If you live somewhere between Parnell and Mission Bay, both of our spas are a realistic choice, and the honest answer is that you will have a good massage at either. But they are not interchangeable, and there are three things that should actually decide it.
1. What you can only get at one
This is the deciding factor for a surprising number of bookings.
- Only at St Heliers — the infrared sauna (45 mins plus a shower, $60 for one, $90 for two), Package B with sauna, body scrub and aromatherapy massage at $280, and Package C with a mini facial at $280.
- Only at the Viaduct — candle therapy massage, using warm melted massage candle wax with Swedish technique (60 mins $140, 90 mins $195, 120 mins $250), the standalone one-hour body scrub at $125, and Package B with a full facial at $295.
Everything else — Thai, aromatherapy, Swedish, deep tissue, coconut oil, back and shoulder, reflexology, hot stone, herbal compress, couple massage and facials — is available at both.
2. Price
St Heliers is consistently a little lower across the menu. The gap is small but real:
- 60-minute massage — Viaduct $115 · St Heliers $105
- 90-minute massage — Viaduct $165 · St Heliers $145
- 90-minute hot stone or herbal compress — Viaduct $175 · St Heliers $160
- 60-minute couple massage — Viaduct $220 · St Heliers $200
- Facial — Viaduct $140 · St Heliers $130
Full lists on the Viaduct pricing page and the St Heliers pricing page.
3. The kind of hour you want
The Viaduct — 1B/124 Customs Street West
This is the after-work spa. You walk out of the office and onto the table, and afterwards the harbour and the Viaduct's restaurants and bars are on your doorstep. It is the right choice for a weekday evening booking, for pairing with dinner, for out-of-town guests staying in the city, and for anyone who does not want to drive anywhere.
It also has two couple rooms, which makes it noticeably easier to get a couples booking at short notice. Phone 027-722-6564.
St Heliers — 417A Tamaki Drive
This is the slow-morning spa: a seaside village on Tamaki Drive with St Heliers Beach at its heart, and the option of a swim or a flat-white walk before or after your treatment. It suits weekend bookings, eastern-bays locals from Mission Bay, Kohimarama and Glendowie, and anyone whose idea of a good afternoon includes the sea.
One couple room, so weekends book out earlier. Phone 027 654 6642. If you live nearby, our local guide for Mission Bay and the eastern bays plans a morning around it.
Getting there without the guesswork
The two spas sit on the same stretch of harbour, but most people reach them in different ways.
The Viaduct is in the CBD at 1B/124 Customs Street West, by Viaduct Harbour. If you work or are staying in the city centre, you can walk. Coming in by train or bus, Waitematā Station (Britomart) is the main downtown hub, and the spa is west of there along Customs Street.
St Heliers is at 417A Tamaki Drive. Without a car, the simplest route is Auckland Transport's TāmakiLink bus, which runs from Waitematā Station along Tāmaki Drive through Mission Bay and Kohimarama Beach to St Heliers Bay — one of the more scenic bus rides in the city. Coming from Mission Bay on foot, Auckland's official visitor guide to St Heliers puts the Tāmaki Drive walk at about 60 minutes one way, which makes a good morning of it either side of a treatment.
Driving to either? Check parking before you set off rather than assuming. And leave a buffer: arriving rushed costs you the first ten minutes of calm, and arriving late can cost you time on the table.
A quick decision table
- Straight after work in the city → Viaduct
- Saturday morning, no rush → St Heliers
- You want the infrared sauna → St Heliers, no alternative
- You want candle therapy → Viaduct, no alternative
- Cheapest equivalent treatment → St Heliers
- Late couples booking at short notice → Viaduct (two rooms)
- Making a whole day of it with a walk and lunch → St Heliers
- Dinner and a date afterwards → Viaduct
"Regulars use both. Viaduct on a Thursday when work has been brutal, St Heliers on a Sunday when it hasn't."
Siri therapist team
The menu, side by side
Available at both spas, at the prices shown as Viaduct / St Heliers:
- Traditional Thai (yoga) massage — 30 min $65/$60 · 60 min $115/$105 · 90 min $165/$145 · 120 min $220/$195
- Aromatherapy, Swedish, deep tissue, warm coconut oil — same four durations, same prices as above
- Back & shoulder and reflexology — 30 min $65/$60 · 45 min $95/$85 · 60 min $115/$105
- Hot stone and Thai herbal compress — 90 min $175/$160 · 120 min $235/$210
- Couple massage (price for two) — 60 min $220/$200 · 90 min $320/$280 · 120 min $430/$370
- Facial — 60 min $140/$130
Packages differ between the branches, so it is worth reading both lists: the Viaduct runs two packages ($245 and $295) and St Heliers runs three ($225, $280 and $280).
The things that are the same
Open seven days, 10.00am to 8.00pm, at both. The same core menu, and the same public holiday arrangements — closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and until 1.00pm on ANZAC Day, with a 15% surcharge on public holidays. Both take online bookings through Fresha, and both sell gift vouchers.
Full addresses, maps and contact details are on the locations page. If you are still torn, book the one you can get to without thinking about traffic — the massage matters more than the postcode.
Common questions
St Heliers only, at 417A Tamaki Drive. A 45-minute session with a shower is $60 for one person and $90 for two. It is not available at the Viaduct.
St Heliers is slightly lower across the menu — for example $105 versus $115 for a 60-minute massage, and $145 versus $165 for 90 minutes.
Both offer it, but the Viaduct has two couple rooms and St Heliers has one, so the Viaduct is easier to book at short notice. St Heliers is the nicer setting if you are making a day of it.
Candle therapy massage, the standalone one-hour body scrub at $125, and Package B with a full facial at $295.
