10 Unconventional Spa Treatments You Need to Try

If you're tired of the typical spa offerings like aromatherapy, hot stone massages, and tranquil background music, we’ve got something extraordinary for you!

Why not indulge in a snake massage or let tiny fish nibble away during a pedicure? Consider a cactus needle treatment, a placenta facial, or a scrub made from nightingale droppings. Snail slime is also praised for its skin-revitalizing properties. For full-body relaxation, try a Korean oven sauna or soak in a tub filled with Czech beer.

While these treatments might sound unusual, they’re becoming increasingly popular at luxury spas, as noted by industry experts.

Explore the next 10 pages to discover unique spa treatments and find out where you can experience them.

10: Snake Massage

Looking for a break from the typical spa experience? Ada Barak’s carnivorous plant farm in Israel offers a unique escape, featuring not only exotic plants but also therapeutic snake massages.

The owner reportedly came up with the idea after noticing how guests felt more relaxed after handling a snake she removed from one of her plants. One elderly visitor likened the sensation to a cooling compress, as Barak shared with TIME magazine [source: McGirk and Elazar]. For $80, clients can remove their outer clothing and lie down as small snakes glide over their skin. Many claim the treatment eases migraines and muscle tension. However, as a TIME reporter discovered, there’s also a chance a snake might regurgitate a partially digested mouse onto your skin [source: McGirk and Elazar].

9: Carp Pedicure

The practice of using small carp, called "doctor fish," to exfoliate dead skin by immersing feet in water tanks originated in Turkish salons. This unique treatment has gained popularity in the U.S., with Yvonne's Day Spa in Alexandria, Va., offering a 25-minute fish session followed by a pedicure for $65 [source: Yvonne's Day Spa]. However, health concerns arose when a salon in Kent, Wash., attempted to provide a similar service, leading to its ban by state authorities over fears of pathogen transmission [source: Krishnan].

8: Cactus Massage

Mexican spas blend traditional beauty therapies with local customs, utilizing native ingredients such as cactus, volcanic ash, chocolate, vanilla, and honey. The Four Seasons Resort in Punta Mita, Mexico, provides a tequila-and-sage oil massage, but for a gentler option, the hakali massage uses a warm cactus mixture to detoxify and hydrate the skin, leaving you refreshed. This 50-minute treatment costs $180 [source: Four Seasons Resort].

7: Placenta Facial

If injections of live sheep placenta cells at a Swiss clinic don’t appeal to you, consider this: In 2008, CNN reported a Beverly Hills skin center offering treatments using human placentas sourced from Russian maternity wards, priced at $350 to $500 per session. While scientific evidence is limited, advocates claim placenta-based treatments work wonders for skin damaged by sun and acne [source: Yvkeff]. This practice, originating in Asia, is promoted by Singapore’s Maylande, which offers placenta-based products like tonics, soaps, and facial masks, claiming benefits from clearer skin to enhanced brain function [source: Maylande].

6: Geisha Nightingale Excrement Facial

Geishas, traditional Japanese entertainers, wore thick white makeup with toxic lead and zinc, which harmed their skin. To counteract this, they used a face mask made from nightingale droppings. These droppings contain enzymes that exfoliate dead skin cells and guanine, believed to give the skin a radiant glow.

Shizuka New York Day Spa offers a modern take on this treatment, sanitizing the droppings with ultraviolet light and mixing them with rice bran for exfoliation. This one-hour treatment costs $180 [source: Shizuka].

5: Snail Slime Moisturizer

Snail slime, the sticky secretion snails leave behind, has surprising skincare benefits. Chilean snail farmers noticed their hands became softer, smoother, and healed faster after daily exposure to the slime. This discovery led to the creation of snail slime moisturizers. You don’t need to visit a snail farm to try it—Elicina offers a 1.3-ounce jar for $28.99, marketed as a solution for dry and flaky skin [source: Elicina USA].

4: 24-karat Gold Facial

Recall the iconic scene in "Goldfinger" where James Bond finds a woman coated in gold by Oddjob? Don’t worry—this treatment is nothing like that.

The $475 24-karat gold facial at Santa Fe's Eldorado Hotel and Spa aims to enhance your appearance. The gold-infused serum is said to firm, brighten, and tighten the skin, reduce wrinkles, and slow collagen loss, which prevents sagging. It also claims to diminish age spots [source: Poggi].

3: Detoxification with Leeches

While it may sound medieval or even repulsive, Demi Moore swears by it. The actress revealed on David Letterman’s show in 2008 that she visited an Austrian spa where leeches were used to detoxify her body. She described the process: "You watch it swell up with your blood, getting fatter and fatter—then, when it’s drunk on your blood, it rolls over like it’s stumbling out of a bar" [source: Simpson]. In New York City, the Continuum Center for Health and Healing offers leech therapy for arthritis and other conditions at $600 per session [source: Continuum].

2: Korean Kiln Sauna

The han jeung mak, or kiln sauna, is a centuries-old Korean tradition. Participants sit in a pinewood-heated room, wearing jute garments to shield against the heat. The intense sweating is believed to relax the body, alleviate pain in the shoulders, head, and neck, and improve skin tone. At just $16 per session in Seoul, it’s an affordable wellness treatment [source: Seoul Style].

1: Czech Beer Bath

Legend has it that Cleopatra maintained her beauty by bathing in milk. If dairy isn’t your thing, or you simply prefer beer, the Chodovar family brewery in the Czech Republic offers a unique beer bath experience. Since 2006, their "beer wellness land" has provided a 20-minute soak in specially brewed "bathing beer" designed to rejuvenate the skin and internal organs, followed by a complimentary mug of their rock lager, all for $29. For a bit extra, you can add a massage and spend the night at their adjacent hotel [source: Chodovar].