Five spa options after shopping in Dago, Bandung

Dago has become more and more vibrant, especially on the weekend. Factory outlets and restaurants dominate the area but you can also find places of tranquility where you can relax and rejuvenate.

The Jakarta Post Travel has picked five relaxing spas where you can pamper yourself after a busy day of shopping.

Le Spa

Le Spa, located in The Luxton hotel’s East Wing, on Jl Ir. H. Juanda No. 18, offers many health and beauty treatments.

Krisdyan, for example, is a 60-minute body massage performed by two therapists at once to create balance on both sides of your body. The treatment is priced at Rp 480,000.

We tried its best-selling Kinasih treatment. Priced at Rp 380,000, the 75-minute massage combines Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, and Swedish methods, and is said to boost vitality, virility and to refresh your body. The treatment used pure Indonesian ingredients. It started with a massage at the sole of the feet and nicely finished with a cup of a warm ginger drink.

We also sampled herbal bath, which is part of the Mutyasa Treatment, priced at Rp 695,000. Mutyasa consists of scrub, bust treatment, Indonesian massage, milk mask and herbal bath.

Two aromatherapy herbal essences were put inside the bathtub and slowly changed the warm water into a pale tea color. The herbal essences had soft, exotic smells, but we wished they were not instant aromatherapy placed in bath bags.

Le Spa is open daily from 8 a.m. until12 p.m. with last order at 11 p.m. The spa welcomes non-staying guests.

Tea Tree Spa

The Holiday Inn Bandung has gone the extra mile to offer delectable spa sensations, renovating its entire second floor and redesigning it into the Tea Tree spa. The spa has one spacious couple’s room and three large rooms for single guests, all impressively equipped with their own bath tub, toilet, shower and steam room with a panic button as a safety precaution. There is another room designated for hair blowouts and manicure-pedicure.

According to Nevi Rindrawati, Holiday Inn Bandung's recreation manager, the spa has adopted an international spa concept. The spa also claims to be environmentally friendly. "For example, our essential oil won't clog drains when thrown out,” said Nevi.

We tried Tea Tree’s signature spa treatment that includes a mini facial, body scrub and hot stone massage. The foot ritual consists of getting your feet washed and soaked inside water mixed with bath salts and flowers. We enjoyed the hot stone massage even though some people might find it a little too hot. We were pleased with this ritual. Our therapist said that the massage helps tackle insomnia.

Our full-body treatment sweetly ended with a glass of hot ginger tea.

Tea Tree Spa is located on the 2nd floor of the Holiday Inn Bandung on Jl. Ir.H.Juanda No. 31-33. The spa welcomes non-staying guest too and is open from 10 a.m. - 11 p.m. on weekdays, and from 8 a.m. on weekends.

Roger's Salon & Spa

Roger's is a one-stop beauty and wellness center. The spa, which has been around since the 1990s, is secluded and separated from the salon. "We have established loyal customers, especially from Malaysia and Singapore, who are very fond of our spa,” said Tita, Roger's operational manager. She added that Roger's best-selling treatments were the five-hour Spa Heaven, set at Rp 800,000 (US $ 70.99) and five-hour Cleopatra Spa, priced at Rp 1,050,000.

Both spa treatments, she said, comprised head-to-toe pampering of aromatherapy, body massage, scrub, mask and herbal bath, followed by a standard facial as well as a deep hair conditioning treatment (cream bath) and blowout. Customers who choose the Cleopatra spa treatment will also get a manicure and pedicure session.

"They usually come by after a shopping spree in Dago and book our treatment for the next day. We also have customers from abroad who just got off the plane and called us for an appointment immediately," Tita said.

We tried Roger's 90-minute candle massage; one of the latest editions to it’s the menu. The treatment, including a body scrub, was followed by a quick shower, after which the lomi-lomi massage commenced, which used the wax of a melting candle.

Our therapist advised us not to take a shower afterwards, as our skin would need some time to absorb the coconut oil and soybean, the main ingredients of the candle.

We really liked how it felt when the melting candle wax was poured onto our skin. It was warm and smelled good. However, we found our skin to be supple and unusually sticky after the treatment. But since we liked how we smelled, we decided to follow the therapist’s advice. We were relieved that the stickiness wore off after several hours.

Roger's Salon & Spa is located on Jl Ir.H Juanda No.97.

Akar Natural Spa

This spa shares its space –an old heritage building- with a shoe shop in Dago.

Our trepidation, however, vanished as soon as we entered its reception area. The green and cozy spa's waiting room set the mood for relaxation.

Climbing the stairs to the shop’s second floor, where the spa rooms are located, got us thinking that it was actually cool to have a spa session in one of architect A.F. Aalbers' legendary art deco heritage Drie Locomotif houses.

The spa has two couple’s rooms, 27 massage boards, and a pretty gazebo that would make perfect setting for a small group treatment.

According to Saraswati, Akar Natural Spa public relations staff, the spa uses 100 % organic and hand-made products. Some of the products have become must-have products for its customers, especially those from Malaysia and Singapore, who stock up the all-skin-types face wash and hair products.

During our visit, we tried the Pure Organic Body Scrub, one of the spa's best selling treatments. The two-hour treatment included an aromatherapy massage, herbal steam and organic scrub, herbal shower and ended with a complimentary soothing herbal drink.

“We make our scrubs by order. We have a whitening scrub made with jicama, anti-aging whitening with green tea , skin tightening and stretch mark treatments with coffee, skin moisturizer with hibiscus," said Saraswati.

The scrub we chose was made from mixture of green tea and plain yogurt. It smelled nice.

The only thing that was not convenient was the location of the bathroom, which was outside the treatment room. Other than that, we loved this spa for its value for money.

Akar Spa Natural Spa Health & Wellness on Jl Ir. H. Juanda No. 113, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, and closes at 11 p.m. on weekends.

Laguna Spa Sheraton

The Laguna Spa at the Sheraton hotel Bandung is undergoing renovation. Nevertheless, the hotel still provides spa services in its temporary spa location. The renovation is set to be complete by the end of this year.

Despite the ongoing renovations and temporary location, the therapists will make sure that you get the best spa experience.

We especially loved this spa’s massage. It was so relaxing and soothing that we almost fell asleep. The therapists and other spa employees demonstrated top-notch hospitality too.

The spa offers various treatments such as body massages, back massages, body scrubs, face massages, reflexology and milk baths. The treatments are priced starting at Rp 100,000 for a 30-minute session.

Laguna Spa at the Sheraton hotel is located on Jl Ir. H.Juanda 390. The spa welcomes non-staying guests and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Fun at Bandung Carnival Land

Bandung in West Java ticks lots of boxes for visitors with its seemingly endless list of eateries, shopping areas and facilities, but my recent visit to Bandung went beyond all that.

Instead of malls and cafes, my trip involved flying chairs and ghouls.

Enter Bandung Carnival Land amusement park, also known as BCL.

BCL is on Jl. Sirnagalih 15, in the Karansetra area next to Karangsetra Waterland, a recreational swimming pool which was established in Bandung more than 30-years ago.

The amusement park’s rides include the Mobil Gila bumper cars, the Sepeda Udara ride, which literally means “air bicycle”, the Kursi Terbang (flying chairs) and a haunted house (rumah hantu).

At night time, BCL basks in the light of its lantern garden, Taman Lampion, which is decorated by characters from famous bedtime stories and cartoons such as Snow White and the seven Dwarfs and The Flintstones.

Although BCL is smaller than the Dunia Fantasi amusement park in Ancol, Jakarta, and the attractions might look a bit weather worn adults and children will still enough there to make them laugh and maybe cry with delight.

Many grown-ups visit the park to soak up its atmosphere and watch while their kids play at the games station, which offers small prizes such as dolls for the victors.

BCL is open from 12 p.m. -7p.m. Monday-Thursday and closes at around 9 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

There are two types of tickets:

-Entrance ticket, available only to enter the park and for one attraction: Rp 20,000 (US$1.80)

-All-day pass ticket, which means you can go on any of the rides as many times as you want: Rp 35,000 or Rp 45,000 on high season.

How to get there

Aside from driving your own private vehicle, the Sukajadi-Ciroyom angkot (public minivan) passes BCL's main gate and the Cicaheum-Ledeng angkot stops the intersection between Jl. Setiabudi and Jl. Sindang Sirna, BCL is only 5 minutes walk from here.