From Turkish hammams to Slovakian spas: How to take a grand bathhouse tour of Europe

11.01.2025 - 07:09 / euronews.com

I’m a big bather, but I’m from the UK, which doesn’t have a strong bathing culture. I live near an abandoned Victorian bath house, public pools have closed across the country, andour rivers are not for swimmers.

So, when I holiday, I seek places where I can soak or steam: Istanbul’s hammams, Budapest’s historic baths, Helsinki’s saunas. 

Upmarket spa culture isn’t for me, nor the luxury of solitude - I want people doing calisthenics and chatting. I want immersion in social histories, from 19th century invalids taking the waters in German spa towns to 21st century influencers rediscovering wild swimming and cold-water therapy.

There might be no better way to get the sense of a place than by taking a dip - so here are some bathing experiences to try.

It didn’t feel like skipping the sightseeing when I chose to spend every afternoon of my time in Budapest in a different bathhouse. 

There are 1,300 thermal water springs in Hungary, and 123 of them are in the capital, welling up into baths that date from different periods of the city’s history. They span the 16th century, Ottoman-style Rudas Bath, Gellert Bath with its Art Nouveau tiling and mosaics, and the massive Neo-Baroque Szechenyi Bath, one of the largest in Europe. 

Yes, admire the architecture, but people-watching is where it’s really at - these are massive, social spaces for chilling and chatting.

“Bulgaria is among the countries richest in mineral waters in Europe,” says Lyubomir Aleksandrov, of Sofia-based travel company Green Valleys. 

There are hundreds of springs in the country, and some are the hottest on the continent, reaching up to 100°C. 

The Romans enjoyed bathing in what is now modern-day Sofia. Today, it’s very typical for Bulgarians to use springs, Lyubo says, for physical wellness, or just to lift their mood. 

In the countryside, mineral goodness and mountain air combine: visitors hiking in the Pirin or Rodophe Mountains can end their days soaking tired muscles in spa hotels.

“I think it’s difficult for foreigners coming to Finland to understand how deeply it’s part of Finnish culture,” explains Petri Leinonen, a guide at Finnish nature travel company Upitrek. 

Aside from the hygiene, the warmth, and the health benefits, “It’s a place for being honest and open in your deeper feelings and being equals, because there are no signs of your social status. Everyone is equal in the benches of sauna.” 

Petri’s father was born in a smoke sauna - a practice that has all but vanished now. Traditionally, sauna is a spiritual place, too. “The steam - the löyly - that’s the spirit of the sauna, and you can connect in this way in the sauna to the spiritual part of your life.” 

Everything is going great at the hammam. You’ve laid on the monumental marble slab