Neptunbad Sports & Spa — Local services in Cologne

If I only review the Lomi-Lomi Nui Massage my male masseur performed on me I'd give him 5 * him alone. But let me start with the prolog: why did I land here Someone caring bought me 2 Gift Vouchers awhile ago. One Voucher for Revitalization (Facial Treatment, 30-35 min ) and another Voucher for Lomi Lomi Nui (traditional exotic hawaiian massage, 90 min ).

I had a lunch date that day therefore I had to let the treatment start quite early which means eventhough the Wellness Section of Neptunbad usually operates at 11, they gotta order the messeur to start at 10. As I booked the whole package, I didnt know (n I didnt dare to ask) which gender performs the massage. FYI, I never get any intimate massage. Even with a regular massage done by a lady I was usually a bit shy showing some of my private parts you know. Nevertheless as I was raised up in the environment who enjoys massage and stil now I fancy it, I know the better (n best) way to enjoy a great chemical-electric-exotic-skin-contact is with apposite sexual gender. Yes, I secretly wished I got a male masseur But it happened before I got to know what Lomi Lomi Nui was all about. I was asked to lay on the massage stool, head down and my back facing the ceiling But in my birthday suit! If you usualy felt akward a lady stroke some parts of your body with you having some panties on, even if she was blind, now you gotta leave yourself breathing slowly in front of a foreign guy like that? So, I decided to let my ultra light jazzpants on which ended up to be thongs ;)

To make it short, I felt like bathing in scented warm oil the whole hour From head to toesIts a relief that I made a right decision with letting that part covered as the stretching position would reveal my every follicle I myself never saw before. Anyone is curious how the male masseur was like? Southern-europe or orient type, well built n tall, mid 30' or early 40', and smelled neutral (!).I didnt expect a better one than him that day and would recommend any ladies to book him I am forever thankful that I was granted the pleasure and the idea someone sent me to Lomi Lomi Nui. So it was the dreamy spoiling time I had Back to reality :s

The second treatment was of course the *Revilitation Hm In general you'd call it a basic facial program or treatment. And again to make it short I could do much better at home, I just wish I skipped it or upgrade it to any other basic massage If only the beautician did a better job at Facial Massage, my wellness morning would have turned up much better. * Neptunbad itself is a wellknown institution in Cologne in a great old restorated building and modern equipped esp. at the Sauna and Fitness sections. But what I noticed from the Wellness area, they need to do more styling jobs in the near future. I dont mean its real necessary but if you see the price list you'd expect more comfort (n luxury) in...

So I lived in Japan for a year and I went to the hot springs every week. Unfortunately I don't have those in the Netherlands, so I was excited to see that there was a Japanese style hot spring relatively close by. So I drove 2 hours to here to see if it's any good.

So I took a bath, let the water flow through my fingers and smelled it. Yes! It's the real deal! It's actual mineral water similar to gero onsen, moriyama onsen (hotaru no yu) ogoto onsen and gin no yu in Arima onsen (although that one contains radon)

The sauna's themselves are also really nice. There was no money saved on the wrong things, the scents were nice and strong.

I also ate there and whilst the enterance fee is quite steep, the food is reasonably priced. The flammkuchen with leak and parmesan cheese was brilliant.

Also lots of aufguss and they're nice and hot.

I would give it 4.7 stars but Google won't let me, so it's rounded up to 5. This is because there were a few minor sloppy things, which don't really take away from the experience, but should be mentioned anyway because they're pretty easy to fix:

in the Cherry sauna there's a wooden plate on the wall with some characters carved into it. It's upside down! the torii-gate in the zen garden has a plaque in the middle on which the name of the shrine/kami should be ingraved. However it's empty, which looks silly. the hot spring water isn't hot enough. It's slightly below body temperature whilst it should be slightly above (38~42°C) the bottom swimming pool is called "sento pool" which is wrong. A sento is a public bath house just like an onsen, but whilst an onsen uses spring water, a sento uses heated tap water, so a cold swimming pool is the furthest you can get from a sento.

Fix these and...

I go to Neptunbad on a regular basis as I live in the area. I have been to saunas all over Germany and Central Europe, so I am comparing it to a wide range of sauna worlds. I would rank Neptunbad as “very good.” I appreciate the places to relax—comfortable furniture, multiple quiet places to nap, and warm relaxation pools. Neptunbad has a fairly wide variety of saunas with different atmospheres and a decent-sized pool to swim or cool off in. Regarding aufgüsse, you can go to about one every half hour, with a few options for women-only. They stick to a fairly traditional regimen with the point of giving a traditional scent and getting the sauna warmer. I wish Neptunbad would try some more creative options for aufgüsse. They occasionally do some outside-the-box aufgüsse on Friday evenings or on holidays. People seem to really respond to them, though. A few suggestions: I would really like to see a cold room (or a cold, not just cool, dunk pool), peelings that don’t cost extra, a swimsuit spinner (to dry the towels), and hot tubs with jets. The sauna masters are kind and responsive. They occasionally walk around passing out fruit or ice. You can expect to get a small drink or snack after the aufgüsse in the outside sauna. I also really like that the sauna masters enforce the rule about not reserving seats. The overabundance of Buddhas feels like someone has a proselytizing agenda. I understand that they have meditation times for their members. I like Neptunbad a lot and will continue to patronize it, but I also enjoy going to...