In Hà Nội there's a street named Lãn Ông, after the father of Vietnamese medicine. Herb sellers have lined it for centuries — you smell the street before you reach it. Ngải is right there, at number 53B.
Ngải's founder is not a physician. She married into a family of traditional medicine and started learning: how to read a tired body, what every herb is good for, what the old master had written down. In those books she came across mugwort — ngải cứu. In her family's hands she saw what it could do: hơ ngải, moxibustion, a stick of dried mugwort burned slowly above the skin. A therapy that needs nothing but a herb growing in gardens all over Việt Nam — and one UNESCO has since listed as intangible cultural heritage. The spa is named after it: Ngải.
Two locations in Hanoi
The Lãn Ông branch sits inside the Old Quarter, on the street Hanoi has known for generations as the place for herbs — walkable from Hoàn Kiếm Lake. The Phan Kế Bính branch is in Ngọc Hà ward, quieter and easier if you are coming by car. Both run the same treatments, by therapists trained the same way — at Lãn Ông you're on the street itself, at Phan Kế Bính it's the same blend, mixed the same way: nothing swapped, nothing left out.
Open 11:00 – 22:00, every day of the week, at both locations.
What makes a session here different
Six groups of treatments, from therapeutic neck-and-back massage to facials and complete packages. Each group takes its own route and does its own work. Pick the one your body is asking for — or just come in, and a therapist will read it for you.
The steps of one complete healing
Each step prepares the next — the full sequence used in Ngải Signature, the most complete session:
- Herbal soak — wooden tub, warm herbs, softening muscle and opening pores
- Moxibustion — mugwort warmth reaching deep into acupoints, clearing cold
- Aroma Steam — warm vapour carrying oils into muscle and tendon
- Acupressure — therapists find the right knots and work deep, not the surface
- Release — clearing stagnation so the body can breathe
- Gua sha & cupping — easing colds and freeing the meridians the traditional way
Prices
Prices in thousands of VND, before VAT.
- Therapeutic massage — from 690k, 65–100 min
- Relaxing massage — from 590k, 65–100 min
- Facial care — from 590k, 30–60 min
- Body care — from 290k, 20–60 min
- Foot massage — from 290k, 20–60 min
- Complete packages — from 1,250k, 110–180 min
See the full price list for every treatment.
What guests say
Ngải doesn't grade itself. Nearly 10 years in, Ngải holds thousands of five-star reviews on Google Maps across both locations. Tripadvisor has named Ngải a Travellers' Choice three years running (2023, 2025, 2026) — Top 10% worldwide each time.
Real reviews, one from each location:
FAQ
Which location should I choose?
Lãn Ông if you're staying in or near the Old Quarter and want to walk in. Phan Kế Bính if
you're coming by car or staying in Ba Đình — both run identical treatments.
Do you take card or cash?
Cash, bank transfer and Visa/MasterCard credit cards, all welcome.
Is tipping expected?
Not expected — tip if you'd like to, entirely up to you.
Is Ngải a physiotherapy clinic?
No. Ngải is a spa for body and mind, not a medical facility, and doesn't treat illness. Ngải studies and applies principles from physiotherapy massage — how to read a tensed muscle, how to work along the muscle fibre instead of just the surface — and brings that into Ngải's own therapy. If you have a health concern, check with a doctor first.
Visit Ngải
Open 11:00 – 22:00 every day of the week.
Location 1 — Lãn Ông
Location 2 — Phan Kế Bính
Book a session in Hanoi?
Two locations, open 11:00 – 22:00 every day.