Well, the day had finally come – we were about to get on the bus that would take us to Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden. There we would travel through roughly 17 stages in a spa environment; however, there was just one small caveat… Friedrichsbad is a naked spa. After only spending about three weeks with my fellow classmates, I had to wonder if we were really comfortable enough with each other to spend about three hours without any clothing on. Thankfully, it wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be.
When we arrived, the girls and guys had to split up (some awkward jokes were made about going through the spa together but those ideas were soon abandoned). Us girls headed upstairs to disrobe and embark on our journey. Each stage had a suggested time attached to it and the goal was to slowly raise your body temperature then lower it as you moved through the spa. The first stage was a shower and our first test in maturity. Luckily, no one made it awkward. The next two stages were a warm-air bath and then a hot-air bath. Both stages were in rooms with wooden lounge chairs where the air was so hot and heavy that it became slightly difficult to breathe. After we finished stage two, we were so hot and hoping that stage three would be cooler; it was so much hotter. The five minutes we spent in stage three felt like 20. Finally we escaped and moved on to the showers again. It was probably one of the better showers of my life. Stage five was to be a soap and brush massage, but we didn’t pay extra for this service so we immediately moved on to the next area (technically stage six was another shower so we also skipped over this as we had just been in the showers). Our next two stops were combined in the thermal steam baths. The warm air felt so good, and we were happy to sit in there for the full time allotment. Then it was time for a thermal full bath. This was the first time we actually were able to swim and it felt so nice to freely move around (think skinny dipping). Now, things got slightly awkward…
As we were swimming and minding our own business, we suddenly saw the boys across the building also relaxing in a thermal bath. There was a large pool in-between us that appeared to be co-ed. The boys spotted us and decided to leap out of their pool and dart into the co-ed pool. But would us girls join them? We didn’t know.
While we pondered this situation, we moved on to stage ten in the thermal whirlpool bath. There was a lot of giggling and some lively discussion in here which actually turned out to be a bad idea, because we were told we had to quiet down by a woman who worked at the spa. Finally, it was decision time…
After building up our courage briefly, the girls sprinted into the co-ed pool. Those few seconds in the open moving from pool to pool were slightly awkward; however, once we reached the safety of the water, all that awkwardness melted away. Until we had to get out of the water, that is. The boys left first and the girls left soon after. We tried our best to get from this pool to the next stage without showing too much.
Stage 12 brought another shower, and then we saw what appeared to be a small hot tub. Because the tub for stage 13 was so small, the decision was made to travel in twos. Myself and another girl were to go first, and I was looking forward to spending some time in the water. It was absolutely not what I expected. The second my toes hit the water, I immediately recoiled. This water was so cold that it physically hurt! After a few seconds of building up my courage, I plunged in for roughly 30 seconds. What I now realize is that this is where my body temperature was being lowered. After exiting the freezing cold water, I was handed a sheet by someone who worked at the spa and I headed over to apply moisturizing cream all over my body. As a group we headed into the reading room where we drank tea and lounged on comfortable chairs. Our final stop in the spa was the relaxation room (it really should be labeled the napping room). We were swaddled like babies in warm towels and blankets, and immediately everyone fell asleep. That was probably the best nap of my life.
While naked spas seem like a foreign concept in America, the Europeans seem to accept it as a common occurrence and nothing to get excited about. All in all, I’m very happy I had this experience.
The outside of Friedrichsbad as pictures were not allowed to be taken inside
Location: Baden-Baden, Germany
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I’m in Morocco and we had a similar experience going to the hammam, which is technically a Turkish bath according to Google but is a very common part of Moroccan lives. It’s a hot steaming room where workers apply a special black jelly soap to your entire body and then scrub you viciously with a black exfoliating hand mitt. After you are thoroughly scraped of dead skin, they dump large buckets of warm water over you and you continue your bath as normal. Moroccan ladies also go into a steamier room to sit as gossip, apparently for hours. Oh, and it’s also done naked like yours. We (the girls in my program) originally we told that we could go in just our underwear and bras, and up until we got there that’s what we had decided to do. Once there however, we decided “When in Rome..” and went topless like all the other women. As this was only on our fourth day of being together it was a little awkward like you described yours was, but it has certainly made traveling and sharing hostel rooms a lot easier! It surprised me how casual it was; no one seemed fazed at all, even when you have a hammam worker scrubbing and touching your entire body (and I mean your ENITRE body). Certainly a very different experience than we ever would get in the States.