Entertainment & Spa

Your first hammam: what actually happens, step by step

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AV
Anorya Team · 14 mars 2026 · 1 min read

Nobody explains the sequence beforehand, which is why people arrive nervous. Here it is.

A hammam is a sequence, not a room, and the order matters because each step prepares you for the next.

Your first hammam: what actually happens, step by step

It begins with dry heat — a steam room or sauna for ten to fifteen minutes — which opens the pores. Then the hammam itself: wet steam, hotter and heavier, another ten to fifteen minutes. By this point your skin is genuinely softened, which is the entire purpose of the first half.

Then the kese: a coarse mitt, and an attendant who scrubs you thoroughly. This is the part people are nervous about and the part they talk about afterwards, because the amount of dead skin that comes off is faintly appalling and extremely satisfying. It is firm but not painful. Say so if it is.

Your first hammam: what actually happens, step by stepYour first hammam: what actually happens, step by step

This is the part people are nervous about and the part they talk about afterwards, because the amount of dead skin that comes off is faintly appalling and extremely satisfying.

A foam-soap massage follows, then the jacuzzi and hibiscus tea while your body temperature comes back down. Wear swimwear — you are not expected to be naked in the mixed tourist hammams — and drink more water afterwards than you think you need.

Your first hammam: what actually happens, step by step
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