Mostly to my non-german readers: About saunas

[elfy]

A friend of mine told me, that when she was in Canada, it was quite hard for her to find a sauna. And as she found one, people actually wore swimsuits when they used it. I now wonder ... in the country where you live, how is it there? Are there saunas? I mean, saunas for normal use and not for some sort of sex business? Are they common? And are they used naked or do people wear stuff? Do YOU like to go to the sauna? Or would you like to try it, but you've never been to one?

I'm just curious :)
Here in germany saunas are quite common, you find several big wellness clubs / spas with lots of saunas in every city and quite some public baths have a sauna area, in smaller citites you also fairly often stumble upon saunas and I know a hand full of people who have private saunas at home. Also, fitness-clubs tend to have saunas as well. In these days saunas are usually for both sexes, sometimes there is a certain area/day just for women, but it gets rarer. It is not only uncommon to wear something in a sauna here, it is actually discouraged or even forbidden.
Personally I love to go to the sauna :D I wish the really nice ones weren't so expensive.

Comments

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

Not always true... I've been to hotels in Germany where you had to wear a swimsuit. But it's the rarer option.

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

But, come to think of it, especially in smaller hotels, I think it might be more a question of architecture than anything else. The saunas I used that required clothing were usually small and directly connected to the regular bathing area/the children bathing area.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

How big would you expect a sauna to be? I imagine it as about the same size as two toilet cubicles

[elfy.livejournal.com]

The saunas in the purpose build saunas I usually visit are between 6 and 20 (twenty) sqm, I'd say.

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

I was referring to the size of the sauna area, including the showers, a cold pool, places you can lie down.
At the hotel in London, you had to be careful not to fall into the only pool when taking a step out of the cabin, it was all crammed together in a tiny space.

[elfy.livejournal.com]

Well, I have to admit I've never been to a sauna in a hotel, but it really seems to be quite rare. Well, that's not true ... I have been to a sauna in a hotel - and also there clothing was not permitted. Hmmm ... maybe it's like you write below, that it's an architectural thing.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I think I have only been to saunas in hotels

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

Note to self: Get Elfy a ticket to the Mauritiustherme.

[elfy.livejournal.com]

Don't bother if I have to wear something in there ;) I'd not feel comfortable. Then I'd rather go to the Neptunbad again or to the Mediterrana. Or maybe the Claudiustherme, I've not been there yet.

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

Ah, they have a huge area, they don't have clothing there.
In Vienna we were actually kicked out of the sauna because we refused to take off our bathing suits... we wanted to leave them on because while there screens between the sauna area and the normal area, there was no pool and no shower in the whole sauna area!
So we would have to take off your stuff, walk all the way to the sauna, spend time there, get out, walk all the way back, put on your stuff while the ultra-creepy pool attendant stared his eyes out and then get back into the water.
We thought this was rather silly, the pool attendant thought otherwise.
Needless to say, it was one point on the several pages long letter of complaint we filed afterward.

[dream-xofx-dark.livejournal.com]

I solved it the opposite way around in a hotel in Neuss but the pool was beside the sauna area so it was easy to dive naked into the pool for a few laps. Usually there was noone else there or they were also using the sauna.

[paskiainen.livejournal.com]

ich war ja jetzt er st im land der saunas.. und da kann ich dir was erzählen, ja :)
also in finnland hat jeder eine sauna. in blocks gibt es dann eine gemeinschaftliche saune, die man buchen kann. sauna ist der inbegriff des lebens in finnland.
man geht um ddie 2-3 mal in die sauna. in der familie die geschlechter getrennt und die paare einzeln. mit freunden hat man oft saunaparty unter jungen leuten, und gerade in lappland geht man da auch gemischt.
was zur sauna gehört, wie der deckel auf den topf ist das saunabier, welches schön erfrischt und auch ein bisschen dizzy macht. dementsprechend ist es in der sauna auch immer lustig ;)
in finnland gibt es auch öffentliche saunen und hier sind die geschlechter immer getrennt. man sitzt dann aber auch in der pause mal auf der straße im bademantel, typischerweise mit bier ;)
naja what can i say? I love sauna!!

[elfy.livejournal.com]

Ich bin ein wenig überrascht, dass die nach Geschlecht getrennt gehen, aber ... nu, wenn dem so ist. Das Saunabier ist ja lustig :) Wenn auch eh nix für mich, da ich ja sowieso kein Bier trinke.
Und jaaaa, Sauna ist toll!

[http://users.livejournal.com/lucie_/]

also ich hab sauna ja noch nie verstanden, aber nungut.

hier ist's eigentlich eher selten, und du musst schon gut suchen um in eine richtige sauna zu gehen, und nicht in einen pornoclub.

Not in Venezuela...

[themooselet.livejournal.com]

Back in Venezuela saunas are a very rare thing, only for very fancy clubs. No wonder, with our 30°C year-round!
Latin Americans in general have a hard time getting naked in front of strangers --wearing a tiny tiny swimsuit is no problem (for one tires to choose one that enhances one's features and hides the faults), but full nakedness? Never! Not even at the gym showers, surrounded by other women only!
You can imagine it was a struggle to convince me to go to a sauna here in Germany --but once the clothes were off and I realized that people were relaxing and not, as they'd do back home, ogling or criticizing, it was somewhat fun.

Re: Not in Venezuela...

[elfy.livejournal.com]

Very nice that you got comfortable so quickly! I think especially in winter going to the sauna is a fantastic thing to do :) And yes, I guess quite some first time goers are surprised, that usually noone is staring at you at all.

[fusselbiene.livejournal.com]

I love to go to a sauna, but I haven't been for years. ^^

Since I'm from Cologne as well, my "native sauna culture" is the same as yours. ;P

[elfy.livejournal.com]

Let's go to the sauna together some time! :D

[fusselbiene.livejournal.com]

Au ja! *_*

[dream-xofx-dark.livejournal.com]

In Ireland (and the UK) saunas are usually attached to gyms or pools and a swimsuit seems always to be required.

In Germany I mainly used the ones in hotels which are usually in a separate barefoot area with a small door or something between them and the swimming pool (which usually does require clothes). In Netherlands I went to purpose built saunas which were always nude and had shared changing rooms. Some nights were reserved for women only.

I don't see the point of wearing clothes in a sauna.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I don't see the point of wearing clothes in a sauna.

:-)

[elfy.livejournal.com]

I don't see the point of wearing clothes in a sauna.

100% agreed! :)
In germany are very nice saunas! Like these:
http://www.neptunbad.de/
http://www.mediterana.de/
http://www.miramar-bad.de/

[sukieann.livejournal.com]

I don't see the point of wearing clothes in a sauna.

I agree, too. It's very uncomfortable when your swimsuit gets hot and sticks to your body like plastic wrap, and the real cause of the sauna is totally wasted.

We have the Niederrheintherme in Duisburg with a so-called "sauna landscape" with 12 different saunas, a water way (about 10 different ways to cool down), and an outside area with a cold-pool and salines all around. I just love it.

[eliathanis.livejournal.com]

In Japan haben einige Badehäuser Saunen. Meist sogar mehrere... ich war z.B. in einer Sauna, wo man sich vorher mit Salz eingerieben hat - macht die Haut schön weich!
Die Bäder und Saunen sind nach Geschlechtern getrennt, deshalb ist Nacktheit da Standard.
Achja, und Tattoos sind dort verboten. Sogar sehr streng.

[zeraphita.livejournal.com]

Aber ist es nicht so, daß wie in den Onsen oft die Möglichkeit besteht, die Tattoos abzukleben (vor allem für Ausländer)? Denn das Tattoo in Japan breitet sich doch auch außerhalb der Yakuza inzwischen weiter aus.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I have only been to saunas in hotels typically ones with swimming pools - both in the UK and abroad. I understand that they are common in gyms too, but I am not exactly a big fan of gyms.

I would automatically wear trunks unless it was a private sauna and I was told not to.

I did however go to a sauna in a hotel in Beijing. The hotel had a great swimming pool in the basement, plus a heated public bath as well as a sauna. The bath had one naked guy in it, who got out when I entered with my swimming trunks. There was no one in the sauna.

[elfy.livejournal.com]

Well, here in germany you wouldn't be allowed to wear trunks in the sauna, people would actually tell you to get rid of them (saw it happen). The exception might be the hotel saunas laurenia spoke of above.
But, as you seem not to see the point in saunas I guess it's not important anyway ;)

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I can understand not wearing trunks if everyone else was nude. It is easier to leave them off if there are clear rules.

Strangely I am not a terribly big exhibitionist. I know that you dont see it as deliberately showing your body, but for a stuck up English guy that is still what it is.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

They're pretty common on the West Coast of the U.S., but you don't go into them naked. The ones in the gym aren't co-ed, but there's ones in some hotels that are.

[totchi-bunny.livejournal.com]

Also ich kann Saunas einfach nicht ausstehen. Das hat auch nichts mit nacktsein zu tun (das dürfest du dir ja vorstellen können ^_~) sondern einfach mit der Tatsache mit anderen Schwitzenden in einem Raum zu hocken. Pff... Da ekelts mich einfach obwohl ich sonst ja nicht pingelig bin.

Das letzte mal war ich im Hotel in Sao Paolo/Brasilien in der Sauna/Dampfbad nur mit einer meiner Kolleginnen und das war angenehm *nick* Dort waren wir ebenfalls nackt. Ob das nun so gewünscht war oder nicht, wir waren ja unter uns. Deswegen kann ich zu deiner Frage mit der Badekleidung nichts sagen.

[eddie-offermann.livejournal.com]

I've seen more references to saunas since being in Los Angeles, but I don't recall ever even hearing mention of one in Florida (possibly because it's 90°F/32C with 90%+ humidity much of the year: Florida *is* a sauna!)

And surely you know how weird Americans are about nudity. I have plenty of openminded friends that would be comfortable with going into a sauna nude, but that's not the norm.

This isn't to say that there are no nude saunas - there are, even at relatively mainstream places... but we'd still be talking about high end resorts with a strong leaning towards an adult atmosphere. Finding anything at all that is clothing-optional in the U.S. is pretty rare.

[werewolveriniki.livejournal.com]

I've never been to a sauna. But the ones we have in Brazil you definitely have to wear something*. Not when you're getting your massage, of course, but there's no one else in the room, or maybe one more bed. No big rooms with lots of naked people, it would be viewed as quite scandalous. And I've tried and failed on numerous occasions to explain to people that it's not a orgy-type of thing. Ahhh, cultural differences...

*In the touristy parts of northeast Brazil, there are places that cater exclusively to Europeans, maybe there you can find one like in Germany.