and experiencing worldwide spa delights we asked ourselves, but where are the hot springs in Melbourne? Well, there’s Hepburn and others, but nothing has quite the cache that Peninsula Hot Springs does.

Beautiful landscaping of inland coastal Victoria has made this THE hot springs destination for Melbournians. Famous for the hilltop pool (everyone’s favourite, and I mean, everyone – it’s always full, even at 6 am), the traditional style Turkish Hamam, and the reflexology walk. They’ve just added new attractions to the bathhouse area, including a fire and ice situation, a deep freeze, and an amphitheatre.

They have a Spa Dreaming centre that sits apart from the more communal springs, with its own bathing experience and day spa body treatments. They also have great day spa packages for couples and other groups who want to enjoy a day of relaxation together. It’s pretty darned relaxing in this section, you certainly feel more serene when the kids aren’t doing laps around you. I was sad that I had to leave before I could enjoy a lunch snack in my robe – they have a really nice restaurant ripe for lounging.

Hours: 7am – 10pm

Website: https://www.peninsulahotsprings.com/

6. Japanese Bathhouse

Vibe: Authentic Japanese neighbourhood bathhouse or sento, run by super sweet proprietors. This is the real deal.

This convivial bathhouse, officially named Ofuroya but known more lovingly by locals as ‘the Japanese Bathhouse’, is the neighbourhood local that everyone should experience. Opened in 1999, they have been the winter warmer for 19-years now!

This is maybe the one true bathhouse in Melbourne. People love visiting alone or with friends. At $32 for entry, this is a wonderful and cost-effective way to get your mindfulness (and washing!) quota in. They give you a Japanese washcloth to use and a Yukata (pj’s) to wear afterwards. A bathe and shiatsu is the best combo, you will walk away free of knots! The bathing is gender-segregated, but you can commune together in the Tatami lounge for water, tea or light Japanese cuisine. The Tatami lounge is perhaps the Melbourne locals’ favourite bit about this establishment. Just don’t do what my friend did and forget to put on the Yukata bottoms in the shared space, it will be very embarrassing!

This is the people’s bathhouse. It’s a joy to visit mainly because of the beautiful people running Ofuroya. It is customer service at its warmest. The baths each hold 8-10 people at a time so booking is strongly recommended.

Tues to Fri 11am – 9pm

Sat, Sun 11am -7pm

Website: www.japanesebathhouse.com

7. Mansion Hotel and Spa @ Werribee

Vibe: Come here if you want a country retreat without actually going to the country. And a decent hammam!

The Werribee Mansion Hotel and Spa is a great place for an overnighter or weekend stay. It’s got beautiful grounds to explore, delicioso dining, and extremely comfortable beds (those pillows, it’s all about the pillows isn’t it?).  If you want to go to the country, but not really, this is the place for you. You’ll wake up feeling a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

This spa is surprising. Alongside the expansive indoor lap pool, and the usual decadent massage and facial offering (they use Payot Paris product), the Mansion Spa has possibly one of the best Hammam experiences in Melbourne. This might be down to the products they use. I recall an orange-scented masque, but not that weird Imperial Leather soapy smell, a really high-qual one with those deep notes (yeah, I’ve read some Le Labo literature). Also, anywhere you can “add a glass of French champagne for $14 and chocolate-coated strawberries for $12” has pretty much won me over.

In my future-me visualisations, I imagine myself in thick woollen oversized jumpers, sitting next to a fire to keep warm from the chill clean air, utterly relaxed from deep steam and massage at the Werribee spa.

Monday to Saturday 9am – 6pm

Sunday 10am – 5pm

Website: lancemore.com.au/properties-2/lancemore-mansion-hotel-werribee-park/l-m-spa/

8. Amara Wellness Centre

Vibe: Come here if you want a high-end hammam/ if you are a Footballer or WAG

Dr. Zara has created a little oasis above Sydney Rd at this Hammam come wellness centre. There is a focus on high performance here because Dr. Zara is a trained endermotherapist, which is described on Amara’s website as “a French word for ‘mechanical stimulation of cells’”. I don’t exactly know what that means, but it’s said to assist in the treatment of conditions such as fibrosis, arthritis, scarring from burns, and even frozen shoulder!

I once visited Amara and experienced the Hammam ritual with a friend. The rooms are a bit cosy, but they transport you with the Moroccan motif and the heady steam (it gets super-steamy in the smaller rooms, I loved it!). They mixed an aromatic paste of rose and eucalyptus that was applied to our skin to soften it in preparation for the scrub, or “gommage” as they call it in European hammams. This was mixed by the spa attendant, and no lie, was absolutely beautiful.

Hours: Monday to Saturday 11am – 6pm

Website: http://www.amarawellnesscentre.com.au/

9. Spa de Marrakech

(Mont Albert) – a Hammam come Roman bathhouse. Features a warm mineral water bathing pool (heated to 39 degrees), steam room with colour therapy, and ice fountain!

“Spa sessions can be a great way to get some much-needed rest and relaxation into your life, particularly with the challenging 2020 we’ve all had. The use of bath salts can also bring a wide range of health benefits.”

Rowena Frith – Founder of The Salt Box

10. City Baths

(CBD) – The original Melbourne bathing house. Ask to see the old wrought iron claw-foot baths and the traditional Mikvah bath, the latter still used today! Aquarobics here is really fun too.

11. The Fitzroy Pool

(Fitzroy) – a friend of mine has a ritual she calls the “Schvitz and Spritz”, which involves heating yourself to the max in the steam and sauna rooms, and then walking (swiftly in winter) to the deep end of the pool, jumping in and swimming back to the saunas. Rinse and repeat until you’re pruney.

Honourable Mentions

• Botanical Day Spa
• Saltair Spa
• Mineral Spa
• Lancemore Mansion Hotel Spa
• Park Club Health & Day Spa
• Botanica Day Spa
• Luxury Day Spa
• Skin Day Spa

We hope this list of Melbourne’s best day spas was helpful. If you have any more suggestions. We’d love to hear them in the comments below.