Esalen Spa Massage — Local services in Hà Nội

Came here with my partner in the afternoon for a foot massage. The place was empty other than the receptionist outside who we agreed 200k after the 30% discount. She made us sat while she went out to look for their ‘masseuse’. After 10 mins, she came back with a stocky looking lady and the both of them proceeded to wash our feet.

Massage: 1/5 Next to non-existent. Gentle strokes with only knuckles with little to no variation. I requested for a little more strength which lasted a good 30 seconds. In fact, I also noticed that she reverted to soft stroking the moment I closed my eyes.

Service: 1/5 Shocking. Extremely unprofessional. We agreed that we would tip the minimum if they at least showed like they care. They did- only for the tip. Because right after the ‘massage’, we were bombarded with “you must leave a good tip for me”… ??? How brazen can one be? You don’t half-a** your job and then boldly ask for a promotion- it doesn’t work like that in the real world. They continued to pester us even when we told them the massage was not great. I felt butterflies land harder on my skin before than that so called massage. We were extremely put off by it and decided to just pay the amount and not tip. Obviously, they look displeased (didn’t try to hide it) and opened the door and hurried us out. Fair enough.

All in all, not a pleasant experience. Advice is to go for a more legitimate parlour down the road instead of the ones that throw out happy...

We stayed at The Oriental Jade Hotel and had a wonderful massage at the Hotel. The third night we ventured out to Hoan Kiem lake and got massage from this place. IMHO one of the best body massage I've ever had. Staffs were nice and friendly. This 21 days trip, I believed that we had at least 6 body messages from this place. We tried L'essence De La Vie Spa, also very good.

Tips: ask for older massurer if you want a little stronger massage. you will sleep well!!!

Also ask the Lady Boss for restaurants recommendation. She rec. us and we tried them all. she definitely knew her stuffs. MIA Restaurant (THE BEST of all we tried) 22 P. Báo Khánh, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi 10000 Vietnam Fu Rong Hua (6 *) Try Vietnamese food on 6th floor, not Chinese food on 5th floor - BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF THE LAKE) Don Duck (5 *); Cai Mam (5 *) - 23 Dao Duye Tu 3 Floors; Co Bong Ngan Chay Toi (4.8 *) at 16 hang can; Huyền Hương Chicken Phở (5 * , go to 2nd floor for Air Cond.) at 20...

*UPDATE We are kind of shocked to see the owner admitted the staff was sick and acknowledged the bad massage yet no refund or “come back and we will make it right” was offered.

I had a disappointing experience here. The masseuse was clearly sick, sniffling the entire time, which was incredibly uncomfortable and unprofessional. Despite repeatedly asking for a rougher massage, I felt like I was just being petted like a dog—

To add, if there’s any claim that we have the wrong shop, let me be clear: we know this tactic and have photos to verify. Also being pressured to tip at the end, was the cherry on top that you don’t want. (We declined.) There are enough other places in Hanoi for better prices and better service, do yourself a favor and go...