The tradition of Moroccan hammams

Inspired, no doubt, by the baths of the Roman Empire which had dominated lands as far south as Morocco, a traditional hammam has three rooms: hot, warm and cold, as well as a lot of marble and mosaics in many cases. These are places to open up the pores and let the warmth spread through your mind, body and soul. Traditionally, the hammam is a social whirl in Morocco, with people rarely going on their own but using the time out to meet with friends or family. A two or three hour visit is the norm, and men and women are separated of course, with the tradition being that women use it during the day and men in the evenings. You will often find the hammam next door to a bakery because, traditionally, the two buildings shared the heat. Sustainable spas go back a long way, it would seem.

There are many of these traditional hammams still to be found in Morocco, although there are also chi chi versions which fit into the popular spa tourism niche. We like to stick with the traditional hammam heritage here at Responsible Travel. If you see a local woman bringing her bread out of one building and then going into the one beside it, you know you are onto the real thing. Especially when you see here coming out a couple of hours later, arm in arm with a few pals, all shining like new pins.

Do you go naked or not? This depends on the hammam, but for the most part women wear underwear of some kind. Others will go naked but it is recommended to only do this if local people are doing so. Once the underwear or no underwear issue has been resolved, you head to the warm room where you rinse off your daily dirt, allow your body to adapt to the temperatures and let your pores open up a little. Then to the hot room (yes it keeps getting hotter) where an attendant will soap and scrub with the traditional black savon noir which gives a whole new meaning to tactile culture. If being touchy feely takes you way out of your comfort zone, you may want to think again about heading to the hammam.

You will then be asked to shower and rinse off the black soap, and then head to the cool room to collapse, recover and possibly even have a massage. Depending on the hammam, they will either have massage practitioners on site, or with traditional hammams, friends and family massage each other. You may even have someone ask if you want a massage and, for the most part, this is just the done thing. It is also the done thing to return the favour.