Bali's Best Massage Really Is At Jari Menari

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Second agenda for Day 2 in Bali: a couple of hours at the spa!

And not just any spa, we were after Bali's best massage that many expats, locals & regular tourists say they have found at Jari Menari. (An opinion backed by my trusty copy of AsiaSpa's Bali Edition, too!)

inside Jari Menari's small garden courtyard

Walking into Jari Menari's simple storefront in the Seminyak area along Jalan Legian, one would definitely not expect to find what was supposed to be the very best massage on the island of Bali here. No entrance gongs or heavy aromatherapy burning in the air... No extra spa frills like welcome drinks or cold towels that we've grown accustomed to in many other spas in Asia. Even its lobby wasn't grand, just a small reception desk and a small boutique selling all kinds of spa stuff from oil burners to sarongs, from fragrant aromatherapy oils to honey ginger bath gels, from yoga pants to silk robes... everything you could possibly need to recreate the spa experience at home!

walking into Jari Menari

We had made bookings thru their website prior to our arrival in Bali (a must for this spa that's almost always fully booked!). The Mister was booked for The Perfect Massage (Rp350,000/90min); I was booked for the Tibetan Singing Bowl Enhanced Massage (Rp350,000/90min); and because we wanted to share this spa experience together without having to take turns with watching the Little Boy, we decided to book the Kids' Massage (Rp300,000/60min) for him, too!

This was probably my favorite thing about this place. That they were so accommodating to guests with young kids. I mean, not a lot of spas welcome young kids so warmly (and for good reason, too!), let alone have a massage designed just for them! So this definitely added points for Jari Menari in my books!!

the small changing room / shower area at Jari Menari

the courtyard right past the sheer white curtains
of the female changing room at Jari Menari

It worked out great since they put us all in a family room that could accommodate all 3 of us. What lovely rooms they were, too! Surrounding a small Japanese-style courtyard with simple shoji doors and pebbled walkways, the rooms themselves were all open-air with a stone wall waterfall & a koi pond to one side. Very simple, very Zen. And with so much green & white everywhere, Buddha figures & the sound of water flowing in little corners, we were all in a relaxed state of mind by the time we had changed into our sarongs and led to our massage room... and the massage hadn't even started yet!

coming out of the changing room
and into the Jari Menari courtyard

the Jari Menari courtyard

One thing to note about Jari Menari is that their massage staff is made up of All-Male Professional Practitioners. Now, I have always preferred female massage therapists and this was my first massage with a male masseuse so at first, I was a bit apprehensive. But Agus, my therapist for that afternoon, was so warm and polite and so professional that I felt very much at ease with him in just seconds.

our massage room for 3 at Jari Menari

Jari Menari translates to 'dancing fingers', and really, what a dance it was! The Mister and I are huge spa addicts & regularly have massages back home and whenever we travel but this, hands down, was the best massage we've ever had in Bali or anywhere else for that matter!

Whoever trained these men is a genius. None of those lazy, repetitive kneading and rolling. At Jari Menari, you could tell there was a system, a choreography... that they were dancing to a silent rythm in their heads. Now, I don't mean to wax poetic about just a massage, but if you ever get the chance to get a massage in Jari Menari, I doubt that you won't end up sounding just like me when that massage is over!

According to the Mister who was stealing glances at me (atleast during the few seconds he managed to stay awake), my therapist looked as if he really was dancing, pulling on my legs, doing stretches and getting into all these strange positions to really get to those tired muscles! When I took a peek at how his massage was going, his therapist had this intense serious look on his face that was set on getting all the knots out of the Mister's tired body. This was some serious bodywork. Why, they even say a silent prayer before they start the massage!

As for the Little Boy, he was fast asleep for a full 45 minutes, almost throughout the entire gentle Kids' Massage. (He did wake up quite abruptly towards the end of the massage though and probably panicked when he realized where he was so he freaked out for a bit, but would later on tell us that he actually enjoyed his massage as well!)

Since I got the Tibetan Singing Bowl massage, the last few minutes of my treatment was devoted to having the Tibetan Singing Bowl placed above certain points of the body where the chakras are and the therapist then strikes the bowl to produce sound vibrations that penetrate the body encouraging adjustments in the energy flow as well as produce a deep sense of relaxation...... I don't even have the words for how this felt but let's just say that I have never felt as relaxed and calm as I have in those few minutes, in my entire life.

Post-massage, we were left in the room to relax for a bit while they prepared our ginger tea. I honestly think they let us rest a bit longer than usual since I'm sure they could tell that we were too blissed out by the time they had finished with us and that we could hardly pull ourselves off the massage bed.

Needless to say, as we left Jari Menari weak-kneed and beyond relaxed, we now agree with everyone who says that Bali's best massage can indeed be found at Jari Menari!