Do you like to take a steam bath in a sauna or a bathhouse? Then see what the largest and most beautiful public sauna in the world looks like, which offers stunning views of the Arctic Sea.

9 PHOTOS

1. This sauna is located on the small island of Sandhornøya in Norway. It was built as part of the SALT Festival, an event that focuses on showcasing the beauty of Arctic nature and Nordic culture through art and architecture installations, as well as musical events. (Photo: fubiz.net).

2. The sauna can accommodate 100 visitors at the same time. People come here not only to take a steam bath, but also to enjoy a beautiful view of the Arctic Sea through a huge panoramic window. (Photo: fubiz.net).

3. Arctic climate, sea and relaxation on warm boards - you will find such an atmosphere in the recently opened, largest sauna in the world. (Photo: fubiz.net).
4. The interior design of the Agora sauna, as it is called, is made in the style of amphitheater architecture, and the role of the stage is played by a huge panoramic window from which a beautiful landscape opens. (Photo: fubiz.net).
5. Sauna is not only a hot rest, first of all it is health. According to the American Journal of Cardiology, under the influence of elevated temperature in the human body, the “happiness hormones” - serotonin - are released. (Photo: fubiz.net).
6. Do you know that the sauna is already 2000 years old? Most likely, the first saunas appeared in Finland, although some scientists claim that in Sweden. In the initial period, saunas served as a shelter from frost, it was a winter dwelling in which the Finns moved with the arrival of cold weather. Saunas were heated with stones, preheated in the heat of a fire. Then they were poured with water so that the resulting steam created a feeling of higher temperature. (Photo: fubiz.net).
7. Over time, the Finns began to visit the sauna for completely different reasons. It has become a place of body cleansing and relaxation. Pretty soon, people realized that after regular visits to the sauna, their mood and general condition of the body improves, so it became an everyday ritual and turned into a Finnish national tradition. There are now more saunas in Finland than houses, and saunas have become popular all over the world. (Photo: fubiz.net).
8. The huge sauna on Sandhornøya is just a temporary building. (Photo: fubiz.net).
9. In the coming years, the sauna will be dismantled to be built in other northern regions of the world, including Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Alaska, Svalbard, Ireland, Scotland and Russia. (Photo: fubiz.net ).

Do you love the bath and know everything about the bath? Have you ever soared on a funicular or tram? A broom and a tub are not enough for people of our time, give them something unusual. And after all, they serve it - in the strangest baths in the world. Let's go through them.

Extreme sauna in Ylläs (Finland)

Why is there a lift in ski resorts? Of course, for the quick ascent of skiers to the slope. But in Finland they decided differently: why don’t those who are inside the lift not spend time with benefit? During the entire time that the lift goes up and then down, vacationers can enjoy all the delights of a real steam room. "Flying bath" is designed for a company of four people. An extreme part of the "cultural program" can be the traditional "diving" into the snow on one of the mountain peaks.

Bath-message in Milan (Italy)

While Estonians are participating in a large-scale sauna marathon and running around the city, looking for saunas using maps, Italians offer tourists a more measured option - a sauna in a tram car. The authors of the idea planned to prove to everyone that Milan public transport is not a place to get another portion of stress. They are sure that in city trams one can relax, dream and have a rest. Unusual bath is ready to take up to 10 people at the same time. After a standard set of procedures, vacationers can take a breath in front of a plasma screen, on which videos about the history of Milan's public transport are played non-stop.

Sauna is not for everyone in Budapest (Hungary)

At the foot of Mount Gellert stands a luxurious hotel built at the beginning of the last century. But all fans of spa treatments know this place thanks to the famous Gellert baths. Marble columns, monumental arches, stained-glass windows of amazing beauty, exquisite mosaics in steam rooms and baths… A truly charming atmosphere has been created here. Vacationers are invited to visit three levels. Perhaps, all the most interesting awaits the guests of the lower tier: there is a hammam, a sauna and three baths. The water in each bath is of a certain temperature: cold, warm and hot. Bath treatments can be supplemented with a massage or a mud bath. On the second level there is a swimming pool, the roof over which moves apart. The pool is surrounded by a two-tier colonnade with galleries. In the yard there is another pool with its "excesses": an artificial wave and cascades of stone terraces.

Bath for contemplators in Tokyo (Japan)

Many things in the Land of the Rising Sun seem surprising and unusual to Europeans, including public sento baths. Sterile cleanliness, tranquility, the absolute absence of haste or fuss along with a strict sequence of all procedures are the main features of Japanese baths. One of the most popular sento is the Daikoku-Yu bath in Tokyo. It first opened its doors to visitors in 1927. In the 90s, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out inside the building, while the external appearance remained intact. Today, few tourists can distinguish a public bath in the outlines of a Buddhist temple. Without exception, all sento visitors must comply with the most stringent requirements, so bathing procedures are slightly reminiscent of a measured ritual. Get rid of shoes first, then clothes. Next, thoroughly wash yourself in the shower on a special tiny stool, and only then take a dive into one of the baths, where you can finally completely relax. By the way, the bath is shared: several people can be in it at the same time. In Daikoku-Yu there are several such baths, with hot and cool water, as well as with a massage effect. Another bath - roten-buro - is located in the courtyard, which is surrounded by a small garden, of course, in the Japanese style. Those with tattoos are usually reluctant to enter sento, but in Daikoku-Yu, they say, you can easily find yourself in the same bath with a yakuza whose body is painted “under Khokhloma”. It is interesting that recently, in an attempt to popularize sento among tourists, the owners, with the support of local authorities, began to publish special instructions-comics that do not allow breaking the main rules of sento.

Steam room for party people in Berlin (Germany)

In 2005, the Liquidrom bathhouse was opened in Berlin - an ideal option for party-goers. A visit to the steam room, diving in the pool or massage treatments are accompanied by popular dj sets. Those who wish are invited to visit the Finnish sauna, salt cave or visit the panoramic sauna, one of the walls of which is made of glass. Every hour the lucky ones can get free massage treatments: honey, salt or aromatic. If you want more intense relaxation, you can order a Balinese massage with herbal bags or a Thai massage with hot stones. A favorite place for guests is a huge swimming pool, where impromptu discos are held - cheerful music combined with multi-colored lighting create the necessary mood. Interestingly, if you dive, it seems as if loud music is playing in the headphones. In addition, live concerts are organized by the pool on weekends for every taste: from classical and jazz to rock and electronica.

Space bath (CS "Mir")

Is there life on Mars? Science does not know this. But it is known for certain that a real sauna was once located on the Mir space station. The special design of the steam room was developed by employees of the Energia rocket and space corporation, headed by Vladimir Komolov, who began working on the project as a student. The cosmonauts themselves, on the one hand, were pleased, they even asked for birch brooms to be delivered. On the other hand, they complained about the exhausting cleaning after each “wash”, and the low efficiency of the process - the water was “smeared” over the body, like jelly. However, due to significant energy consumption and excessive water consumption, the steam room was dismantled. Today, astronauts have to make do with special wipes and "dry" shampoo.

Bath in Giusti Cave (Tuscany, Italy)

The history of the unique thermal spring began in 1848, when it was accidentally found by workers in Giusti Cave. A visit to this place is unforgettable: the unique outlines of stalactites and stalagmites, shadows moving along the walls of labyrinths and an eerie silence. To reach the natural spring, located 200 meters underground, guests are invited to go through three zones with very symbolic names - "Paradise", "Purgatory" and "Hell". The closer to "Hell", the higher the temperature. High humidity and natural air ventilation mechanism makes the stay in the cave extremely comfortable. The brochure says that a visit to Giusti Cave will cleanse the body of toxins and fully restore both physical and mental balance. And if you can argue about the latter (phobias are not easy to defeat!), then the unique natural atmosphere of the ancient grotto, for sure, has a beneficial effect on the body.

Russian bathhouse - in our modern time, it is not only a traditional washing room, a steam room and a terribly cramped dressing room.

Increasingly, the eyes of homeowners are riveted by projects of unusual baths: with a veranda, a fireplace, a swimming pool, a barbecue oven, lounges, a vast terrace ... and this is not the limit of the architects' imagination!

Original baths or triple pleasure

In this article, we invite you to get acquainted with non-standard baths that go beyond the boring framework of everyday life, in which relaxation is not only pleasant and interesting, but unforgettable! After all, here you have a unique opportunity to get three types of pleasure at once: physical, mental and aesthetic.

So, let's see what solutions have recently become popular among our compatriots when building baths:

1. Bath complex with a swimming pool. Immediately we want to dispel the myth that the implementation of such a project is mega expensive - professional builders and home craftsmen have long confirmed the opposite. The price of construction is available to almost everyone, especially if the artificial reservoir is not heated and not covered. But already the projects of two-story structures with an indoor pool are more expensive. Yes, and turn around in architectural terms, there is where.

1. Billiards and a sauna is another excellent combination that will surely interest many representatives of the stronger sex! By and large, such projects provide for the presence of at least one rest room - billiard equipment is placed in it. The area of ​​this room can vary from a minimum of 20 m² to 40 m² or more.

Quite often, a billiard room is made on the second, that is, attic floor. In this case, the free space is organized in the most ergonomic way: on the first floor there is a washing room, a steam room and a relaxation room, on the second floor there is a billiard room.

1. Buildings with an attic. Of course, this is far from being an innovation, but every year enterprising architects come up with more and more interesting projects for baths with an additional attic floor. In addition, this is a unique opportunity to get never extra square meters without expanding the total area of ​​​​the building. What can be done from the second floor? Equip with your own hands the same billiard room, relaxation room, gym or even an office!

1. Unusual bath with a veranda or terrace. Agree, because it is the absence or presence of open / closed extensions that forms the general aesthetic perception of the building, its colorful, unique appearance.
   For example, either along the entire facade or even a bay window - these are not just additional useful squares, but also a decoration of the bath, its hallmark, business card!

Advice!
Even if for some reason you prefer a typical bath project to an individual one, then it can be made original by choosing the right location, shape and type of extension.
Try to equip a traditional corner log house with a veranda, and you will be surprised how unusual your bathhouse will become.

1. Barrel bath. According to an ancient legend, a wise man named Diogenes lived in a barrel. Since that time, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, but this legend is still alive to this day, only in an embodied form. Unfortunately, it is not known from history who first "gave birth" to the idea that you can take a great steam bath in an oak barrel ... but a step or two and today we can admire the most interesting saunas in the form of barrels!

Baths of this type appeared in the middle of the 20th century in snowy Finland and instantly won the hearts of the European people. It is not surprising, because in addition to the colorful appearance, the barrel bath, compared to a typical square building, quickly warms up and retains heat longer.

By the way!
Today, there are also such models of bath-barrels, which are placed on a mobile chassis in the form of a trailer.
This solution allows you to take it with you if, for example, you want to get out into nature and take a steam bath there.

Top 5 most extraordinary baths in the world

What wonders you will not meet on the globe!

Now, having looked at the most unusual projects of baths, avid bathers will burn with a desire to try on their own body the result of procedures in such steam rooms:

• "Saunaforall" or simply "Sauna for everyone"! This phenomenon is located in the Czech town of Liberec. Those who built it did not have to build a solid foundation, as they came up with a more original solution. The sauna for everyone stands right in the middle of the river, on stilts, not far from the city beach.

Those wishing to visit this bathhouse do not need to pay money, since it is completely free. Instructions for use: just place an order with the architectural studio MjolkArchitects, who built it from wooden frames, plywood, spruce planks and aluminum.

• And in Milan there is a curious bathhouse in a tram car. It can easily accommodate a company of 10 people. Plasma is also installed here, on the screen of which they show the amusing history of Milanese trams.

• Turku Archipelago, Lake Larsmo – fabulous steam bath. In this stunning place, you can not only take a steam bath at any time of the year, but also admire the beauties of the picturesque natural region from the sauna floating on the lake.

in time 40 minutes: the mobile capsule manages to rise twice to a height of 500 meters and go down.

By the way!
As an additional bonus, so to speak, you will certainly be offered to cool off in the purest snow on top of the mountain.

• Well, who would have imagined that a real bathhouse could be located on the territory of the ice arena?! The dream of almost every man is to relax in the steam room and enjoy the game of his favorite hockey team!

Conclusion

The Russian banya is a delight in itself, primarily for the body. Well, when she is also beautiful, colorful, not like everyone else, then boundless spiritual pleasure is added to the physical! So don't be afraid to experiment. And for a "snack", especially for lovers of bathing art - an interesting thematic video in this article.

Bath of the peoples of the world, what a huge variety of traditions and customs of different peoples and countries. Among the peoples of Africa, water has always been considered sacred; they widely used hydrotherapy in their mystical rites and rituals. In countries where there was sand, they dug a hole in it the size of a person, in this hole they made a fire from branches and branches. Then the remnants of the fire were removed from the pit and dry heated sand was poured there, various useful herbs and leaves were laid, depending on what diseases the person was complaining about. Sometimes the fire was not burned, but the pit was poured with boiling water.

A person lay down in a pit (or lay down), covered with various medicinal herbs on top, and sand hot from the sun was piled on top of the body.

The time spent by a person in such a bath was determined by his state of health.

Snow bath…

In the glorious city of Baikalsk, Andrey Pylyukh and Vladimir Zolotchenko built an ice bath. Baikalsk is a small city in the south of Lake Baikal, not far from Irkutsk.

All walls are lined with ice. Up to 15 people can fit inside. The bathhouse walls are only 2 cm thick, if you do not take into account the ice. The technology, according to the author, is unique; oligarchs sometimes order such bathhouses for their dachas.

Not far from the bathhouse there is a font. Everything, of course, is made of ice.

The cost of a 2-hour bath rental is 5000 rubles

Bathhouse accommodates 15 people.

Heading: |

Floating sauna in the middle of the Vltava river in Prague…

Many large cities have a river that divides them into parts, creating both an incredible atmosphere and a huge number of problems in terms of transport and infrastructure. Has a river and the Czech capital Prague! And architects Andrea Kubna and Ondrej Lipensky offer a way to use these expanses of water to good use, they propose to create a floating bathhouse on the Vltava.

In the very center of Prague, a floating bathhouse Floating bath on Vltava river may also appear.

This structure will have a diameter of 50 meters. Inside it will be located a reservoir open to the sky with a depth of 165 centimeters. It will be separated from the Vlatava River itself by a special textile membrane that filters debris, dirt, algae and bacteria. This pool can take up to 300 people at the same time. And around it there will be cabins for vacationers (24 cabins in total).

People will sail here on public and private boats. Here they can take a steam bath, swim in the pool, eat in a restaurant, just sit and relax on the sunbeds or in the lounge. The closed circular structure will protect the interior space of the Floating bath on Vltava river from the noise, dust and bustle of Prague, the center of which is very close.

In the winter season, inside the Floating bath on Vltava river complex, it will be possible to create an ice rink - after all, in Prague there are severe frosts in winter, and the Vltava River completely freezes.

Heading: |

Transcarpathian bath. Soaring in Chan.

The first balneary in Transcarpathia (p. Lumshory) was built in the 17th century (about 1600). Mineral water in the village flows directly from the cliff, which was used by local princes and merchants to treat their shabby organisms.

Cold mineral water was poured into large wooden troughs, and then with the help of red-hot stones, the temperature was brought to the desired level. Then two large cast-iron vats were cast, one of which is now in the Vienna Museum, and the second with a local resident.

The organization of the process is very simple. Mineral water is poured into a cast-iron vat. A fire is lit underneath. Flat river stones are laid at the bottom of the vat, so that the hot bottom does not burn. And the temperature slowly rises to 45-50 degrees. The vat is quite roomy (diameter 2.5m, depth 0.8m, wall thickness from 40 to 60mm). The four of you can feel quite comfortable. A few steps away flows a small mountain river with ice water. There are small dams in it, so that you can plunge headlong. The procedure takes no more than one hour. It is very effective in winter, when there is snow all around and ice on the banks of the river. And you are lying in hot mineral water, drinking tea infused with mountain herbs and honey.

You can add decoctions and infusions of herbs to the water. You can put a couple of armfuls of fragrant herbs in the water. And the procedure is not as tough as when soaring in traditional steam rooms. Warming up of body tissues occurs at a deeper level and more evenly, gentle. The heat capacity of water is much greater than that of air and does not require high temperatures.
In a vat you relax more, you get pleasure contemplating the world around you from a vat. In case of overheating, there is a pond with cold water nearby. As a rule, two or three entries into the vat, followed by dipping into the water, take place in one hour. And this happens so naturally, without violence against the body, that you are already starting to think about betraying the traditional bath with a broom.

A water bath cannot be compared with other types of baths. After her, her incomparable sensation, a slight tingling, like needles, evenly throughout the body.
After several visits (into the vat, and then into the river), it seems that your muscles and bones have been replaced with new, younger ones. The body breathes with health, and the nervous system is immersed in a state of complete calm and contemplation. It is clear that hot mineral water cures problems of the musculoskeletal system, and contrasting cold water from a living river triggers the rejuvenation mechanisms.

When building such a bath, you will need to build a font with a water cooling system.

Heading: |

Architects from the Canadian firm Partisans have realized an original design for a sauna made entirely of wood. In addition to the fact that the project is completely wooden, it is integrated into the rock and is located in a picturesque region rich in artesian springs. The project is called The Grotto.

Heading: |

Heading: |

Located in an active volcanic zone, the Japanese archipelago has a huge number of geothermal water outlets. Practical Japanese people use them to heat houses, greenhouses, to supply water to public baths, and to create tourist centers. Staying in a hotel built on a hot spring is quite expensive. But that doesn't deter visitors. Rooms in such hotels for the weekend must be booked a couple of weeks in advance.

At hotels, entire cascades of “rotenburo” are often arranged - open-air baths, where the views of bathers are not limited by walls and fences, but, on the contrary, they have magnificent views of mountains, valleys, copses. The Japanese, like the Russians, love to warm their bones. And here the young mountains of the Japanese archipelago serve well, supplying hot mineralized geothermal water. In the hotel, standing on the source, there is certainly a list of the elements contained in the water.

Somewhere in this hotel there is sure to be a pool, into which healing water constantly flows, often smelling of sulfur or something else similarly caustic. The Japanese believe that the range of these underground aromas turns an ordinary bath into a truly wellness event. It is believed that it is water from mountain sources that is especially useful for general strengthening of the body. Venikov, however, no. How do you bathe in a hot spring? In general, just like in a regular bath or bath. Entering the dressing room, you take off your clothes and put them in a plastic basket. In return, you get a small towel. Then go to the "bath" itself. Shower devices are built into the wall, under which, sitting on a bench, you wash off the first dirt, using a towel as a washcloth. Then comes the turn of the pool.

The water there is usually much hotter than what we are used to. But the Japanese endure it quite calmly. The Russian, on the other hand, climbs into it centimeter by centimeter, cursing and groaning, until he finally settles to the bottom. During all these procedures, you use a small towel in its other function - as a fig leaf. With a generally calm attitude towards everything bodily, for some reason it is considered decent to carelessly cover a causal place while bathing in these very hot springs. True, the owners of some hotels located on the springs began to prohibit this practice, since hot mineral water corrodes these towels and the quality of the water becomes worse from this. After soaking in hot water, you return to the shower and wash yourself completely. "Rotenburo" are arranged in the secluded corners of parks and gardens, on the slopes of the mountains, where there are usually no passers-by.

The craving for nature, for the natural is wonderful, but in Japan they know how to bring this feeling to the absolute, offering the client very exotic, from the point of view of a European, onsen entertainment. So, for example, in winter in Hokkaido, those who wish can take a hot mineral bath right in the ice. Wooden tubs are frozen into the icy surface of a frozen lake and hot water from a natural source is supplied through bamboo pipes. The client, looking at the snow-covered surface of the lake, can drink warm sake rice wine, basking in warm mineral water.

But in Wakayama Prefecture, the owners of the Arita Kanko hotel came up with hot baths in a suspended cable car. A large iron container, divided into several baths, moves from the top of one mountain to another on ropes thrown over a gorge on the seashore. They are filled with hot water from the onsen. The clients each climb into their own bath, and an aerial flight over the abyss begins. Unforgettable impressions are left not only by an unusual combination of a hot bath and goosebumps that involuntarily run through the body when looking down. The body, which has lost its weight in the water, seems to soar in the sky.

Heading: |

This unique health-improving institution has only one specific place so far - the city of Tbilisi. The capital of Georgia was named so because it was located near warm sulfur springs flowing from under Mount Tabor.

The temperature of the spring averages 37 degrees. You might think, what kind of bath is this? However, Georgian architects designed special rooms below ground level. Only unique domed roofs are visible on the surface. In the center of the hall there are pools lined with marble or local porous stone, into which hot water from a sulfur spring flows through clay pipes. Such a device is somewhat reminiscent of Japanese sentos.

These baths were visited by Griboyedov, Pushkin, who immensely praised the wellness spa treatments and the skill of the attendants.
The benefits of sulfur baths

Sulfur-enriched water affects people suffering from various diseases in different ways. Its main advantage is that it dilates blood vessels gently, without sudden jumps. Regular use of sulfuric-alkaline waters normalizes many processes in the human body. So, hypertensive patients moderately and calmly lower blood pressure, and hypotensive patients, on the contrary, bring it up to normal. Sulfuric waters are recommended for patients suffering from various diseases of the joints. Increased blood flow helps to accelerate the metabolism in these places and, as a result, restore tissues, relieve pain and increase motor activity. Sulfur water sources have an anti-inflammatory effect: they heal wounds, relieve skin inflammation and accelerate the regeneration of the skin.

A sulfur bath is not only water filled with a sulfuric component. This is moderately hot water, which, in combination with sulfur, has a relaxing and at the same time mild tonic effect.

Heading: |

Sauna for walruses, thermal baths in Baden-Baden, Budapest baths at thermal springs, Rzhev steam room and other baths around the world that are worth warming up. At different stages of its history and in the most diverse places of its habitat, mankind has discovered approximately the same ways of unhurried, but very effective rejuvenation, healing and at the same time just relaxing. The main components of such a recipe are steam and hot water. Seasonings are very different: birch and other brooms, massage, scrub, whipped soap suds and other additions that vary from region to region. For those who feel like a new person after a steam room, Forbes magazine has compiled a list of the most remarkable baths on the planet.

Bani Gellert (Budapest, Hungary)

Where: H-1118 Budapest, Kelenhegyi út 4 There are 118 thermal springs in Budapest. The ancient Romans soared in them, and in the 16th century, together with the Turks, the first hammams appeared here. But the glory of the European capital of steam was brought to the city by the majestic bath complexes built already at the beginning of the 20th century. And the most famous of them is Gellert, a masterpiece of Budapest Art Nouveau, opened in 1918 at the foot of the hill of the same name on the banks of the Danube. The porter at the entrance, marble columns, tall arched vaults, stained-glass windows in the lobby, mosaics in the baths and steam rooms - all the signs of great style are evident here: it’s not for nothing that they say about Gellert that when you swim in his pool, it seems that you are taking a bath in the cathedral. On the lower level there is a hammam with eucalyptus steam, a sauna with an old clock and three baths - with cold, warm and hot water. Here, for a fee, you can order massages, mud baths and other medical procedures. One floor above - the same "cathedral" pool with a retractable roof, the appearance of which is reminiscent of Roman baths: it is surrounded by a two-tiered colonnade with a gallery at the top around the perimeter. In the 1930s, during the reign of Admiral Horthy, the best balls in the city were thrown here: the pool was covered with a glass floor, and the orchestra was located on the gallery. Now there are only palm trees in tubs and cafes where you can drink a cup of coffee with Unicum balm or just a glass of Tokay. And you can go out into the courtyard, where there is another pool - with an artificial wave, stone cascading terraces and a pavilion decorated with majolica, worthy of the best palace parks in Europe. Cost of visiting: from 3600 (weekdays) to 3900 (weekends) forints (€13-15) More details: www.gellertbath.com

Rauhaniemi (Tampere, Finland)

Where: Rauhaniementie 24 Tampere is home to Finland's oldest sauna, built in 1906 by Rajaportin. But the younger Rauhaniemi sauna (it appeared in 1929) is much more popular - and not only among the locals: this place is called the best walrus sauna in Finland. Rauhaniemi stands on the shore of a large beautiful lake Näsijärvi, and in winter heated paths lead from the sauna to its shore, ending in a spacious opening into which a staircase with a railing descends. In the polynya (water temperature is from two to four degrees), pot-bellied Finns and portly Finns, as well as rare and timid foreigners of different builds, snort and grunt. Then, all together, they sedately go to warm up, and for this purpose there are actually two saunas in Rauhaniemi (the largest one - it is also the hottest one - can accommodate 70 people). After steaming well, red-bodied people slowly return to the polynya - and so on three or four times. Before leaving the sauna, it is considered good manners to ask: “Heychankyo leulyuya?” - not to add, that is, a couple? And if everyone says “Heita vaan” or simply “Külla”, then you need to splash some water on the hot stones. By the way, in summer the quality of steam is no worse, you can even sunbathe on the beach, and next to the stairs leading to the former wormwood, you will see a two-meter diving tower. Admission fee: €4.5 More details: www.rauhaniemi.net

Daikoku-Yu (Tokyo, Japan)

Where: 32-6 Senju Kotobuki-cho, Adachi-ku Traditional Japanese public bathhouses called sento use hot water baths to sit, sweat and relax instead of steam rooms. Tokyo's Daikoku-Yu bathhouse, which has been operating since 1927, is called the king of sento. In the nineties, it was subjected to a large-scale reconstruction, which mostly affected the internal structure: from the outside, the bathhouse still looks exactly the same as it did eighty years ago, and rather resembles a Buddhist temple. Daikoku-Yu is open from three in the afternoon until midnight, and inside there is sterile cleanliness and a snail's calm and slowness. Behind the dressing room with small cells for clothes, scales and massage chairs - a room with a view of Fuji in the entire wall, taps with water and three baths, moreover, massage ones. In the hot water temperature is 42 degrees, but there is also a cold, 15-degree. In the patio, under the roof, there is a roten-buro - this is the name of the outdoor bath. It has the same 42 degrees, and around it there is a small garden with a traditional stone lamp: contemplation also helps to relax and forget about the vain. Usually, people with tattoos are not allowed into sento, but in Daikoku-Yu it is quite possible to sit in the bath next to a yakuza covered in patterns from head to toe. In the bath, however, they are very good-natured. Admission fee: ¥430 (approximately $5.4)

Sauna Deco (Amsterdam, Holland)

Where: Herengracht 115, 1015 BE Surprisingly, an old Parisian department store played a major role in the fate of a small sauna in the center of Amsterdam. When in the 1970s the owners of the famous Le Bon Marche store decided to update the interior, designed in the 1920s according to the sketches of the recognized Art Deco architect Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, a huge number of decorative details were simply dismantled. The agile Dutch acquired them, giving their bath the appropriate name. A wooden staircase with a bronze-cast balustrade, along which Parisians hurried to go shopping, now leads to the second floor of the sauna in the relaxation room, a glass elevator shaft separates the pool from the rest of the premises, and the gilded stained-glass windows in the lounge and pool used to be lanterns on the roof of a department store. Now, completely naked and wrapped in towels, people of both sexes roam these luxurious Parisian interiors: like most Dutch baths, Sauna Deco is mixed, and bathing suits are not allowed here. After visiting two saunas with different temperatures and a hammam with eucalyptus steam, you can go to the pool with hydromassage, relax in the tiny garden in the courtyard, and then head to the lounge to look at photos of the same department store: it turns out to be a pyramidal luminous object on the floor, which is crowned with a vase of flowers , used to be a chandelier in the trading floor. Another reason to visit Sauna Deco is the best massage therapists in Amsterdam, who must be booked in advance. In addition, the local beauty salon makes wraps and facials with seaweed, which are specially brought from Brittany. Admission fee: €21 Read more: www.saunadeco.nl

Gedik Pasha (Istanbul, Turkey)

Where: Hamam Cad. no. 65 - 67 Gedikpaşa, Beyazit Hammam Gedik Pasha, which is located next to the Beyazit Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, is one of the oldest in Istanbul: it was built under Mehmed the Conqueror in 1475. Most guidebooks write that only local residents go to it, however, it may happen that the locals will be in the minority in the bathhouse, but there will be many tourists who have read guidebooks. Tourists, as a rule, leave here not too satisfied and deceived in their expectations: the attendants are lazy, and the massage is weak. But in fact, this is one of the best hammams in the city, and tips help greatly improve your impression of it. In the hall with a marble fountain, peshtemals are given out - either towels or sheets, without which it is not customary to be in the hammam. In the center of the main hall, which is called hararet, there is a large marble elevation, gebektashi, that is, the “stone of the belly”. This stone is hot, and bathhouse attendants place clients on it and do massage-peeling with a hard mitt (it rids the skin of a layer of dead cells), and also wraps it in foam from head to toe and kneads the body properly (in the women’s department of the bathhouse attendant, at the same time, and sing long songs). In Hararet, by the way, it is not too hot, because it is customary here not to bathe, but rather to languish, from time to time diving into a cool pool. However, there is also a small sauna in the hammam. Admission fee: 50 Turkish lira, or approximately $30 (massage included) More details: www.gedikpasahamami.com

Sandunovsky baths (Moscow, Russia)

Where: st. Neglinnaya, 14, pp. 3-7 The most famous Moscow baths were founded, oddly enough, by an actor: Sila Nikolaevich Sandunov served as a comedian in the Imperial Theater, but he approached his business project seriously. Having sold, as the legend says, a diamond necklace given by Catherine II for the wedding to his wife, he bought up plots on the banks of the Neglinka River, which was not yet hidden in a pipe, and in 1808 opened stone baths. Subsequently, the Sanduny changed owners many times, and by the end of the century they became very dilapidated, so the next owners - millionaire Vera Firsanova and her husband, lieutenant of the guard Alexei Ganetsky - decided to build a new bathhouse in the same place. The complex of buildings designed by the architect Freidenberg is a masterpiece of eclecticism: through the pompous neo-baroque arch of the main facade, the “Moorish” arch in the courtyard is visible, and in the interiors with marble columns, stucco and gilding, you can find everything from Gothic to Art Nouveau. The clientele of Sandunov, reopened in 1896, was not inferior in its diversity to the interiors: ordinary people bathed for 5 and 10 kopecks, and serious merchants rested in a luxurious department for fifty kopecks per person: with a hairdresser, a fireplace and separate rooms for 5 and 10 rubles. The system of "ranks" has been preserved to this day: in modern Sanduny there are five sections - three for men and two for women, but all the main beauties are a "Gothic" hall with wooden carvings, a "Turkish" hall with ceiling paintings and stucco molding, and a pool with an Ionic colonnade, where Eisenstein filmed episode of "Battleship Potemkin", are open only to visitors of the highest male category. However, the famous Sandunovsky steam, about which Chaliapin said that he "frees" the voice, is still available to everyone - as well as the services of the bath attendants, who work here in dynasties. Cost of visiting: 1500-1800 rubles More details: www.sanduny.ru

Kotiharju (Helsinki, Finland)

Where: Harjutorinkatu 1, 00500 Half a century ago, there were about a hundred and twenty public saunas in Helsinki, but now there is nothing left (Finns now prefer to arrange private baths in the basements of high-rise buildings or even in apartments). And only one works on firewood at all - Kotiharju, located in the Kallio working-class district, which, in Finnish, is now slowly going through the process of gentrification. This sauna (a family enterprise, by the way, owned by the Risto and Merja Holopainen couple) was built in 1928, and in 1999 it was thoroughly reconstructed - moreover, with the help of the Helsinki Culture Capital Foundation: in commemoration of the fact that 2000 Helsinki became the cultural capital of Europe. There are one and a half tons of stones in the heater there, and in order to warm up the sauna, it takes a cubic meter of firewood and five to six hours of time. To add a couple or not, according to tradition, those who sit on the top, hottest benches decide. Regulars from neighboring quarters, students, creative intelligentsia - and, of course, tourists go here. To cool off, excited visitors, wrapped in towels, go straight out into the street - they drink beer and sing songs in chorus in front of passers-by, who, if not singing along, then listen attentively. They also do great massages. Cost of visit: €10, subscription for 10 visits - €90; birch broom - €5 More details: www.kotiharjunsauna.fi

Dragon Hill Spa (Seoul, Korea)

Where: Yongsan Gu, Hangang-ro Dong 40-713 Korean steam does not tolerate fuss, and whole families come to the local baths - jimjilbang - not only to take a steam bath, but also to eat, take a nap and chat. In Dragon Hill Spa in Seoul, entrance tickets are sold immediately for 12 hours - this is a real Disneyland bathhouse, on seven floors of which, in addition to steam rooms and pools, there are restaurants, cafes, a fitness club, a cinema and even a golf course. At the entrance, visitors are given a uniform (shorts and T-shirts), which will be needed when visiting mixed zones, and special electronic bracelets, where information about all purchases made is entered - from drinks to massages. In separate male and female areas, there are wet steam rooms and various baths: with sea water, with ginseng, with fragrant herbs, as well as mud, hydromassage and cold baths. After water procedures, it is worth going to the famous Korean peeling: with the help of a special viscose glove, a layer of dead cells is scraped off from visitors, and the skin becomes soft, like a baby's. The mixed zone has a huge tatami lounge where you can even stay overnight if you wish (after all, many jimjilbangs are open 24/7 and are a cheap alternative to hotels). Nearby are several rooms designed as medieval palace halls: tourists love to take pictures in them. But the main feature of the Dragon Hill Spa is the original dry steam rooms: one is heated with pine wood, the other is finished with cypress, the third is with jade, the fourth floor is covered with heated salt crystals, there is also a steam room with yellow clay and an ice room with a real snowman. Admission fee: 10,000-12,000 won (about €8) More information: www.dragonhillspa.co.kr

Orbeliani (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Where: Abanotubani, st. Joseph Grishashvili Tbilisi owes its appearance and its name to sulfur springs. According to legend, King Vakhtang Gorgasali shot a deer in the Kura valley, but he fell to a hot spring, healed and was like that - and Vakhtang ordered that a city called Tbilisi be founded on that very place (from the word "tbili" - "warm"). Later, a whole area of ​​sulfur baths appeared on the sources - Abanotubani, which still exists: the baths themselves are underground, but only their large domes with turrets at the top are visible on the surface. The most famous institution is the Orbeliani bath (named after the former owner), also known as the Blue, or Motley, similar to a mosque - with a lancet facade, two small minarets and decorated with blue-blue tiles. It is believed (and this legend is zealously maintained) that Pushkin visited her third issue during his trip to Arzrum, and on the wall of the bathhouse there is a sign with his quote: “I have never seen anything more luxurious than Tiflis baths in my life.” The noseless attendant Gassan then worked on Alexander Sergeevich: he broke his limbs, pulled out his joints and beat him hard with his fist, while the poet felt not pain, but amazing relief. Now you won’t meet noseless mekise (as bath attendants are called), but they still do an excellent massage on a marble trestle bed, then, like Pushkin, they rub it with a kiss - a coarse woolen mitten, removing an unnecessary layer of dead skin, and then lather with weightless foam - and wash it off from a completely different, new person. Cost of visiting: from 5 GEL (approximately €2)

Thermal baths Friedrichsbad (Baden-Baden, Germany)

Where: Römerplatz 1, D-76530 The majestic building in the spirit of the Renaissance palazzo was built in Baden-Baden in 1869-1877 by the architect Karl Dernfeld - on the personal order of the Grand Duke of Baden Friedrich I, who dreamed of reviving the culture of the ancient Roman baths that existed on this site 2000 years ago. The façade of Friedrichsbad is decorated with statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, and the interior partly repeats the layout of Roman baths, with male and female wings of steam rooms and baths and a round pool in the central rotunda with a marble colonnade. There is a gallery with healing drinking waters, but the main thing is, of course, the baths themselves, in which, in full accordance with the ancient dress code, bathing suits are prohibited. On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, women and men bathe separately and meet only in the thermal pool, on the rest of the days all rooms in Friedrichsbad are open to both sexes. The local baths are often called Roman-Irish: an exotic hybrid owes its birth to the Irish doctor Richard Barter, an active promoter of hydrotherapy, who supplemented dry Roman steam with wet Turkish steam and insisted on combining steam rooms and baths of different temperatures in one chain. The current bathing ritual in Friedrichsbad is based on his method and consists of 17 stages. It all starts with dry steam rooms (54 and 68 degrees), followed by a soapy massage, then wet steam rooms, which are no longer so hot, and finally, thermal hydromassage pools, each of which is a little colder than the previous one. After water procedures, guests enter the relaxation room: the attendants carefully wrap them in sheets and blankets, lay them on the bed and ask when to wake them up. Falling asleep, many recall the words of Mark Twain, who, having visited Friedrichsbad, said: “In ten minutes here you forget about time, and after twenty - about everything in the world.” Admission fee: €21 (for 3 hours), with soap massage - €31 (3.5 hours) More info: www.roemisch-irisches-bad.de

Xiao Nan Guo Tang He Yuan (Shanghai, China)

Where: F2, Xiao Nan Guo Restaurant, No.3337, Hongmei Road Built in 2002, the five-story building next to the famous Shanghai restaurant Xiao Nan Guo can’t be called a bathhouse - this is an amazing hybrid of a spa center and an entertainment complex with an area of ​​12,000 square meters: a thousand people can relax here at the same time. Guests are greeted by a lobby worthy of a five-star hotel: a marble reception desk, luxurious chandeliers and music - it is performed by a mechanical piano, the keys of which move by themselves. Female guests are given blue Hawaiian muumuu dresses instead of bath sheets, male guests are given short green pajamas with shorts, and children, respectively, are mini versions of one or the other: whole families go here. Helpful people from Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand work here, who do dozens of massages, rejuvenating body scrubs (every square centimeter of skin is treated with hard mittens - except, of course, the most delicate places) and all kinds of face masks, as well as fifty other spas. procedures. Of the actual bathing options, there are, for example, a variety of baths (including milk and Japanese ofuro), steam and low-temperature saunas (in the women's section - with a large TV, which plays local soap operas), as well as swimming pools. And after the procedures - or even in between - you can play mahjong or ping-pong, sing karaoke or have a bite: there are several cafes with good dim sums, noodles - and more sophisticated offers. Cost of attendance: 58 yuan, massages - from 48 yuan (approximately $ 7.5-9) More details: www.xnggroup.com

Liquidrom (Berlin, Germany)

Where: Möckernstrasse 10, 10963 Opened in 2005 in the German capital, Liquiddrome is a real sauna of the 21st century and, perhaps, the only place on earth where, while soaking in the pool after a steam room, you can listen to a DJ set. The minimalist interiors are dominated by natural grey-green stone and concrete; the only exceptions are steam rooms decorated with wood, of which there are four: a wet, Finnish sauna, a salt cave and a panoramic sauna with a glazed wall, finished with dead Karelian pine. Once an hour in the Finnish sauna, one of the signature treatments is done free of charge: a light salt, honey or aromatic massage. For lovers of serious massages - such as Balinese herbal bags or Thai hot stones - there is a spa nearby. After the steam room and treatments, guests go to the outdoor terrace, finished with wood, to take a nap in the sun loungers or lie in a small warm bath, also lined with wood in the Japanese manner. But the main attraction of "Liquidrom" is located inside, under a concrete dome - a large round pool with sea water. There is always twilight here, colored lights and music, and the speakers are installed under water, so when you dive, it seems as if you are wearing headphones with loud music playing. In the evenings, DJs perform here, and on Fridays, candles are placed around the perimeter of the pool and live concerts are held in a variety of genres - from string classics to jazz and electronics. Cost of visit: 2 hours - €19.5; 4 hours - €24.5 Read more: www.liquidrom-berlin.de

Rzhev baths (Moscow, Russia)

Where: Banny pr., 3, p. 1 The Rzhev baths have been operating uninterruptedly in the capital for more than 120 years - in 1888 they were opened in Korzunovsky Lane (now Banny Proyezd) by a merchant of the second guild Ivan Malyshev. Later, they turned from Malyshevsky into Krestovsky, and the current name was assigned to the bath during the war - military units were washed in it, sent to the front from the nearby Rzhevsky (now Riga) station. Morals here have always been democratic - even before the revolution, the main contingent were people of simple rank, small merchants and students. The interiors, respectively, are not outstanding, although recently there was a major overhaul, after which VIP rooms and a sauna appeared. But this is not what people go to the Rzhev baths for - lovers and connoisseurs of a real Russian bath come to Banny Proyezd from all over the city for the sake of a traditional steam room - here it is a real ritual. Steam is prepared every half an hour: water is poured into the stove-heater in groups, the walls of the steam room are sprinkled with infusions of chamomile and wormwood, and only then people are let inside. According to the old Moscow tradition, they lie in the steam room right on the floor (the steam is so burning that many enter on all fours), the steamer (there are several of them here, each has its own day and its own audience, which comes on that day) becomes the center, asks for silence and begins to perform the ritual: “scooping up” the steam from above with a broom or a towel, he “douses” it in turn on all the people lying on the floor. Having plunged after such a steam into a cold font in the soap compartment, you feel absolute bliss - in the most accurate sense of the word. Cost of visiting: 800 rubles (on weekends - 850 rubles) More: //rzhevskie-bani.ru

Onsen Funaoka (Kyoto, Japan)

Where: 82-1 Murasakino Minamifunaoka-cho, Kita-ku Onsen means hot spring in Japanese; the same word is also used for baths using warm mineral water. Funaoka is a historical bath: it opened in Kyoto back in 1923, and the original interiors are perfectly preserved to this day. True, unlike Sanduns or Istanbul hammams, the bath area here, like in most traditional Japanese sento baths, is modestly decorated, but the dressing room is a real museum. The walls here are decorated with painted tiles and carved Japanese cedar bas-reliefs representing battle scenes of the Taisho period (1912-1926), and the wood-panelled ceiling is decorated with a colored high relief depicting Tengu: this mythological monster with wings and a huge nose not only frightens travelers in the mountains with thunderous laughter but also loves cleanliness. On the wooden bridge from here you can go to the bathing area, where the usual faucets, basins and showers are located, as well as several baths with hot water (45-50 degrees), where it is customary to soak after thoroughly washing. In Funaoka, in addition to ofuro with mineral water and healing Chinese herbs, there is also an "electric bath" denkiburo: a weak electric current passes between two metal plates-electrodes mounted in its walls - the Japanese believe that such a procedure strengthens muscles and stimulates blood circulation. Nearby there is also a sauna with a TV, and with it - a cold bath with a tap in the form of a lion's mouth. But the most meditative ofuro is in the courtyard, where you can take a hot bath overlooking the carp pond and rock garden. Admission fee: ¥410 (approximately $5.2)