Sipping Through a Spa Day in NYC

I’m lying on my stomach as a masseuse dips a stalk of effervescent Venik leaves into some warm water and shakes them over me. My body is rubbed with cocoa, and I suddenly smell distinctly like one of those fancy chocolate bars they sell at the supermarket for $12.

 

 

Then comes the salt, which is rubbed into me as well. Before I continue, I know what you’re thinking, and no, I’m not being prepared to be cooked and eaten for dinner at some sort of gruesome New Age restaurant straight out of that movie The Menu. On the contrary, I’m here at a new mega-relaxation complex in New York City called World Spa. It’s a multilevel spa mecca where your only task is to unwind, whether that means bopping into one of their many saunas, sipping on cocktails, wine, and craft beer, or getting spanked by a Venik leaf.

 

 

Just as it sounds, World Spa boasts spa treatments from around the world. Today, I’m starting my visit with something called a Banya Venik Platza Ritual, which hails from Russia. Along with the chocolate rub and Venik (a delicious-smelling bundle of birch and oak twigs), I’m asked if I want to end my ritual with a shower full of cold water. I said no, and the reasons could have been that I’ve done these cold-water treatments before, or because I want to save water for the sake of the environment. But, in reality, I pretty much chickened out.
 

 

The thought of chicken did make me hungry though, so after visiting the Snow Room (a wood-enclosed space where actual snow sprinkles down from the ceiling and into huge piles) and doing a couple sauna visits (naturally World Spa has a variety of them, including both infrared and aroma saunas), it was time for lunch complimented with a glass of something fruity and boozy thrown in for good measure. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to channel my inner Jimmy Buffett.
 

 

Much like everything else here, my options were both eye-popping and well thought-out. In the center of the spa floor lies the World Spa Lounge, a resort-like area next to the space’s indoor pool where patrons sip and bite while cozy their robes. The menu is expansive: aside from salads, sushi and oysters, the cocktails range from the fruity and tropical (Sea Breeze, Sex on the Beach, Tequila Sunrises) to the classy (Bellinis and Martinis, including the Espresso and French variations).

Not wanting to get ahead of myself, I order a crisp Riesling and take in the ingenuity of the place. I feel like I’m on a vacation, even though I’m deep in the Big Apple borough of Brooklyn; beyond these walls lie a creaky elevated train line, dingy warehouses and old school Italian shops and restaurants. In other words: Brooklyn without the gentrifiers.
 

 

My glass of Riesling is delicious, which stands to reason considering World Spa also boasts a wine cave which appears full to the brim with variations and blends from all over the eponymous world. To boot, there’s also a fancier restaurant upstairs which I’ll plan to partake on my next visit.

To balance out the alcohol, I slam an espresso and it’s time for my next treatment: a hydrafacial where my pores are thoroughly cleaned out using a humming machine out of The Jetsons. While my face wasn’t necessarily moldering before my treatment, I leave with my forehead, nose, and cheeks thoroughly squeaky clean.

 

 

I finally leave at 8pm and even though it feels like I just arrived, I first walked in at 2pm. I guess time flies when you’re being pampered while enjoying cocktails, but that’s what happens when you’re a Chilled writer visiting a spa. Don’t pity me, however: it’s a hard job, but I’m happy to take one for the team.