Photo: Ace Water Spa (Official)

Good day folks! How are you feeling? It’s rainy season here in the Philippines so it’s nice to have a cup of warm coffee and cuddle between the sheets (with your favorite furball, of course). It’s a cold season here indeed. Wouldn’t it be unusual if you want to go out for a swim?

If you want to practice your paddling skills or just want to chill out, Ace Water Spa is one of your best bet. The Spa’s pools are heated so it’s nice to visit the place for a dip. There’s price to pay for this fancy luxury but I think they give a big discount (somewhat like 60% off) when you buy an entrance voucher from a group buying site here in the Philippines named Metrodeal. The voucher would allow you to hang out in their pools for up to 4 hours. I thought we would use up all of those hours but we only stayed for a good 2 hours. It was a decent time to try out all of their hydrotherapy sections in the pool.

Lap Pool viewable from the Reception Area

The spa opens as early as six in the morning and if you plan to redeem your metrodeal voucher there’s no need for you to call for an appointment. We reached the place at around 9:30 am and there were no lines; only few people are using the spa. It was a Tuesday back then so I guess that explains why there were only few swimmers. I think if there are many people lining up, there would have a separate line for those who availed vouchers. We asked the nice receptionist and passed the metrodeal slip with my other sister (because she was the one who availed the slip). As far as I can remember there’s no need to for the buyer to validate them but heck we were just making sure. Anyway, we were then given a paper with a bar code that served as our entrance to the LRT-ish entrance. Just punch the paper on the red scanner and the metal bar will flip open.

 

After you punch it, there’s a direct stairs leading you to the locker area. I don’t have pictures to show you the whole facility because once you enter the locker room, smartphones and cameras are prohibited to bring around the pool area. You will check in your footwear and they’ll give you a bracelet with a key to your locker. I suggest you wear open footwear because drying up your feet afterwards would be a challenge. You have the option to use their free-sized yellow slippers or go barefoot til you reach the pool. It was easy for me to change because I was wearing my swimming gear with a casual clothing on top. Mind you, you should only wear swimsuit made out of spandex (or lycra or elastane). They might offer you to rent one of their swimsuits if yours are cotton or in some other fabric. Their renting rates are shown beside the reception area.

Prohibitions inside the Locker Room

My Locker (thank God nobody saw me taking a picture)

In my experience, the plastic floor mats scattered around are a bit prickly to my soles. My sister had no issue with it, so it’s just me. We didn’t notice before that the showers have hot and cold option. You turn the handle to the right and out comes hot water, and vice versa. If you gauge it right, it would give you lukewarm water. When I showered for the first time (because you are advised to shower before you hit the pool), I flipped the knob to the left so I got bloody cold from the air conditioning (yes, there’s aircon in the locker, changing and shower area) and from showering. I thought I won’t make it out alive LOL. Thank God the pool was heated. When you reach the pool area, there’s an assistant that would hand you a red swimming cap. It’s a must to put it on when you’re at the spa and you must return it when you’re done swimming.

There were literally only two large pools at Ace Water Spa, plus a kiddie pool. One is a lap pool which is only about 4 feet and is viewable at the reception area, and the other is a large heated pool with different hydrotherapy sections (sorry I forgot the name of each section). You will also be amazed at the large and tall waterfall that would welcome you when you drift away at the pool. The waterfall emits cold water though so I didn’t enjoy massaging my back on that area.

Hydrotherapy Pool | Photo: Ace Water Spa (Official)

There were 4 jacuzzi-like pools separate from the two large pools, and they offer different kinds of aromatherapy. Next to these small pools are the sauna room and the steam room. Then in the middle of the Jacuzzi pools is an oval-shaped pool with ice cold water. There was also a bucket shower and another type of shower next to it. You use them after you soak yourself from one of the hot pools. It goes like this: hot Jacuzzi – cold soak (oval pool or bucket shower) – hot jacuzzi – cold soak – hot Jacuzzi – cold soak. After you’re done with this type of therapy, you must hydrate yourself. There’s a drinking station (don’t worry, the water is purified with hot and cold options beside the sauna and steam room to replenish those lost water from the sauna, Jacuzzi or steam room. There was also a drinking station beside the shelves where you put your towel just below the stairs. We didn’t bring our towels because we thought it might get lost (oh well). There’s a fine if you lost your towel (rented or not).

Jacuzzi Pools | Photo: Ace Water Spa (Official)

I enjoyed drifting around the outskirts of the pool (there’s a board near the pool’s stairs for you to drift on). I also liked the rain shower hydrotherapy where you lie down, face downward and there’s a jet of rain pricking your back. Plus, my back felt massaged on their other pressurized shower. But what I loved the most is the sauna. Sure, I just sat there and reminisce about some things to get my mind busy but staying there was the most therapeutic of them all. I felt clean after using the sauna and I didn’t scream when I soaked in the ice cold pool afterwards, unlike my first time (yes, it’s that c-c-cold). Each therapy section has a button to start it up and has an automatic time setter so you know the therapy is done if the hydro-jet bubbles stop. I think the average time would last about 3 minutes. We tried it all in under an hour and just kept coming back to the sections we liked the most. There were massage pools that target your chest area (if you're a man), back area, buttocks, stomach, and limbs. The hydrojet doesn't hurt but it sure did misplace my tanks so I was holding it for dear life.

After we’re done we headed for the shower, waited for our turn to use the hair dryer (there were only two), took a couple of free qtips, and surrendered our locker keys. Overall, I had fun at Ace Water Spa. It’s an affordable luxury at the heart of the city, in any weather condition.