For many people, travel is all about experiencing new things you wouldn’t have an opportunity to experience at home. That can mean glorious new food discoveries, testing your tongue around the words of a new language, or learning a few local dance steps and then putting them to practice in a bar. But if that “new experience” involves stripping down to your birthday suit and getting lathered up by a stranger, you might think twice, right?
On a trip to Istanbul, however, you might subject yourself to just such an experience in the form of a visit to a Istanbul Turkish Hammam (Turkish Baths), have been popular throughout different parts of Europe since the mid-1800s, but there’s nothing like visiting one while you’re actually in Turkey.
Here’s a simple guide to keeping your cool
- First, talk to the receptionist (most of them speak English) and decide on the level of treatment you want. DIY wash? Wash with attendant? Oil massage with that? You’ll pay the receptionist and they’ll take you to a change area, usually your own lockable room, where you’ll undress and leave your things.
- ‘Undress’ means pretty much what you want it to mean. Most hamams have separate steam rooms for men and women. In this situation, men are expected to maintain a certain loin-clothy level of coverage, but women can throw caution, as it were, to the winds. Most Turkish women subtly drape themselves with their cloth when they’re not actually bathing, but if you prefer to bask nude no-one will bat much of an eyelid. If you’re feeling shy, part or all of a swimsuit is acceptable; if you find yourself in the kind of hamam that has mixed-sex steam rooms and male attendants, it’s usual to keep on at least the bottom half of a swimsuit.
- The attendants will give you a cloth (resembling, in most establishments, an over-sized red gingham tea towel). You’ll keep this on to travel from the change rooms to the hamam.
- You’ll be given some shoes by your attendant – either traditional wooden clogs or fluorescent flip-flops. Stick with ’em. As a surface for pratfalls, only banana skins beat out wet marble.
- Once you’ve been shepherded into the hamam you’ll be left to lounge on the heated marble. In most cases, there’ll be a göbektaşı (belly stone), a round central platform where you can loll around like a sunning python. If not, take a seat and lean against the walls. The idea is to sweat, loosening dirt and toxins in preparation for your wash.
- If you’re going self-service, follow this up with a loofah-and-soap rub-down and douse yourself with water from the marble basins. If you’ve forked out for an attendant, they’ll catch up with you after you’ve had a good, 15-minute sweat. You’ll be laid down on the edge of the göbektaşı and sluiced with tepid water, then your attendant will take you in hand.
- First up is a dry massage with a kese (rough mitt). Depending on your attendant, this experience can be delicious (a little like being washed by a giant cat) or tumultuous (picture a tornado made of sandpaper). If you get to feeling like a flayed deer, use the international language of charade to bring it down a notch or two.
- Next will be the soap. The attendant will work up an almighty lather with an enormous sponge and squeeze it all over you: it’s a bit like taking a bubble bath without the bath. The foam (attar of roses? Asses’ milk? Sorry, it’s most likely good ole Head ‘n’ Shoulders) will be worked into every inch of you. Next, more sluicing, followed by a shampoo, and voila, you’re clean as a whistle. The shiny kind.
- If you’ve ordered an oil massage, you’ll be ushered into another room for it. Unless you’re particularly flush, it’s probably best to skip this bit: the massages are brief and often lack finesse, and the oils are hardly deluxe.
- After the massage, either soap or oil, you’re on your own. Many tourists splash-and-dash their way through the hamam experience, leaving immediately after their treatment. Don’t be one of them. Hang around. Overheat, cool down with a dousing, and repeat to fade. Let your muscles turn to toffee and your mind go pleasantly elastic. This is what the hamam is really all about.
Best 10 Hamams in Istanbul
- Çemberlitaş Hamam
- Cağaloğlu Hamam
- Galatasaray Hamam
- Beylerbeyi Hamam
- Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamam
- Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamam
- Çinili Hamam
- Süleymaniye Hamam
- Mihrimah Sultan Hamam
- Firuzağa Hamam
Istanbul, Turkish Baths (Turkish Hammam in Istanbul)
After a long day of sightseeing in dreary and cold weather we decided to give Hamam a try. We left toasty warm and relaxed. Was a great experience. The ambiance at Suleymaiye Hamam was great, staff was attentive and fun to converse with. The whole process was organised well. Visiting a Turkish bath and getting the treatment is an experience…
This was a great thing to do. My granddaughter and I walked over to this 300 year old Turkish Bath around 5:00 on a Sunday evening. After walking most of the day to see the sights in Istanbul this was a wonderful place to relax. We were told that a scene from an Indiana Jones movies was filmed there.
Cağaloglu Hamam is famous in Istanbul for being one of the top 1000 places to visit in the world before you die. And they make no secret of it as this advertisement is the first thing that catches your eye when you turn into the road from the chaos of the Grand Bazaar. I was curious to say the least. I read the leaflet by the door which mentioned famous people who had frequented the place, from the likes of Kate Moss to Jenson Button. Being a huge fan of the latter, I decided if it’s good enough for Jenson…!
So this was my first ever hamam experience in Istanbul. I was welcomed in and provided with a room to get changed in before stepping out in a towel and these wooden clogs which pretty much fit just three of my toes! Minor fail. After shuffling precariously into the hamam, I was told to sit next to a stone sink with a pail. I was unsure what to do but looked around and there were other women pouring water over themselves. Alright, I thought. Monkey see, monkey do. So I did.
Then an attendant came to me and led me by the hand to the hot marble surface in the centre of the room. I was massaged and scrubbed down like never before. I was completely unaware of how tense my shoulders and upper back were but my attendant was diligent in rubbing out every single knot until I was pretty much biting my lip to stop myself from yelping in pain. She even gently said ‘lady’ and guided my hand to my skin to make me feel just how much dirt was coming off me during the scrub and smiled. I was pretty amused to see that during my day of sightseeing, I’d accumulated an impressive film of sunscreen, sweat and dust on my skin which she duly scrubbed away.
The experience was not rushed and the head massage during the shampoo was a highlight. I lay in a hot marble room just off the main hamam after the scrub-down, just to relax. Then I was provided with a towel and patted dry before being handed some free hamam soap and led to my room to relax on the bed or get changed. I met my friend in the cafe on the roof terrace later. We ordered cooling yoghurt drinks and lounged in the balmy evening sunset, zenned out and calm. Great to do after a long day on the go.
Do not miss to go to hamam in Istanbul. First time, I went with my wife and it was great. Try it without second thought.
Great experience of a hammam, the massages i got were excellent.
My visit to the Cemberlitas Hamam was one of my favorite experiences in all of Turkey. Not only was it beautiful and historic, but it was also clean, professional, and well-equipped. It boggles my mind that it was built in 1584 and has been a bath house for centuries.
A friend recommended we visit Kilic Ali Pasa Hamami, guaranteeing we’d come out with our skin layers intact – she was right! We hadn’t managed to fit a visit in to our trip, but an unexpected long flight delay meant I had time.
As a first-timer in a hamam, the ladies were lovely, and explained everything well. Have to agree with one of the other reviewers who mentioned the incredible bubbles – they use a large muslin bag that seems to be doused with soap and swung about for a bit, with the resulting masses of bubbles being poured over you – hard to describe the sensation, but it was lovely! A wonderful experience, highly recommended.
Visit to Kilic Ali Pasa Hamami. I was my first experience to get a Turkish style scrub. Very relaxing and very clean. Highly recommend.
Alright, if you are on the fence about a Turkish bath, just do it! Prior to arriving in Istanbul I spent a few hours researching the various Turkish hamam and needed to find one I could share with my other half. There are two in Istanbul and Suleyman Hamam had the best reviews.
I have to say, they have earned their status. The entire staff was very professional and courteous and at no time was I concerned about a hairy guy scrubbing down my girl. If you are not accustomed to a sauna, then I recommend you take a bottle of water in with you. They sell water there and will bring it to you in the sauna area. The scrub felt great and boy do you sweat throughout the process. What are you waiting for, dive in! It’ll be fodder for rich memories.
What a great experience! We chose this Turkish bath because my husband and I have never tried a Turkish bath and we wanted to try it together.