Review of Spa 88 aka Wall Street Bath and Spa - A Russian Bath House

Spa 88 Has Those Who Can't Get Enough and Those Who Can't Kvetch Enough

                                               Eucalyptus Steam Room

According to the website for Spa 88:  The steamroom combines the therapeutic effects of moist heat with inhalation therapy. Inside our therapists can perform several body treatments such as full body wash, scrub or Platza. 

 I've never been to a Russian bath house, but apparently you don't want to compare this to the luxury spas we've been reviewing elsewhere in this blog.  Also, this is NY, not Maui or Orange County.  Some of the reviewers kindly note that Spa 88 is a "little rough around the edges."  There is talk of "hairy old Russian Men."  Then an old Russian man reviews the place and says "What do you expect?"

Though there are detractors, there appears to be a very large crowd of those who love the place and come regularly.  So much so that Saturdays are described as "crowded."

One thing comes through all of the talk.  It would appear that hairy old Russian men and young girls can agree on this:  Eucalyptus Oil is important in the steam room.  As Joana K says, "my sinuses never felt so clear..."

Joanna K.

2/14/2010

4 hours passed before I knew it, and we ended up closing the place down. The wet steam room had eucalyptus in the air so my sinuses never felt so clear as they did after several minutes there.

 

Joann L.

12/27/2011

This was my first banya experience. 

I'm glad we did because I loved it there.  The steam room was so refreshing and in one of the rooms, there were regulars there who go every saturday.  One man, who I'm assuming is a masseur, was giving massages to people who had some injuries.  He also brought his own body scrub, oils, etc and taught people how to use them to exfoliate and improve their banya experience.  It was fun meeting all these different people and relaxing at the same time.

Shannon Z.

10/13/2012 

WOW. This place is suberb.

My sister and I went into the locker rooms, changed into our bathing suits and put our robes on. We first went into the dry sauna. This was freaking HOT. I sat on the first ledge and it was already hot after 7 minutes of lying down. I decided to go outside to cool myself down. After cooling down for a good 10 minutes, I went into the eucalyptus steam room and chilled there for 10 minutes, alternating 10 minutes in the steam room with 5 minutes cooling off near the benches.

I did this 3 times. The eucalyptus steam room has to be my favorite room since it's not too hot nor too weak. They steam the room real good cause when I walked in there I could barely see anything that was 2 feet away from me. I love the minty smell you get from the room. A bonus is you can bring your own products and apply them to your body (as long as you don't make a mess of the whole area).