Right in the heart of Amsterdam, only a stone’s throw from the Amstel River and the picturesque “Skinny Bridge”, is Float Amsterdam www.floatamsterdam.com. Tucked down a side street, there is a notable absence of traffic noise and bustle in this spacious 6-room Ocean Float Room centre with 3 massage rooms, a dry sauna, a vanity area and relaxation zone to complete the picture. It’s a beautiful centre and the whole ambience and decor are very zen-like with its subdued lighting, earthy colours and bamboo/stone accessories.

“People often start coming for floatation therapy to de-stress” says co-owner Colinda Lentze. “Our preferred formula is to encourage visitors to have a massage preceding their float. We consider the combination of the two to be highly effective. It’s also good for business! With a new visitor we always ask them to complete a form and invite them to tell us what’s going on in their body. Then, it emerges that in addition to wanting to relax, they also have lower back pain or a shoulder injury, for example, in which case we can suggest a remedial medical massage as an alternative for the future. This way they progress from a general treatment to something more specific to them and become a more loyal customer. If someone reports that they have a chronic condition from the start, such as Fibromyalgia, we will start them on a Fibromyalgia massage followed by a float; we find this is more effective. Because we are just around the corner from the prestigious Carre Theatre and a 5-minute walk from the National Ballet & Opera, we have a number of performers, including famous ones, seeking us out to recuperate. Because we’re in the city, we also see our fair share of air crew who come in to recover from jet lag. “

Float Therapy Amsterdam Reception

Co-owner, Rob Koene, has another well-established Float therapy centre in The Hague and another about to open on the other side of this town. He describes his winning formula from his 10-year float centre experience: “Since people are more familiar with massage for relaxation than they are with floating, we make a point of having one massage room for every two rooms in my Centres. It also allows us to sell two sessions to the same customer during the same visit. And we always install float rooms in multiples of two because of the high frequency of people who want to float together. Also, the massage can encourage them to visit us for the first few times because they are familiar with it while they get to try out and get the hang of floating. In Amsterdam, we also have a dry water-jet Spa capsule we can offer prior to floating. To my mind the water jets, which pummel your body, are a good enough second-best to having a hands-on massage, which is by far the best – and both are tons better than a mechanised massage. The dry Spa is a bit of a novelty too and gives us something to offer visitors in preparation for going deeper into a float if all the masseurs are fully booked”.