ILAND Herbal Spa is a large resort facility that runs its own transfers from hotels. Service is attentive, with a staff member assigned to each guest, and most visitors take the herbal sauna, jacuzzi and massage as a set. The grounds are carefully kept.

Beside the massage block is a pool-style cold bath at a temperature you could stay in indefinitely; nobody swims in it. The sauna room itself is pitched for everyone — mild steam, mild scent, mostly citrus, using the kaffir lime (makrut) that is common in Thailand, both leaf and rind, with an aroma somewhere between yuzu and sansho.

The steam generator is an industrial unit run from a single switch, with a cylinder of herbs inserted into it at an angle so that half the material is decocted and half releases its scent as steam — a structure that balances how often the herbs are changed against how long the scent lasts. A herb garden on site is kept for visitors to see. Visited by JRHA on 3 November 2024.

This is an English summary. The full article was written in Japanese. Original article in Japanese →