Massage therapies are the holy grail: capable of unlocking your ultimate feel good potential and inducing deliciously high levels of bliss. We’ve got you covered with our most comprehensive guide to date: 13 massage havens and therapists who do everything from no-nonsense treatments that won’t break the bank, to splurge-worthy services that you’ll find very difficult to tear yourself away from. Athletes and pregnant mammas, we got you covered too. Good work should — and does — speak for itself.
Eastside Massage Therapy
For a no frills, yet comforting and restorative rubdown, Eastside more than delivers. Avoiding the “crack and crunch” method of many masseuses, a deep-tissue massage is still therapeutic in strength and specificity: sports doctors often prescribe a course of the brilliant myofascial technique for rehabilitating nagging injuries. Try and get an appointment with proprietress Robin Erlich, she’ll make you feel all the things you would want to - safe, nurtured - and is uncanningly intuitive. Top tip: If you have a nut allergy just flag it up, and they’ll use nut free massage products.
Price: New clients $47 for 30 minutes (regular $50), $80 for 60 minutes (regular $85).
Eastside Massage Therapy, 351 East 78th Street (at 1st Avenue); 212-249-2927.
Exhale Spa
With eight locations all over New York, there's no reason why you shouldn't treat yourself here. Their signature flow massage therapy promises to open locked muscles and unblock energy, to detoxify your body and boost your immune system. While it does fall on the more expensive end of the spectrum, it's worth every penny.
Price: Flow Signature Massage, $150 for 60 minutes; Deep Tissue Massage, $115 for 30 minutes.
Exhale Spa, Multiple Locations.
Shandoah Goldman Studio
Some therapists are scared of their thumbs. Not the case for Shandoah Goldman who’s background as a choreographer and dancer informs every treatment. Specializing in shiatsu, she uses stretches that feel like delicious yoga moves and her digits - plus, elbows, knees and feet - to deliver intense pressure to stubborn knots and pain. Any “ouch” quickly dissipates and apparently it balances your ‘chi’ which is a serious bonus.
Price: In-studio, $125 for 60 minutes; House-calls, price upon request.
Shandoah Goldman Studio, President Street (at Seventh Avenue), Park Slope; 646-671-7572.
Cowshed Spa
One more reason to get a House membership or book a stay-cation; Cowshed’s heavenly roster of massage treatments. We’re particularly fond of the Moody Massage ($125 for 60 minutes), best for girls who’s hunched shoulders are making them grumpy and want to say buh-bye to rock-hard, tension-filled soldiers. In need of a full-body blitz? The Slender Cow Total Body ($168 for 75 minutes) is a game-changer. We would have one every week if we could.
Price: Moody Massage, $125 for 60 minutes; Slender Cow Total Body, $168 for 75 minutes.
Cowshed Spa, 29-35 Ninth Avenue (at West 13th Street); 212-627-9800.
Bhati Space for Creative Wellness
For those who want a more alternative approach, we recommend visiting Guillerma Moreno in Bushwick. The first half of this treatment combines hot towels, Thai massage and myofascial release to lengthen muscle fibers and loosen tension. In the second half, she incorporates Energy Medicine, a spiritual practice to unblock your chakras and encourage better energy flow throughout the body. Worth exploring if you want to delve further.
Price: Bhati Signature Massage, $110 for 60 minutes.
Bhati Space for Creative Wellness, 1099 Flushing Avenue (at Porter Avenue); 646-220-3919.
Bliss
Always wanted to rock out and pump your fist during a massage? Us too. First, choose a playlist (electro, classic, world beat or rock), then put on headphones, close your eyes and let your therapist work to the beat. Communicating throughout is done via hand movements and reminiscent of Joaqyun Pheonix’s Julius Caesar in Gladiator: to ask for more pressure, extend your arm and point your thumb down or up for more. The post-treatment brownie bar is more than enough reason for us to go as often as our bank manager allows.
Price: Rhythm and Bliss Massage, $160 for 60 minutes.
Bliss Spa, Multiple locations.
Body by Brooklyn
Body by Brooklyn is a great place to make a day of it with girlfriends or your other half. We love the versatile aromatherapy massage that incorporates both oriental and Western techniques, including massage of the back, legs, scalp and reflex points on the feet. For $45, you can get a day pass to a lounge featuring saunas, a Turkish bath, hot tub, cold plunge pool and showers.
Price: Aromatherapy Massage, $124 for 60 minutes.
Body By Brooklyn, 275 Park Avenue (between Waverly and Washington avenues), Brooklyn; 718-923-9400.
Fishion Herb Center
If you find standard massages too soft, head to Fishion. This is not for the faint-hearted; indeed the thumb, finger, palm and elbow acupressure technique may bring a tear to the eye. But you are closely monitored so the pressure is never too much and the dreamy-soft beds make up for the temporary discomfort . You’ll leave feeling a brighter and happier you.
Price: Shiatsu and Acupressure, $40 for 60 minutes.
Fishion Herb Center, 107 Mott Street (between Hester and Canal streets); 212-966-8771.
Moonshine
Don't be fooled by its name: sports massage isn't just for athletes, and Moonshine Spa excels at it. Releasing chronic hamstring tightness is no mean feat. While you may need to concentrate on your breath, just before you’re ready to jump off the table, the therapists switch to tingle-inducing long and soothing moves. A stroke of genius we say.
Price: Massage, $168 for 60 minutes.
Moonshine at Le Parker Meridien, 119 West 56th Street (between Sixth and Seventh avenues); 212-708-7444.
Juvenex Spa
This K-town destination - women only from 7a.m. to 5 p.m. - is famous for its twenty-ton Jade Igloo sauna that you’re encouraged to limber up in pre-treatment. There’s also a Diamond Herbal Glass Steam Room, Baked-Clay Detoxification Sauna and Japanese soaking ponds filled with sake, algae and ginseng. If you make it to your massage, expect your most painful spots to be targeted with deep-tissue work and spasm-soothing oils.
Price: 30 Minute Massage, from $75.
Juvenex Spa, 25 West 32nd Street (between Fifth and Sixth avenues); 646-733-1330.
Great Jones Spa
Refinery 29 gals go to Great Jones Spa so often we think all our company holiday parties should be held here. Top-to-toe and thorough best describes the extensive treatment menu: deep tissue/sports, Swedish, shiatsu, pre/post natal, Thai and aromatherapy. We’re partial to the hot basalt stone (best massage prop ever) treatment, where a therapist will place warming rocks on tense muscles, tuck the smallest between stiff toes, and use others to massage you. In a word, bliss.
P.S Go early and use the hot tub, river-rock sauna and chakra-light steam room.
Price: Hot Stone Therapy Massage, $155 for 60 minutes.
Great Jones Spa, 29 Great Jones Street (between Bowery and Lafayette Street); 212-505-3185.
Plaza M Spa
This modern and breezy nail salon has a distinctly chic and Swedish aesthetic, which goes along way in instantly relaxing you. The therapists at Plaza M like the idea of helping the body to treat itself. Using acupressure to release an area before manipulation, their super-experienced hands are able to quickly pinpoint nagging conditions to release tension and stress. Ask for Mark. Totally addictive.
Price: Chair massage, from $10 for 15 minutes; Full body massage, from $55 for 30 minutes.
Plaza M Spa, 64 North Moore Street (between Greenwich and Hudson streets); 212-966-3949.
The Red Door Spa
Few spas are more iconic than Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door; just walking in makes you feel more glamorous. But it’s the beatific therapists, legendary skin knowledge and heavenly range of products that do the real work. The Signature Massage is worth its hefty price tag, just to feel your circulation boosted and those stubborn knots truly eradicated. A spot of facial acupressure makes fine lines pretty negligible and skin quality improve. All sound too good to be true? We can attest to its dramatic results.
Price: Red Door Signature Massage, $200 for 80 minutes.
The Red Door Spa, multiple locations.
Ohm Spa & Lounge
This Flatiron oasis leaves you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated no matter what service you get. While they offer waxing and a variety of skincare treatments, they are known for their specialized massages.
Price: Hot Stone Massage, $169 for 60 minutes; Deep Swedish Massage, $149 for 60 Minutes.
Ohm Spa & Lounge, 260 5th Avenue (between 28th and 29th streets); 212-845-9812.
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