Why China's 24-hour spas are the hottest new travel trend
A new wave of round-the-clock bathhouses is taking wellness to another level — bundling food, entertainment and sleep into one fun package.
Seeking nirvana in pyjamas? Consider a visit to one of China’s next-generation spa complexes. These 24-hour venues went viral earlier this year, with foreign visitors taking to social media to marvel at the all-in-one leisure resorts. Alongside pools, treatment rooms and saunas, you might find buffets piled with lobster and caviar, video game lounges, juice bars and cinema rooms, plus chill-out zones where attendants cater to every whim — whether that’s a fruit platter or a facial. Some even offer the option to stay the night in a sleep pod.
Known as xiyu zhongxin, they have their roots in Chinese communal bathhouses: places people visited to wash and socialise, perhaps get a massage, back in the days when homes lacked bathrooms. Most of those old-style bathhouses have now gone, and in the past few years all-singing, all-dancing temples to leisure have emerged in their place. One of the first was Tenz Spa, in Shenzhen, having been redesigned in 2023 as a new-style leisure space. Here, guests can move between hot-spring pools and VR gaming rooms, Himalayan salt chambers, unlimited Häagen-Dazs ice cream stations and vast chill-out spaces with personal TVs.
Shenzhen’s close proximity to Hong Kong — which has access to Western social media, unlike mainland China — has made its wellness culture more visible to foreign travellers. However, China’s spa obsession is countrywide. During the Spring Festival holidays of 2025, mega-bathhouses in the frosty northeastern city of Shenyang generated more transactions than those of any other city in the country. According to Meituan, one of China’s main digital service platforms, searches for ‘Shenyang bathhouse’ surged by 166%. One of the biggest, Qinghe Peninsula Hot Spring Resort Hotel, is a vast, multilevel hive of themed hot springs and dining halls, complete with a 168-metre outdoor infinity pool and a spot to get beer and barbecue between soaks.
Another spa destination known for affordability is Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. On the Chinese social media app RedNote, the city’s most ‘liked’ spa is Tang Yue, where a 20-hour pass can be bought online for just 99 yuan (about £11). This gets you access to 11 floors of fun, including karaoke booths and steam rooms with fake lava. Summing up its appeal, one RedNote user wrote:
‘A place for exhausted office workers to recharge their life force — straight-up god-tier.’ eeking nirvana in pyjamas? Consider a visit to one of China’s next-generation spa complexes. These 24-hour venues went viral earlier this year, with foreign visitors taking to social media to marvel at the all-in-one leisure resorts. Alongside pools, treatment rooms and saunas, you might find buffets piled with lobster and caviar, video game lounges, juice bars and cinema rooms, plus chill-out zones where attendants cater to every whim — whether that’s a fruit platter or a facial. Some even offer the option to stay the night in a sleep pod.
Known as xiyu zhongxin, they have their roots in Chinese communal bathhouses: places people visited to wash and socialise, perhaps get a massage, back in the days when homes lacked bathrooms. Most of those old-style bathhouses have now gone, and in the past few years all-singing, all-dancing temples to leisure have emerged in their place. One of the first was Tenz Spa, in Shenzhen, having been redesigned in 2023 as a new-style leisure space. Here, guests can move between hot-spring pools and VR gaming rooms, Himalayan salt chambers, unlimited Häagen-Dazs ice cream stations and vast chill-out spaces with personal TVs.
Shenzhen’s close proximity to Hong Kong — which has access to Western social media, unlike mainland China — has made its wellness culture more visible to foreign travellers. However, China’s spa obsession is countrywide. During the Spring Festival holidays of 2025, mega-bathhouses in the frosty northeastern city of Shenyang generated more transactions than those of any other city in the country. According to Meituan, one of China’s main digital service platforms, searches for ‘Shenyang bathhouse’ surged by 166%. One of the biggest, Qinghe Peninsula Hot Spring Resort Hotel, is a vast, multilevel hive of themed hot springs and dining halls, complete with a 168-metre outdoor infinity pool and a spot to get beer and barbecue between soaks.
Another spa destination known for affordability is Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. On the Chinese social media app RedNote, the city’s most ‘liked’ spa is Tang Yue, where a 20-hour pass can be bought online for just 99 yuan (about £11). This gets you access to 11 floors of fun, including karaoke booths and steam rooms with fake lava. Summing up its appeal, one RedNote user wrote: ‘A place for exhausted office workers to recharge their life force — straight-up god-tier.’
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