New York’s 13 Best Spas

From candlelit thermal baths in Tribeca to a banya in Brooklyn and the great hotel spas of Fifth and Park Avenue: thirteen New York spas, what each does best and what to book, every detail checked on the spa’s own website.

New York has always taken its rest seriously, even if it rarely admits it. Behind hotel lobbies on Fifth and Park Avenue, in a Tribeca textile factory, under a Japanese farmhouse roof and on an island in the harbour, the city keeps spas of real accomplishment, most of them within a short cab ride of one another.

The traditions arrive from everywhere. You can follow a Roman-style circuit of warm, hot and cold pools by candlelight, sit out a Russian banya, lie on the warm marble of a Moroccan hammam, or book a facial built around microcurrent and LED. Contrast therapy, the sauna-and-ice-bath habit of Scandinavia, has its own bathhouse in Flatiron.

A Roman-style circuit by candlelight, a Russian banya, a Moroccan hammam: all within a short cab ride.

We chose these thirteen for what each does best, and checked every detail on the spa’s own website. Some suit a long, slow day; others an hour between meetings or the evening after a long flight. Each entry tells you which, and what to book.

At a glance

1. Mandarin Oriental · Columbus Circle · Five-star hotel spa · Amethyst crystal steam room and skyline views

2. Othership · Flatiron · Contrast therapy · The city’s largest performance sauna, in Western Red Cedar

3. Naturopathica · Tribeca · Botanical facials · Microcurrent, LED and oncology-relief treatments

4. Spa de La Mer · Midtown · Marine skincare · La Piscine, a heated pool with private cabanas

5. QC NY · Governors Island · Day-long thermal circuit · Outdoor pools facing the Manhattan skyline

6. AIRE Ancient Baths · Tribeca · Thermal bathing · Candlelit pools in an 1883 textile factory

7. WORLD SPA · Brooklyn · Bathing traditions of the world · The largest banya in the US, hammams and a Snow Room

8. Hotel Chelsea · Chelsea · Penthouse spa · Cedar sauna, fireplace lounge and a private terrace garden

9. Shibui Spa · Tribeca · Japanese calm · A lantern-lit pool under a 250-year-old farmhouse roof

10. Guerlain Wellness Spa · Park Avenue · Hotel spa and wellness · Moroccan hammam, infrared sauna and an Arctic snow cave

11. Dior Spa · 57th Street · Couture skincare · The Haute Couture Facial, only in New York

12. Aman Spa · Fifth Avenue · Three floors of wellness · A 65-foot pool and private banya and hammam Spa Houses

13. Russian & Turkish Baths · East Village · Old New York bathhouse · Steam rooms, saunas and a plunge pool

1. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York

Best for: Five-star hotel calm, high above Columbus Circle.

The setting: The Spa sits in the hotel at 80 Columbus Circle, with panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline. Bamboo floors and Japanese rice-paper window treatments set a quiet tone in the treatment rooms, and the Oriental Tea Lounge looks out over the Hudson River and the city.

Heat, water and treatments: Before a treatment you have the run of the heat and water: an Amethyst Crystal Steam Room, built around a large amethyst and kept at up to 118°F, and the Vitality Pool, a jetted soaking pool for up to five people at 99–103°F, with a reclining air-bed lounge. These facilities are open only before treatments, so arrive early.

What to book: The spa’s two suites are the occasion pieces: the Thai Suite, dressed in dark teak and gold leaf, and the 650-square-foot Celadon Spa Suite, the VIP room, painted in the group’s signature calming green.

2. Othership Flatiron

Best for: Social sauna and ice baths, and an evening without your phone.

The setting: Othership’s first New York bathhouse is at 23 West 20th Street, in warm wood, tile and low light. Phones stay in the lockers, which changes the mood at once: people talk, or simply sit.

Heat, water and treatments: The heart of it is what Othership calls the largest performance sauna in the city, built of Western Red Cedar and running at up to 85°C (185°F). The ice baths are held at 0–4°C (32–40°F). A first-timer’s circuit is 15–20 minutes of heat, one to three minutes of cold and ten minutes of rest.

What to book: The guided sessions, in which a host leads the room through heat, breathing and the plunge; “free flow” sessions let you set your own pace.

3. Naturopathica Tribeca

Best for: Herbal, clean-skincare facials and gentle care during and after cancer treatment.

The setting: Naturopathica, the herbal skincare house, runs its Manhattan spa on the seventh floor of 100 Church Street, inside the NEXUS Club.

Heat, water and treatments: The facial menu pairs botanical formulas with technology: Microcurrent and LED Therapy are offered as enhancements to facials such as Defy, Chill and Clear.

What to book: The Oncology Relief menu, created with experts in medical massage, lymphatic care and cancer recovery: the Nurture & Restore Facial, a lymphatic body massage, and scalp, foot and hand treatments designed for people during and after chemotherapy or radiation.

4. Spa de La Mer at Baccarat Hotel New York

Best for: La Mer skincare, crystal and a pool hidden beneath Midtown.

The setting: The first dedicated La Mer spa in the United States lies below ground at the Baccarat Hotel, 28 West 53rd Street, opposite MoMA. Baccarat crystal sconces light the treatment rooms.

Heat, water and treatments: Every treatment includes time at La Piscine, the hotel’s heated indoor pool, with a jacuzzi, Riviera-inspired cabanas, Baccarat’s checkerboard floor and poolside dining.

What to book: The Bespoke La Mer Facial (60 minutes), shaped by your esthetician to your skin on the day; pair it with the 90-minute La Mer Body Treatment for a longer visit. Treatments are for guests aged 18 and over.

5. QC NY

Best for: A whole day of European-style bathing, with the skyline across the water.

The setting: QC NY, from Italy’s QC Terme group, is on Governors Island, a short ferry ride from Lower Manhattan: from Soissons Landing you walk up the hill to Andes Road, between Castle Williams and the arts centre.

Heat, water and treatments: More than twenty wellness experiences: saunas, steam rooms, a Vichy shower, relaxation rooms, outdoor gardens and water therapies, with outdoor pools looking straight across the harbour to Manhattan.

What to book: The spa entrance itself: you book a session, put on a robe and wander freely, adding a massage if you like. Guests must be 21 or over; it is open daily until 10pm (11pm on Fridays and Saturdays).

6. AIRE Ancient Baths, Tribeca

Best for: Candlelit, Roman-style thermal baths in near silence.

The setting: AIRE fills a restored 1883 textile factory at 88 Franklin Street, 16,000 square feet and one of the group’s largest houses. Bare brick, old beams and candlelight everywhere set the mood, and voices drop on their own.

Heat, water and treatments: The circuit moves between pools of different temperatures, from warm to hot to an icy plunge, in the tradition of the Roman baths; the Tepidarium has a skylight and warm marble beds.

What to book: The Signature Wine Experience: a private red-wine soak, followed by a grapeseed-oil massage and a cranial massage, with the thermal baths included.

7. WORLD SPA

Best for: A full tour of the world’s bathing traditions under one roof.

The setting: A large, modern bathhouse at 1571 McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn, built for long days of moving between heat, cold, water and rest.

Heat, water and treatments: The Grand Banya, which WORLD SPA calls the largest banya in the US, runs at 176–194°F. Around it are a Finnish-style Event Sauna with aufguss sessions, a Clay & Hay Sauna, an infrared sauna, an Aroma Sauna, Moroccan and Turkish hammams, a Himalayan salt room and a Snow Room at 14–32°F, plus three salt-water onsen pools (52°F, 101°F and 104°F) and a cold plunge.

What to book: A venik platza in a private room: the Russian ritual of being brushed and beaten with bundles of birch or oak leaves in the banya’s heat. Private hammam rooms offer the Moroccan scrub in the same way.

8. The Spa at Hotel Chelsea

Best for: A small, romantic spa at the top of a New York legend.

The setting: On the penthouse level of the Hotel Chelsea, 222 West 23rd Street: a light-filled space with a private terrace garden and a rooftop terrace.

Heat, water and treatments: A traditional Swedish sauna in cedar, aromatic steam rooms, rain showers and a fireplace lounge.

What to book: The menu has the hotel’s artistic streak, with guest practitioners in an Artists in Residency series; among the massages, Lunaris: A Moon Ritual, and among the facials, the Monastery Radiance Revival. Healing arts include reiki and craniosacral therapy.

9. Shibui Spa at The Greenwich Hotel

Best for: Japanese restraint and a pool you will remember.

The setting: Below The Greenwich Hotel, 377 Greenwich Street, the pool lies beneath the roof of a 250-year-old Japanese farmhouse, reconstructed here by Japanese craftsmen. “Shibui” is the Japanese idea of a beauty that is rich without being opulent, and the whole spa holds to it: wood, water and stone.

Heat, water and treatments: A heated, lantern-lit swimming pool, a relaxation lounge, changing areas with steam and rain showers, and five individual treatment rooms.

What to book: Treatments draw on Japanese technique, with shiatsu among them; the spa menu has the current list.

10. Guerlain Wellness Spa at the Waldorf Astoria

Best for: A big, modern wellness floor inside a restored Park Avenue landmark.

The setting: The Waldorf Astoria at 301 Park Avenue reopened with a 22,000-square-foot spa and wellness retreat run with the Paris house of Guerlain.

Heat, water and treatments: An all-gender infrared sauna, a Moroccan hammam and an Arctic snow cave, with gender-specific steam rooms and relaxation lounges before and after treatments.

What to book: Guerlain’s own facials, massages and body treatments; ask the spa for the current menu when you book.

11. Dior Spa New York

Best for: Couture skincare above the 57th Street flagships.

The setting: Dior Spa New York occupies the upper floors of the House of Dior at 23 East 57th Street, above the Couture private salons.

Heat, water and treatments: Alongside face and body treatments, the spa runs a Light Therapies experience that pairs LED light with sound on the treatment table.

What to book: The Haute Couture Facial, a fully customised treatment found only at Dior Spa New York.

12. Aman Spa New York

Best for: The most complete hotel spa in Manhattan, over three floors.

The setting: Aman New York, at 730 Fifth Avenue, gives 25,000 square feet to wellbeing: a calm, low-lit sequence of stone, wood and water.

Heat, water and treatments: The second floor centres on a 20-metre (65-foot) heated pool with fire pits. Two private Spa Houses hold a banya or a marble hammam, each with its own year-round terrace, hot bath and cold plunge. There is also a cryotherapy chamber, and a Contrast Therapy Suite with an infrared sauna, red-light therapy, a cold plunge and a steam shower.

What to book: Booking one of the two Spa Houses, each with its own terrace, indoor lounge and double treatment room: the closest thing in the city to a private bathhouse.

13. Russian & Turkish Baths

Best for: Old New York: no frills, plenty of heat.

The setting: Up the stoop at 268 East 10th Street, under a sign that reads “Since 1892”, this is the most traditional bathhouse in the guide: tiled rooms and wooden benches, and nothing to distract from the heat.

Heat, water and treatments: Steam rooms, saunas and a plunge pool for the cold shock in between.

What to book: The ritual itself: heat, plunge, rest and repeat. Check the baths’ own site for opening hours and mixed sessions before you go.

Our advice

Our advice: book well ahead for weekends, and arrive early: the Mandarin Oriental opens its heat and water to you only before your treatment, and a late start usually means a shorter treatment (Spa de La Mer ends on schedule). Check the age rules (21 and over at QC NY, 18 at Spa de La Mer) and expect to leave your phone in the locker at Othership. For a first contrast circuit, keep the cold short: one to three minutes, as Othership suggests, is plenty.