Surrounded by majestic limestone hills, the facilities at Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat in Ipoh, Malaysia is beautiful and enjoyable, making it a one-of-a-kind experience.
I had come across Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat when I was researching for places to visit in Ipoh, Malaysia. When I saw photos of the resort, I was amazed at how beautiful it looks, what with the surrounding majestic limestone hills, geothermal hot springs and natural caves. I was like, for real, this is in Ipoh?
This resort feels really exclusive as it only accommodates adults and guests 12 years of age and above. The last I check, rates at the resort's villa starts from RM1,850! The good thing is you can buy a day pass from Klook to access the resort's facilities without staying at the resort, but you'll need to be 12 years and older to enjoy the facilities.
At the time of writing, a day pass costs S$106 per pax on Klook. This gives you access to the resort's facilities including the geothermal hot springs dipping pools, thermal steam cave, ice bath, meditation cave, Crystal Cave, Doctor Fish pool, fitness centre and freeform swimming pool from 10am till 7pm. Each pass also includes a RM150 credit which you can use at the resort's Pomelo restaurant and/or spa treatments. More on that later!
Upon arriving at the resort, we were driven by a staff in a buggy to the day spa check in, where were given a quick tour of the facilities. Thereafter, you're free to use the facilities till 7pm.
The facilities at the resort are beautiful but we didn't utilise all of them and only went for those our whole family enjoyed, like the hot springs dipping pools, steam cave, ice bath and a foot reflexology pond next to the Doctor Fish Pool.
Here's our favourite hot springs dipping pools.
There are a total of 4 dipping pools with water temperature of around 38-41 degrees celcius - the temperature is stated at each dipping pool. BTW you're supposed to stay in the dipping pool, you can't go beyond it into the geothermal lake! 😄
During our visit on a weekday, at most only 2 or 3 of the dipping pools were taken. Oh and of course, unlike Japan's onsen, you can wear your swimwear into the dipping pool. Here's a view of the geothermal lake. Absolutely beautiful.
We also really like the swimming pool.
Again it was really quiet, and usually we were the only ones using the pool. It's really nice to swim to a view of limestone hills in the background.
We also used the steam cave quite a bit. A steam cave is a natural sauna and Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat's geothermal steam cave is naturally heated by hot mineral waters flowing beneath the ground. According to the resort, it's good for improving blood circulation and mood, stress relieving, and lowering blood pressure.
The staff there advised that we should go to the steam cave for 10-15 minutes, then use the ice bath dipping pool right after it. Initially, we were wary of using the ice bath as it was really cold when we touched the water but thereafter, we gamely went for it. Right after we came out of the cave, we dipped our whole body into it. It was a bit numbing initially but it felt so refreshing when we emerged from the pool. I highly recommend trying this out! Here's a video capture of me going into the ice bath! 😄
Soon, we got into a routine of swimming in the pool, followed by the hot springs, the steam cave, then the ice bath. We spent much of our morning at these facilities until late lunch at 2pm (we had a very filling buffet breakfast at Lost World Hotel before that).
We also occasionally used the foot reflexology pool, which was a good massage for our soles.
This is right next to Dr Fish Spa. We didn't go for for the fish spa as I've read that fish spa which has fish nibbling off the dead skin on your feet are not the most hygienic. But if you're game, just know that it's available here.
Here's a pic of the Crystal Cave, which you could meditate in.
The natural surroundings is really beautiful and instgrammable too.
We had lunch at Pomelo Restaurant where you could utilise your RM150 per pax credit. While the restaurant is quite pricey for Malaysia standards, the credit is A LOT per person. We ended up ordering four main courses, an appetiser, drinks for everyone and two desserts to share to use up all our credit.
The food was scrumptious and we were all stuffed in the end 😅
We asked to take away some of our pizza and dessert as we couldn't finish everything.
Here's a look at the menu.
Everything we had was excellent. We'd highly recommend using your credits at Pomelo.
You can also use your credits for spa treatments but when enquired at the spa centre, the staff said that most of the services we were looking at, like massage and manicure, need to be booked at least a day in advance. The treatments are also a little pricey and if we went for them, we'd have to pay out of our pockets for our lunch. But just know that you have the option of using the credits at the spa and the restaurant. And if you want to book spa treatments, do inform the spa centre in advance.
After our lunch, it started raining. As we had already used most of the facilities we wanted to, we weren't too bothered by it. The rain got a bit too heavy for swimming, so we ended up at the hot springs again, which had a bit of a shelter with its overhead netting. The hot springs look and feel really different in the rain.
The mist rising from the geothermal lake made the place look so surreal. It felt as if we were in Japan. This might even be better than Japan's onsen - it's less crowded and probably cheaper taking into consideration all the perks and facilities we enjoyed.
In comparison to spending S$100 for 4 tickets to Lost World of Tambun, S$400 for a family of four at a day spa may seem expensive. But my whole family enjoyed this experience very much and also given the RM150 credit per pax, I thought it was a worthwhile spa experience.
This was also a memorable experience for my girls. As they become older, they are starting to appreciate the finer things of life, rather than just going for the theme parks and amusement rides. If you have an older child, I reckon Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat's day spa experience would be a really unique and memorable experience for them.
Bonus tip for your trip:
1) When you arrive at the guard post, let them know you're there for the day spa. When booking through Klook, you're required to choose the date you're visiting. Though the voucher states that it's valid for 90 days from the date of booking, I believe the resort will expect you to visit on the date you chose and they would give the guard post your name on the day you plan to visit. At least the guard post had my name when we arrived.
2) Bring repellant. While there weren't a lot of mozzies at the hot springs and cave area, there were quite a lot of mozzies at the day spa check in area. You might want to spray repellant before arriving at the check in.
3) Shower facilities and amenities are available, with towel and slippers provided. However, there are only 2 shower rooms, so you would have to wait if several people are looking to use the shower facilities at the same time.
For videos, do see the IGS highlights in my IG page: VivianTeoWriter.
Disclaimer: We paid for our day passes. As always, all opinions are ours.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.
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