Social bathing
Arab baths in Spain: the Andalusian legacy of the hammam
How the Arab baths of al-Andalus worked, what is left of them in Andalusia, and how that heritage shows up in the bathing spaces Spain has today.
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Journal
Notes and stories about bathing together.
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Sauna hats in a shared sauna: why bathers wear them and what the house rules say
Why bathers in a banya or an aufguss session wear a felt hat on the top bench, what house rules say about hats, how to keep one clean in a shared room and what else people wear in the heat.
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Hammam: what it is, how the bath works and where it comes from
The hammam is the public bath of the Islamic world: heated rooms, hot marble, washing and a scrub. See the sequence of a visit, the Roman inheritance and why the European “Turkish bath” is something else.
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Communal bathing: what it is and how to enter a shared bath
Communal bathing means sharing water, heat or washing space with strangers. Learn what to wear, how the visit works and which etiquette changes from one bathing tradition to another.
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The social side of the bathhouse: bathing was always public
Heat and cold became a solo session with a booking slot, but for thousands of years bathing was a public room where people stayed. What heat does to conversation, what the research supports, and the design decisions that settle whether anyone talks.
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Roman baths: how the thermae worked
The history of the Roman bathhouse: balneum and thermae, the circuit a bather walked, how the hypocaust heated a floor, what entry cost and why the great complexes emptied.
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Ganbanyoku: the shared hot-stone room of a Japanese bath complex
Ganbanyoku is a warm room of heated stone beds that strangers share inside Japanese bath complexes. What the rooms hold, what people wear, the rules on quiet and phones, and how it fits a visit to an onsen or sentō.
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Geothermal stops on Iceland’s Ring Road: where to bathe
Plan geothermal bathing stops around Iceland’s Ring Road, from Akureyri and Mývatn to Egilsstaðir, with the detours that fit the drive and Reykjavík bookends.
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The wet sauna myth: sauna, steam room and hammam
What is often called a wet sauna is a steam room. Understand how it differs from a Finnish sauna, why löyly matters and why hammam means something else.
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Types of sauna: dry, steam, wood-fired and smoke
Compare electric, wood-fired, steam and smoke saunas, the shared rooms of a bathhouse. Learn what changes in the bathing experience and the build, and why a dry sauna can have steam.
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Social bathing in Medellín: the city's few shared bathing spaces
Medellín has few shared bathing spaces: a sauna and cold plunge club in Provenza, the wet zone on a Via Primavera rooftop and a group temazcal in Guarne. What each operator publishes.
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Sauna: what it is for, the types and how to use a shared sauna
What a sauna is, the difference between dry and steam, and how to use a sauna you share with other people: the bench, the shower, the towel, the quiet and asking before you throw water on the stones. With a short note on health.
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Spa Colmegna: the 1895 bathhouse hidden in Buenos Aires
A shared circuit of sauna, steam and a marble cold pool in a 130-year-old bathhouse in central Buenos Aires. How the circuit works and what to confirm before you go.
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Contrast therapy: the hot and cold cycle in a shared circuit
Sauna, cold water and rest in rooms you share with other people: a shared cold pool or a single tub, waiting your turn, rinsing before the cold, the rest area and the house rules. Plus what the research shows and who should be careful.
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Bathhouse, spa, recovery and hot springs: what social bathing is and what sits outside it
Almost every place with a sauna and an ice tub calls itself a bathhouse. Social bathing is bathing together in a shared space: what falls inside that line, what sits outside it and the questions that tell you who you will share the room with.
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Social bathing in New York: the bathhouse map in 2026
The city that nearly lost its bathhouses in the 1980s now has a historic schvitz, social bathhouses and neighborhood sauna clubs. A map of where to share the sauna, the steam and the cold water.
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How much a bathhouse costs to build: where the budget starts
There is no single price for a bathhouse: the budget for a shared room starts with how many people it takes at the same time. This is the map of the decisions that push the number up or down, in the order they have to be made.
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