Hammam in Marrakech

Public hammam or spa hammam

Neighbourhood hammams are part of daily life in the medina. Entry is cheap, men and women use separate sections or come at separate hours, and the regulars know the routine. Signs are rarely in English, and you may be the only visitor there.

Spa hammams in riads, hotels and day spas are set up for visitors: a private or small steam room, an attendant, products included, and a rest area with tea afterwards. Couples can often book together. They cost more, from around €28 per person for the packages listed on Civitatis.

Pick a public hammam for the everyday version and a low price. Pick a spa if it's your first time, you want privacy, or you'd like a massage added.

What happens, step by step

The order varies a little from place to place, but the elements are the same in both kinds.

• Steam: you sit or lie in the hot room until your skin softens
• Black soap (savon beldi), an olive-based paste, spread over your body and left for a few minutes
• The kessa scrub: a rough glove that takes off dead skin in grey rolls, more than you'd expect
• Rinsing with buckets of warm water
• Rhassoul (ghassoul) clay on skin or hair, then a final rinse
• In spas, often an optional massage with argan oil

What to bring

For a spa, almost nothing. Towels, slippers, products and usually disposable underwear are provided. Bring a change of clothes and leave valuables in your room.

For a public hammam, bring your own kit or buy it at a shop nearby; small grocers around hammams often sell black soap and kessa gloves.

• Swimwear bottoms or underwear you can get wet
• Flip-flops
• A towel and a change of clothes
• Black soap, a kessa glove and shampoo
• A plastic bag for wet things
• Cash for entry and, if you want one, an attendant

Etiquette

Public hammams keep men and women apart, in different sections or at different times of day, so check the hours at the door. Men keep shorts or underwear on. In women's sections going topless is normal, but bottoms stay on.

No photos inside. Keep your voice down, don't stare and don't hog the taps. If an attendant scrubs you, agree the price first; a small tip on top is appreciated.

Drink water before and after. If you're pregnant, have a heart condition or low blood pressure, check before using the hot room, and skip the scrub on sunburnt skin.

Fitting it into your trip

A hammam works best at the end of a long day, or the evening after a desert trip when sand has got into everything. It needs no transport, so it slots into a free afternoon in Marrakech.

Coming back from three days in Merzouga, or from a dusty quad session, it's a good way to reset before the flight home.