Hammam experience at Casa Spa, London

Casa Spa reception

My friend and I have just completed a Groupon introduction to a hammam in London. Located at a small shopfront on Edgware Road, the Casa Spa is unexpectedly small, taking up one of the old terraced houses along the street. But enter into Moroccan luxury: textiles and ornaments bedeck the place, while candles provide the ambient light and aromas and soft music are pleasantly unobtrusive.

Reviews of Casa Spa are polarized: people either love it or hate it. I suspect those in the latter category are among the urban young who have never been exposed to camping, a public swimming pool, or a third world country. The former are more easy-going sorts who have either no expectations or understand how to place the experience in world terms. Having enjoyed other hammams in London, Paris, Istanbul and Taroudannt (Morocco), we were quite pleased with the experience.

Entering the reception, we stored our coats and visited the loo. Then down the candlelit stairway to the basement, which was entirely tiled over, floors and walls. The area was open-plan with a large room having two American king-size beds facing each other, and a massage table in the other half of the space through an archway. This second room was a wet room with floor drainage; off it was the steam room and two others we didn't see but might have been a pool and sauna as shown in the website pictures.

Yes, the changing area was small and insufficient, but the curtain did its duty and we finally found a locker with a working key (don't count on this if you go; leave valuables at home). We hadn't been warned to bring swimsuit and towel, so they were provided (a bikini one or two sizes too small on loan, and a big, fluffy, clean towel for £2.50).

First stop was the steam room, where we were left to acclimatize for awhile; then a hard-working woman who was taking care of several people at once, came in and threw cold water from a bucket on us. Left again to acclimatize, with steam enough not to be able to see well but not so much as to obstruct breathing, we waited for the next round: lathering with olive soap – an oily black mixture. After a spell, the woman came again and scrubbed us down with a rough (but not as rough as the Taroudannt version) loofah. Once rinsed, mud was applied and we were left to absorb the minerals.

A shower followed (bar of soap provided), then, wrapped in towels, we were invited to lie on one of the beds which eventually held four of us in a row. We were given time to cool down and relax before being offered fresh fruit cocktail. Then our feet were wrapped up to keep us warm until the Polish lady came to give us a foot reflexology massage (with a course certificate enabling her to work in Britain). It was strong but not intolerable – unlike one reflexology massage I had in Japan once that nearly put me through the roof. After more relaxing, a Turkish sweet cake and mint tea arrived.

Throughout, we were never rushed and were given plenty of time to relax and enjoy ourselves. Despite being very busy, the staff let us make up our own minds as to when we were ready to leave. All in all, it was very relaxing experience and we enjoyed it. Would I go again? Yes, if I felt like spending my cash that way – but I probably don't, without a major discount as this time.

Hot Springs not in England

No sooner have the leaves fallen from the trees that it began to snow. Big fluffy flakes, wet and heavy. What better time to go sit in one of Colorado’s several hot springs. This is great family time: soaking and talking for the adults, kids playing quietly in the shallows. One even rolled big snowballs at the side of the pool in her bathing suit to make a snowman.

Trimble Hot Springs, Durango, Colorado on Guy Fawkes Day

No, this blog is not about how to have fun in England. It is about the fun in the States or several other places that we miss in England. They don’t even have the words “hot springs” there – only “spa’ or “sauna”. Yes, there are plenty of places to go sit in indoor facilities: a jacuzzi or a dry/wet sauna, but there is none of the enticement of lazing away a couple of hours with friends or family. The spas in London are generally unisex and clothesless, with Ladies’ Days and Men’s Days. Health clubs around the country have the same, but at least they are duosex and everyone everywhere must wear swimsuits. It seems most English spas make their money from add-on massages, etc., rather than providing interesting bathing experiences in and of themselves. 

Harrogate is one place that has a duosex Victorian spa (Harrogate Turkish Baths and Health Spa), renovated in the last few years to rid it of the musty smell and peeling paint it had been afflicted by. People going there have very mixed reactions; if they don't know what to expect, they tend to like the three hot rooms with showers inbetween, plus steam room and cold plunge pool. But if they are experienced, or if the place is crowded, the visit can be really frustrating. Despite its name, it is not really like a Turkish bath where all soaps and oils are provided, as well as a skin-removing rub down with a rough loofah. And compared to other facilities, the offerings are slim. 

But the places we really like to go are The Netherlands, with their wonderful duosex, clothesless, 30-station saunas that take at least two hours to make the rounds of each station with a comfortable bar and lounge area to take a break and have a drink among cattle-hide upholstered furniture and thick towels. And Japan, which has a few remaining duosex, clothesless spas tucked into the countryside. Unfortunately, the American Occupation Forces in Japan decreed men and women should no longer bathe together, so since the late 40s, all public bath houses and most hot springs are segregated; and in those segregated places, bathing is without clothes. The best hot springs in Japan have outdoor pools or even river rock pools to soak in.

The mix and match in these countries between morals (signified by clothes or no clothes), segregated or all together, indoors or outdoors is quite interesting but not always the best of fun. We just wish England could take a page from some other countries and get a nice hot springs economy up and running. We’d be the first to jump in.