Spa Botanica
2 Bukit Manis Road, Sentosa
Tel: 6371-1318
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm

SPA Botanica in Sentosa is Singapore's first and only destination spa. That means that true blue spa-goers can stay at the affiliated The Sentosa Resort & Spa next door if they want a few days of non-stop pampering.

But a lazy day spent at this sprawling garden spa, which has won the Singapore Tourism Board's Best Spa Experience for two consecutive years, is rewarding enough.

Sign up for any treatment and you can soak in the mud bath or jacuzzi all day, on the house, until you are ready to face the world again.

You can tackle the Labyrinth, a circular, therapeutic path of stones that you are encouraged to walk on barefoot to 'clear your mind and energise your spirit', as its publicity spiel goes. But it did little for my ticklish feet.

After that, I was treated to a Swedish Massage ($125++ for one hour) in a charming outdoor hut with piped music. The therapist, a Singaporean with sturdy hands, rubbed me down with aromatic lavender oil, focusing on unravelling the knots of tension in my back.

Though the treatment was nothing fancy, her steady kneading - and chirping of insects around me - lulled me to sleep. I awoke to find that my skin was allergic to the oil and had broken out in rashes - no fault of the therapist, of course.

To the therapist's credit, she had an antidote ready, a cooling lotion which banished the red bumps.

As it is the closest thing to a resort spa in Singapore, bear in mind that you pay a premium for the idyllic setting at Spa Botanica. A thick blanket of greenery blocks out the sound of passing cars.

I had one shock, though. While soaking in the cleansing pool after coating my body with mud, I had unwelcome company. A dead cockroach floated beside me.

The price you pay for being at one with nature.

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RafflesAmrita Spa
6th Floor, Raffles The Plaza
80 Bras Basah Road
Tel: 6431-5600
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm

SPRAWLED over 50,000 sq ft on three levels, this award-winning flagship spa set up in 2000 is one of the largest in Asia, with over 35 treatment rooms.

In infrastructure it is faultless, with water and steam therapy capsules, relaxation lounges, meditation alcoves, whirlpools, cool plunges, steam and sauna rooms, two free-form swimming pools and six tennis courts.

It sells three hues of yearly membership - Platinum, Gold and Silver - which start from $2,800.

Its well-heeled clientele range from CEOs to tai tais all chasing the elixir of eternal youth, which is incidentally what Amrita means in Sanskrit.

They all flock there for its best-kept secret - the super-luxe Caviar Facial, which costs $280++. The 105-minute anti-ageing treatment uses Caspian Sea caviar, a medicinal plant known in Chinese as 'Chai Hu' and caffeine, and is said to dramatically improve skin moisture and restore suppleness.

It involves three elaborate peels, scrubs and exfoliation, at the end of which you feel every square centimetre of your face has been thoroughly pummelled, kneaded and irrigated.

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The Oriental Spa
5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square
Tel: 6885-3533
Opening hours: 10am to 11pm

OLD-WORLD luxury beckons when you wade into the thick tan carpets of The Oriental Spa, a dimly lit haven which continues the exquisite tradition of the hotel chain's celebrated spas worldwide.

After a multi-million-dollar makeover two years ago, it now has the most chic and coherent identity among all the spas in Singapore. Warm walnut timber flooring, Asian motif panels, lacquer paintings and antique Chinese furniture echo its Oriental-inspired theme throughout.

All therapies begin with a fragrant towel and herbal tea, and the respectful removal of your shoes in exchange for terry cloth slippers.

The menu here boasts an array of holistic therapies such as the ever popular Heavenly Experience Hot Stones Massage (85 minutes, $180++) and facials (starting at $105++) using Comfort Zone products from Italy.

Try the signature Oriental Massage, a 85-minute rub blending Swedish, Thai and Shiatsu techniques. One of the priciest in town, it costs $165++. But it hits the spot for someone who doesn't equate pain with pleasure yet appreciates a skilful, knowing knead.

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Andana@Orchard
#06-19/26 Paragon, 290 Orchard Road
Tel: 6836-9988
Opening Hours: 10am to 11pm

YOU may be queen for an hour while you are being oiled and kneaded. But how quickly time passes! This is where Andana@Orchard sets itself apart from most spas in the town area.

Rather than send you off packing after an hour of bliss, it encourages you to spend the day there with healthy meals, nourishing drinks and free movies.

Its trademark Deluxe Spa Package ($148) offers you those luxuries, along with a 45-minute massage (shiatsu or aromatherapy) and the use of the spa's hot and cold water therapy pools, steam room and sauna.

The 22,000-sq-ft spa has a stone-and-water theme, suggesting cool grottos and babbling brooks, and large reception area.

For bejewelled tai-tais, there are safe deposit boxes for valuables. Obviously, mere lockers are not enough for big spenders.

The changing rooms are clean and inviting. And rather than a mere robe, guests are outfitted in elegant gold and black camisole tops and shorts, with matching robes. The only thing out of place were the inelegant man-sized green plastic slippers.

But the shiatsu massage I received was totally no-frills. The therapist was professional when it came to the treatment, but not in the art of pampering or soft touches. For example, rather than placing my arm gently back in place after working on it, she simply let it fall out of her grasp, causing it to drop off the table.

Other than that, there was little to complain about except, perhaps, for the fact that in this fast-paced world, time - whether it is to watch a free movie or to enjoy a meal - is the greatest luxury one can ill afford.

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The Retreat Spa & Thalasso Centre
Changi Village Hotel
1 Netheravon Road
Tel: 6738-0080
Opening hours: 10am to 9pm

THIS flagship spa of The Retreat group has won raves for its views alone. All its seven rooms on the eight and ninth storey deck of the refurbished Changi Village Hotel afford sweeping vistas of neighbouring islets and passing ships.

Ascend a spiral staircase to Level Nine to behold its crown jewels - two for-couples-only Divine Suites. These have bubbling jacuzzis perched on a balcony deck so you feel like you are soaking in mid-air.

The spa made a splash as Singapore's first and only full-fledged Thalasso (which means sea in Greek) centre when it opened at the end of 2004. It has since won over many a harried professional with its treatments which combine mineral-rich sea water, mud, algae and sand products from French brand Phytomer.

I tried its $138 Balneotherapy (healing with sea water) package, which began with having my feet soaked in warmed sea water, an unusually unabrasive sea salt scrub, then a lulling 20-minute back massage.

This was followed by hydrotherapy, where I lay face-down on a drainage tray of a white spaceship-like coffin. As my body was rhythmically pelted by freeze-dried sea water, my head peeped out from an aperture. Thirty minutes passed with the masseuse doing her best to shield my eyes from the spray while intermittenly massaging my temples.

I left two hours later, believing as the Victorians did, that there was no more fashionable way to unwind than 'taking in the sea air'.

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The medSpa
#12-03 Camden Medical Centre
1 Orchard Boulevard
Tel: 6887-3087
Opening hours: 10am to 7pm on weekdays, 10am to 5pm on Saturdays

WHEN medSpa opened last year, scandalised Singaporeans used to barge in to ask the receptionist point-blank: 'Wah, how come you charge so much for a facial?'

Its signature 100-minute UltrasonoPeel Ultrasonic Microdermabrasion facial costs $380, with premium packages up to $720. An hour-long Deep Lymphatic Drainage massage costs $120.

Yet, the swanky 3,000-sq-ft spa has a steady stream of clients.

It has the sterile feel of a clinic. Its consultant is plastic surgeon Ivor Lim, who practises next door at the Plastic & Hand Surgery. There is also a cautious absence of spurious claims.

Throughout my 100-minute signature facial, the staff took a 'see for yourself' results-oriented approach, brandishing a mirror at strategic moments so I could see the effects of all that buffing and scrubbing.

After two rounds of intense exfoliation cleansing, a metallic gadget was used to skim across my face, removing dead skin cells. It was followed by a chilly vitamin C mask, a facial massage to promote lymphatic drainage, a seaweed mask and a profuse application of a recovery ointment, then sunscreen. The end result: I emerged, if not 10 years younger,

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Earth Sanctuary Day Spa
86 Club Street
Tel: 6324-7933
Opening hours: 11am to 9pm on weekdays, 10am to 7pm on weekends

SMALL and cramped. Or cosy and personable.

Whichever way you look at it, the narrow layout of this shophouse spa - especially when you first walk in and see that the receptionist's table is just a desk - is nothing to shout about.

Earth Sanctuary's signature treatment is the Hawaiian Kahuna Bodywork massage ($180 for 80 minutes). I was coated in so much oil I felt like a you tiao (fried dough fritter), but its key feature - deep, long rhythmic strokes - did wonders to drive away aches and pains.

Of course, to achieve that, I had to get stark naked first. Usually, spas require you to strip down and wear an unflattering pair of balloon-like disposable undies. Here, I wore - for the first time in my life - a disposable G-string.

But it fared less well in little details though. There is no waiting room to speak of and my therapist, a middle-aged Chinese woman, only spoke to instruct me to shift my body.

When I showered after the massage, she stayed in the room to pack up. I could see her silhouette through the frosted glass of the shower cubicle, which meant she could see me too.

But that aside, this spa, which won the Spa Asia Crystal Award for Best Day Spa (mid-size) recently, is recommended for a quirky urban escape.

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The Asian Spa
Level 1M, Fullerton Hotel
1 Fullerton Square
Tel: 6877-8183
Opening hours: 10am to 11pm

WHEN it first opened in 2001, this 20,000-sq-ft spa designed by renowned hospitality design firm HBA/Hirsch Bedner and managed by SpaCare International was the epitome of luxury.

In its glory days, it was a Top 3 finalist at the Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards and 19th Tourism Awards Singapore 2004's Best Spa Experience.

These days, it's looking somewhat tired, especially around its loos.

One problem is its concept which tries to be all things to all spa-goers.

It's a hotchpotch of too many cultural elements - there's a giddy riot of Zen-inspired corners, Batik splashes, a Thai massage room, mixed in with the odd organza drape.

It offers everything from Javanese Lulur baths and German herb compresses to Japanese Shiatsu and Swedish massages. The result is a lack of coherence and thematic follow-through.

What it has going for it, though, is its own house blend of products, including an orange and lavender sugar scrub.

It's known for offering vigorous massages - ask for steely-fingered Hong - and its Body Rejuvenation package. At $130, it includes a 30-minute body scrub, which must be how a fish feels when it's being descaled.

It gets the job done but makes for just another unmemorable, generic hotel spa experience.

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Mask
2 Handy Road, #02-11
Tel: 6836-4456
Opening hours: 10am to 9pm Monday to Saturday; 10am-7pm on Sunday

I'M PRETTY jaded about spas in Singapore but Spa Esprit's new-concept outlet Mask tickled my curiosity.

Touted as an urban getaway, it offers a 35-minute facial-head-shoulder-massage for $58, and the 60-minute SuperModel facial and massage for $80.

There is also the IT specialist, a 90-minute, $280 treatment massage with a vibrating machine that creates electro pulses to zap vitamin C and healing enzymes and amino acids into your skin.

Spa Esprit's managing director Cynthia Chua said: 'Some people say it's like having a power nap.' The facials are done in a zero-gravity chair that tilts back 45 degrees, enhancing blood circulation.

Products are from Manhattan-based Malin and Goetz, a brand that marketing director Jerry de Souza described as coming up with 'achingly hip products'.

Co-founder Matthew Malin used to develop beauty products for Kiehl's and Prada. Said Mr de Souza: 'Each formula blends natural ingredients with performance technology.'

The stuff they smeared over my face smelt heavenly indeed.

Cold and warm towels, a grapefruit cleanser, a tingling ice-cold mask of first oatmeal then almond, the waft of essential oil scents and the gentle touch of therapist Jazz's hands...and I was soon in a state of spa-induced bliss.

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Ning The Fusion Spa
MacDonald House
40A Orchard Road
Tel: 6737-0303
Opening hours: 10am to 9pm on weekdays; 9.30am to 8.30pm on weekends

NING is slimming chain Expressions' premium spa outlet here.

It combines slimming centre with city spa, and gave me the sense that it was less an exclusive retreat than a slimming place that also happens to offer massages and facials.

Having said that, Ning does make an effort to pamper its customers. Occupying the top two floors of 10-storey MacDonald House, its roof terrace boasts three Balinese-style pavilions. Here, you can enjoy the unique experience of having an open-air massage in the heart of Orchard Road, away from prying eyes.

Every spa package also starts with a relaxing 10-minute foot bath. All-natural, plant-based products from Australian brand Jurlique are used. The choice of treatments ranges from the exotic - a Black Borneo Lur Lur exfoliation to cleanse and soothe ($60 for 30 minutes) - to the classic - a full body Swedish massage ($90 for 50 minutes).

I tried the 3 1/2-hour Ning Spa Concoction package ($440), which includes the Lur Lur exfoliation, Swedish massage, a chocolate wrap and a facial. But I found myself getting bored two-thirds into the lengthy ritual.

This spa squeezes its outdoor treatment area, eight indoor treatment rooms and a relaxation area into just 6,000 sq ft of space. If you value solitude and space, you might want to think twice about going there on weekends.

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All treatments reviewed were sponsored by the spas