The Best Saunas & Baths in the Middle East

The hammam

The public bath of the Middle East is the hammam. A visit follows a fixed order. The bather warms up on a large heated marble platform under a dome, an attendant scrubs the skin with a rough mitt called a kese and washes it with a mound of soap foam, and the visit ends with tea in the cool entrance hall, wrapped in a thin cotton cloth called a peştemal.

Istanbul

Istanbul has the historic houses. Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı was built in the sixteenth century by the architect Mimar Sinan for an Ottoman admiral, and has been restored and reopened. Men and women bathe there at separate times of day. Çukurcuma Hamamı, from 1831, is smaller and takes mixed groups, so couples and friends can go through the ritual together.

Amman

Alf Layla Wa Layla in Amman follows the same form, with a steam room and a Jacuzzi added. Hammams in the region are usually booked as a package with a set duration, and the attendant leads the guest through each step; this differs from a European sauna, where visitors make their own way round.

A banya in Dubai

Dubai adds a bath from another tradition. Banya Forrest is a Russian banya: a steam room heated by a large stove, where a banya master beats the bather lightly with bundles of oak leaves, followed by a plunge into cold water or a room of snow, and a meal of Russian food afterwards.