Om Spa For Men
The Mall Spa That's Been Here Since 2007
There's something beautifully absurd about taking an escalator past a Koaj and a juice bar to get a massage from a woman named Diana who may or may not know what a trapezius muscle is.
Om Spa For Men sits on the fourth floor of Centro Comercial Rio Sur, a shopping mall in Poblado where you can buy sneakers, eat empanadas, and receive services that TripAdvisor reviewers describe as either "the best spa for men in Medellín" or "just pouring oil all over you and rubbing it around." There is no middle ground. You will either leave rejuvenated or leave a one-star review. The algorithm has spoken.
The place has been operating since 2007, which in Medellín spa years is basically ancient. They've survived multiple economic cycles, a pandemic, and countless tourists who showed up expecting one thing and received... a massage. Sometimes a good one. Sometimes one where, according to one reviewer, "the lady had no idea what she was doing."
Pricing is straightforward: hot stones run about 100,000 pesos ($25 USD), a 90-minute sensory experience hits 180,000 ($45). They offer a four-hand massage, which is exactly what it sounds like—two people, four hands, one you. The math checks out. The experience, based on reviews, ranges from "highly recommended" to "not real massages."
The location is the ultimate plausible deniability. You're in a mall. You could be going anywhere. The phone repair place. The optometrist. The spa on the fourth floor that's been reviewed 91% positively on TripAdvisor but also has multiple reviews titled "Horrible experience!" It's Schrödinger's spa—simultaneously excellent and terrible until you actually go.
Hours are 9 AM to 9:30 PM, which means you can fit a session between lunch and dinner, between meetings, between whatever story you're telling yourself about why you're on the fourth floor of a shopping mall in Poblado. There's a barbershop nearby. You could theoretically get a haircut. A shave. A massage. Return to your hotel looking refreshed and smelling vaguely of essential oils. Nobody asks questions.
The safety rating is high because, well, you're in a mall. Security guards. Cameras. Families eating ice cream one floor down. It's the most wholesome setting possible for whatever happens on the fourth floor. The contrast is part of the charm.
Management responds to negative reviews with the energy of someone who's been doing this for seventeen years and is tired of being confused with other spas. "You are wrong and have visited another spa for men," they wrote to one critic. In a city with dozens of spas for men in shopping centers, mistaken identity is apparently a real issue.
Om Spa isn't trying to be Loutron. It's not a mansion on a hill with gates and discretion fees. It's a mall spa that's been doing mall spa things since before the iPhone existed. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Most people find it adequate. The fourth floor awaits.
