As promised in my previous ‘23 Hours in Bahrain‘ post, here is a review of my visit to Bahrain’s BanyanTree Spa last weekend.

The Hotel and Spa is located al Areen area near the formula 1 race ring, it is almost 20-30 minutes away from Bahrain’s city center, which is pretty far considering Bahrain’s size. The Spa is huge and by far the biggest I’ve ever seen. The building itself along with it’s interiors are what I liked the most about the place, the experience was a pleasant one because of this.. you know, gives you the feeling that you’re spoiling yourself in a grandiose sort of way..

Everything is big, every corridor, room and waiting area is made without any consideration to space and expenses. It took us awhile to get to the waiting area, and then another short walk to the room where we’re supposed to have our massages.

^This is my room (yes, each one of the 4 of us got a room of his own. One of my friends was actually checking the room for other people having massages with him coz he found it hard to believe that they would dedicate this VERY spacious room for one customer alone) it is THAT big.

^The first thing you see when you’re in the room are these 2 chairs in their little own little room (inside the big room), it is here where you’re supposed to have your relaxing time where you sit and eat your fruit and drink the awful tea.

^After the little room there is this little corridor which leads to the.. well I’m gonna say room again..

^This is where I had my massage (left bed)

^I was told that these japanese beds (i call them japanese coz I don’t know what they’re called) are here because supposedly you can have a 24 hours massage and you can have your partner stay over with you… (not sure though!)

^The Toilet. again very spacious and over looks a little outside area where there is a Jacuzzi.

^I ate a whole piece of this melon before realizing that I’m allergic to melons.. my mouth started itching.. I drank some of the tea to make it go away.. got heartburn (7arij) from the tea.

^The gift shop
 
We all had a good time over there. Some of us got bigger rooms than others (mine wasn’t the biggest one). Oh, one thing I have to mention that I really didn’t like was how when my time was up and I was just getting out of the shower, the masseuse knocked on the door to tell me that the next customer is here and that I’d have to leave the room asap. I found that odd.

Lets go into the boring stuff now. The massage itself wasn’t top notch. I got the (I forgot the name but it’s just like the swedish massage but with more pressure) massage, It lasted an hour and 15 minutes. It was nice, not as good as The Day Spa’s, but it was good. If I am to rate this place based on the massage, I wouldn’t recommend it, But the place is much more than the massage itself.. The whole place sets you in a great mood, The building and the interiors as I mentioned before are amazing, the people working there and the way everything is so paid-attention-to, down to the tiniest detail is something You’d have to take into consideration when you’re in a spa.

If you’re a straight forward kind of person, you don’t care about the things I praised above, then you’re better off saving your money and go to any other massage place. If you like trying new things, and love to spoil yourself (every once in awhile that is) then you shouldn’t miss this place. (I aslo heard their scrub treatment is very good).

The massage costs K.D.43

For directions: take a look at BanyanTree’s website

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 1:12 am