Joint baths and saunas
Almost all saunas and baths in Germany are shared. This means that men and women, children and old people - everyone steams and washes together. The main problem for Russians is that they have to do it completely naked. You will not be allowed into the steam room, wash room, or swimming pool in a swimsuit or swimming trunks. Rubber slippers are also prohibited.
The Germans believe that any synthetic material in a humid and hot environment evaporates dangerous chemical compounds. This not only harms the person wearing synthetic swimwear, but also those around them. You simply will not be allowed into a German sauna in a swimsuit (or swimming trunks, if you are a man).
Even if you shyly cover up your sensitive areas, they will look at you in surprise as if you were a strange person. The Germans are not at all shy about their nudity. Teenage boys can safely swim next to the naked mothers of their classmates, and no one sees anything indecent about it.
Large bath complexes
Many bath complexes in Germany resemble a water park. They are divided into sectors with different purposes. One of them contains large pools with slides and tubes, cold and hot water, shallow and deep, with fast flow and hydromassage. And in the other there is a variety of thermal procedures: Russian, Finnish, Mongolian and Japanese baths, hammam, bio-sauna and ice cave. And between them there are Jacuzzis, winter gardens and massage rooms.
The most popular are the complexes located near thermal springs. There are large German public baths in Lower Saxony and Bavaria. Also among the leaders in the number of visitors are:
- “Caracalla Baths”, erected directly above an underground spring with healing water;
- "Liquidrom" in Berlin with free treatments, sea water in the pool and space-style interior.
Etiquette in German saunas
Men, women, children, the elderly - everyone washes naked in the same room. On rare occasions, some establishments offer separate swimming days, but this may only be once a week. On all other days, be kind enough to cast aside false shame!
If you enter the washroom wearing swimming trunks, you will be reprimanded and shown the door. So those who want to visit a German sauna should tune in to a nudist mood and, first of all, get used to their own nudity. Russian people, who are much more shy by nature, have difficulty accepting such orders. Some people, even after living in Germany for many years, simply avoid visiting the sauna.
But the fact is that German friends or even business partners can easily invite you to their home sauna. And in this case, you will have to strip naked and take a steam bath with everyone else. In this case, you should behave appropriately: do not blush, do not cover your most intimate parts and, of course, do not closely examine the figures of those around you.
Additional procedures
An important procedure in German public baths is aufguss, i.e. pouring thermal water with essential oils onto hot stones, causing fragrant steam to spread through the steam room using special fans or towels. The most commonly used oils are orange, honey or eucalyptus oils. This procedure is carried out by special masters who even compete with each other annually in Austria.
The duration of aufguss is on average 20 minutes. Most steam rooms have a schedule for this procedure so that each visitor can navigate the time and not miss this ceremony. Its cost is already included in the entrance ticket.
During the procedure, it is forbidden to leave the steam room, only in case of dizziness or a sharp deterioration in health. The bath attendant performing the procedure can also entertain the gathered people with anecdotes and jokes. In some complexes, pleasant relaxing music is turned on, and creams, ice cubes or salt are distributed free of charge. After the procedure, visitors are offered a choice of soft drink, hot tea, ice cream or fruit.
The most pleasant
The procedure of swimming in such places is very pleasant and relaxing. In public saunas you cannot speak loudly or make any noise at all. This may prevent other guests from enjoying their stay. You can sit or lie on the shelves only on special bath towels, which are 2 meters long. You cannot touch wood with bare skin. It's not hygienic.
You should arrive at the beginning of the “aufguss” - pouring out the stones - on time. It is important. During aufguss, a sauna employee pours water with honey, eucalyptus or orange aromatic oils on the stones and diligently disperses the steam. At the same time, he entertains visitors: he tells them jokes and jokes. You cannot leave the hall at this moment, so as not to let off precious steam. You can only leave if you feel sick.
Then you can start swimming. Some saunas play pleasant music during Aufguss and hand out free salts, creams or ice cubes for the skin. After the procedure, you may be offered a cup of tea, fruit or ice cream. All this is already included in the entrance ticket price. Aufguss in saunas are held according to a schedule, so it is customary to arrive on time so as not to disturb the special beauty of the ceremony.
Men and women in Germany go naked together to the bathhouse. For what?
Joint baths and saunas
Almost all saunas and baths in Germany are shared. This means that men and women, children and old people - everyone steams and washes together. The main problem for Russians is that they have to do it completely naked. You will not be allowed into the steam room, wash room, or swimming pool in a swimsuit or swimming trunks. Rubber slippers are also prohibited.
The Germans believe that any synthetic material in a humid and hot environment evaporates dangerous chemical compounds. This not only harms the person wearing synthetic swimwear, but also those around them. You simply will not be allowed into a German sauna in a swimsuit (or swimming trunks, if you are a man).
Even if you shyly cover up your sensitive areas, they will look at you in surprise as if you were a strange person. The Germans are not at all shy about their nudity. Teenage boys can safely swim next to the naked mothers of their classmates, and no one sees anything indecent about it.
Etiquette in German saunas
Men, women, children, the elderly - everyone washes naked in the same room. On rare occasions, some establishments offer separate swimming days, but this may only be once a week. On all other days, be kind enough to cast aside false shame!
If you enter the washroom wearing swimming trunks, you will be reprimanded and shown the door. So those who want to visit a German sauna should tune in to a nudist mood and, first of all, get used to their own nudity. Russian people, who are much more shy by nature, have difficulty accepting such orders. Some people, even after living in Germany for many years, simply avoid visiting saunas.
But the fact is that German friends or even business partners can easily invite you to their home sauna. And in this case, you will have to strip naked and take a steam bath with everyone else. In this case, you should behave appropriately: do not blush, do not cover your most intimate parts and, of course, do not closely examine the figures of those around you.
Where can you hide
The sauna in Germany is divided into 2 zones. The first is the actual washing room and steam room. They are called Textilfrei, which roughly translates to “clothing-free zone.” In the remaining rooms - the lounge area, water slides and bar - you can walk around modestly wrapped in a towel or in swimming trunks. By the way, not all Germans do this. Many continue to shamelessly walk around in what their mother gave birth to. Not every Russian is able to accept, let alone understand, this.
The most pleasant
The procedure of swimming in such places is very pleasant and relaxing. In public saunas you cannot speak loudly or make any noise at all. This may prevent other guests from enjoying their stay. You can sit or lie on the shelves only on special bath towels, which are 2 meters long. You cannot touch wood with bare skin. It's not hygienic.
You should arrive at the beginning of the “aufguss” - pouring out the stones - on time. It is important. During aufguss, a sauna employee pours water with honey, eucalyptus or orange aromatic oils on the stones and diligently disperses the steam. At the same time, he entertains visitors: he tells them jokes and jokes. You cannot leave the hall at this moment, so as not to let off precious steam. You can only leave if you feel sick.
Then you can start swimming. Some saunas play pleasant music during Aufguss and hand out free salts, creams or ice cubes for the skin. After the procedure, you may be offered a cup of tea, fruit or ice cream. All this is already included in the entrance ticket price. Aufguss in saunas are held according to a schedule, so it is customary to arrive on time so as not to disturb the special beauty of the ceremony.
Source
Gay saunas
In Sweden, for a long time there were special sauna clubs for people with non-traditional orientation. The government banned them in 1987, citing the spread of HIV, but the ban was lifted in 2001. The authorities considered that during the ban there was neither a sharp increase in morbidity rates nor a sharp decrease in them. Another argument in favor of permission was that promiscuity in random places carries a much greater risk. In the USA, similar baths also existed and were banned in the mid-80s in New York (1985) and San Francisco (1984). In the UK, gay saunas still operate: the largest chain is located in London and is called Chariots. They have swimming pools, steam rooms, massage rooms. The saunas of this chain are open 24 hours a day. There are similar establishments in many countries around the world. A few years ago, the BBC reported that a famous gay sauna and a Vatican department coexisted in a historic palazzo in Rome.
Article on the topic: How to build a fence without a foundation
Silence and politeness
If you are afraid that in a common sauna everyone will look at you and evaluate you, then this is not at all the case. Residents of Germany and other European countries treat other people with respect, so no staring or intrusive attention. And if you come across an excellent Aufguss-master, then the steam rises so much that almost nothing is visible.
It is also necessary to maintain silence in the sauna.
Come to Baden-Baden
A German bath - "therma" or "baden" - is very often set up in places where thermal waters come to the surface. Remember the famous resort town of Baden-Baden, so popular, along with Karlovy Vary, among the advanced Russian intelligentsia of the century before last. What a place it is. In Germany there is even the entire federal state of Baden-Württemberg, the same one in whose capital, the city of Stuttgart, the headquarters of the Daimler company is located, which produces the legendary Mercedes, so beloved by our officials of different flight altitudes.
What primarily distinguishes a German bath is its comprehensive approach to business. Very rarely, mainly in the south and extreme east, the bathhouse functions as a conservative purebred sauna, providing a very narrow list of services. The classic German bath complex is a whole industry. There are many different steam rooms for every taste: low-temperature Turkish, medium-temperature with abundant thick and viscous steam, high-temperature dry saunas with a wide gradation of temperature conditions, even extreme ones, salt grottoes, relaxation areas with access to a garden or an area with a magnificent landscape, swimming pools - thermal, open, closed, fonts with ice water. Moreover, the quality of finishing, designs, and the services provided in general is the highest. Impressive, isn't it?
The cost is very strictly tied and regulated by time and, in most cases, ranges from 6 - 19 euros per hour and 22 - 45 euros per day.
Public sauna: down with individuality
No matter what learned minds say, man was, is and, most likely, will be a social being. Rare recluses are perceived by society as something special, out of the ordinary. In our province they say about such people: “Either a saint or a madman.” The most typical example is a bathhouse. Well, what kind of sensible Russian person would take the coveted procedures separately and in solitude. No. We need a solid society and cheerful company. And even if you don’t have a personal bathhouse and don’t have a bathhouse company that has been established for years, don’t despair. A shared sauna guarantees you both, and in abundance.
What now
The family bathhouse is slowly but surely gaining popularity in our wide open spaces. The modern bath industry sensed the market conditions and demand for quality family vacations in time and is trying to satisfy this demand to the best of its ability, ingenuity and capabilities. Foreign experience in operating establishments of this kind is also a good help here. The trend has become so fashionable and timely that many establishments that had a reputation as a semi-gangster den with blackjack and girls of low social responsibility are in a hurry to correct their image and take the true path, which is the bathhouse for the family. In general, what is good and attractive about a family-type public bathhouse:
- Due to the specifics of the contingent, there are much fewer problems both with hired personnel and directly with visitors.
- As you know, about 60 - 65% of the profit of a bath business is not the main income, but specifically related products and services. Agree that the circulation of non-excise kvass, fruit drinks, and juices in the long term guarantees a more stable profit than beer, vodka, and cigarettes.
- Therapeutic and sports massage are now more in demand and popular than the massages that were widespread in the 90s.
- The orientation of the bathhouse business under the slogan “to the bathhouse with the whole family” guarantees communication exclusively with the relevant control and supervisory authorities, and not with the police and prosecutor’s office. Naturally, the family in this case has nothing in common with the Sicilian mafia formations.
Article on the topic: Do you need a washroom in a bathhouse anecdote
