Kissing Fish

Travel

Nomad Luxuries image displaying the process of a fish spa.

{ Neat Feet Spa Blog }

    I consider myself to be an experienced traveler; I’ve met a great deal of people, seen many of the world’s sights and have amazing memories and photos to prove it. This however, was something that definitely caught me off guard. We were on our usual evening stroll in the town of Fira in Santorini, when something blue caught my eye. A spa! No big deal, right? This spa is referred to as the Kissingfish Spa.

                You sit like you would a pedicure and place your feet in water, where tiny fish named Garra Rufa “kiss” your feet. The tradition first started in Turkey, Jordan and Syria. Nicknamed as “Doctor fish, these tiny fish feed only on dead skin.  The therapy is considered to exfoliate, massage and relax during the process. The spa itself was very organized, clean and easy on the eye. I was still baffled; the spa had customers, and many of them. Apparently, this concept is gaining momentum- it happens to have locations in other parts of Greece, the Netherlands, Asia and so on. How did I not know about this fish pedicure?

I couldn’t help but notice the designs of the spas themselves. Take a peak…

Nomad Luxuries image of the fish spa facilities.

{ Kissing Fish Spa Santorini. Photo via Aquarium Design Greece }

Nomad Luxuries image of another fish spa, Aqua Sheko, in London.

{ Aqua Sheko, London}

Nomad Luxuries displaying nautical interior design of a fish spa.

{ Love this. Photo via Aquarium Design Greece  }

                     Even Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America  tried it out. She thought the pedicure tickled and that the fish were cute. Take a look at the video…

What do you all think about this? Is this the new trend?

3 Comments

  1. Jelena
    August 3, 2012 / 2:46 pm

    Amazing..never heard of such a thing..but what a concept. Are there any in the states? Definitely must try this..thanks for sharing

    • Yana
      Author
      August 3, 2012 / 3:34 pm

      I haven’t found any stateside. Seems to have not reached us yet- not sure if this has something to do with regulations or not?! Interested to see if anyone takes the idea and runs with it!

  2. Randi
    July 18, 2013 / 7:46 pm

    I tried this in China while I was there and loved it! I want to get a tank full for home use eventually. It definitely does tickle, but it also smooths and softens the feet.