MONTREAL - After being stuck inside the house healing from knee surgery and being cold all the time I decided, screw this, I need a hot tub day. Maybe you need one too? I mean shopping for presents, having to dig your car out of 5 feet of snow and the 4 hours of daylight we’re getting can take a toll on your body right? What I’m about to share with you is a no brainer in my opinion, it’s something we should all be doing at least once this winter....

When I first thought about a spa day I figured that meant heading up north for a night and soaking in some hotels’ hot tub. I quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be cheap. Car rental, hotel stay, crazy hotel food prices, etc.. so then I thought ok, there has to be some really cool place in Montreal that won’t be as expensive. I asked around and a friend suggested a place in Old Montreal called Spa Scandinave Montreal, or Scandinave - Les Bains Vieux-Montreal to be exact. I recall having experienced the Scandinave spa up near Mont-Tremblant years ago when we had a company spa day and remember it being pretty cool. I had no idea they had opened one in Old Montreal so I decided to initiate operation spa day.

I invited a friend to come hang out and made reservations for 2 people. It’s a good thing that I did because they limit the amount of people using the baths. In a nutshell, once you make reservations and reserve a time at the spa you’re charged $54 / person which grants you access to the spa for up to 3 hours. I booked from 2pm to 5pm and then a massage at 5:15 to 6:30. The massages aren’t cheap but I wanted one, figured it would help with my knee surgery (or any other excuse..... either way I was getting one lol) All you need to show up with is your bathing suit and credit card, the rest is taken care of.

We showed up at the Spa Scandinave and the friendly girl at the counter made us read and sign a basic waiver form. You know the standard you can’t sue us, be nice to everyone type of forms. She then confirmed my massage time and handed us each a bathrobe, two towels and rubber slippers. She then showed a photo of the spas layout and explained how the rubber bracelet locker keys work. I thought it was smart of them to take out a make-shift lock and actually show us how these locks worked because I definitely wouldn’t have figured it out quickly. After that we took our shoes off and checked our jackets. It was now time to change and begin spa day!

When you walk out of the locker room you’ll notice the dim lighting, the sound of a waterfall, people walking around in bathrobes or their bathing suits. I felt like I had just checked in a small boutique hotel, dressed like Hugh Hefner. I walked around and explored a little loving the look. To the right you’ll see a small bar where you can get glasses of water, order smoothies which they charge to your card so there’s no need to carry any cash. You’ll also see a few funky chill chairs where couples take naps. It’s all quite here, everyone’s very respectful of not being too loud which I loved. No kids running around, not too busy, just right. Now to your left and around the corner you’ll see the giant hot tub....more like a massive bath, kinda like the ones we see in bathhouses in Budapest. I’d say that bad boy could fit 50 people easily.

Sitting under the warm waterfall felt nice, I was beginning to loosen up. After about 15 mins here they suggested you take a quick dip in the cold plunge pool which I guarantee will take your breath away. The next step was to sit in the steam room and open up those lungs. When you walk in you’ll immediately notice the delightful smell of what I thought was tiger balm. Lying in there for 10+ minutes really gets you sweating and opens up those lungs. I was now ready for another cold shower and the final phase of this cycle......nap time!

Supposedly there’s a process we’re suppose to follow, it’s hot, cold, rest with each cycle should taking about 30 mins. After my first cycle I was beginning to feel a lot more relaxed. It’s amazing how we can really feel the stress leaving our bodies....almost magical. After 2 more cycles that’s when it really kicked in, I was relaxed! You know when you fall asleep and you wake yourself up because you’ve twitched, or passed gas, well that’s how relaxed I felt. Fortunately I twitched :) Spa Scandinave was working its magic and I had forgotten that I was in Montreal during winter.

Adjacent to the napping area there’s a no stress room (even more quiet) which is so quiet you can hear yourself swallowing. In my next cycle I made sure to try their large sauna room. As I relaxed I really began thinking about what the spa Scandinave team had created, it was impressive. They had successfully tackled many little details such as; they didn’t book the baths with too many people, the blenders were placed in special areas to reduce noise pollution and they even included a spray on deodorant in the locker rooms. Everything was well planed out, there really wasn’t a need for us to bring much at the spa, a truly relaxing experience.

Five o’clock rolled around pretty quickly. It was time for my friend to leave the spa, i however, had one last thing to do....a 90 minute Swedish massage. After filling out a basic form and circling the areas I wanted the most attention (insert dirty joke here) I was greeted by a cute girl named Sarah K. She was really good, very professional, and I received the full hour and a half massage. Operation day spa was a great success. I left Spa Scandinave in Old Montreal thinking why in the hell didn’t I do this more often? I mean for about $54 you leave feeling so much better, relaxed, almost like a new man. I’m telling you guys, if you want to make your woman happy take them here for an afternoon and trust me, she’ll let you watch all the football you want on Sundays. We’ll maybe for a month, and then you’ll just have to bring her back again :)