Marrakech Hammam Spa Treatment

Hammam spa treatments in Marrakech, Morocco
Discover what hammams are all about in Marrakech - and what you should know before you sign yourself up!

Anyone who has had the opportunity to travel and explore the souks of Marrakech or even the beaches of Essaouria will tell you that there's no place on earth like Morocco. Despite the rise of tourism when it comes to visitors, new faces, small cheap hotels, big luxury hotels, or small hostels with hordes of backpackers, the city of Marrakech continues to be as exotic and as beautiful as ever.

After you've bargained the day away for precious scarves and spices in the markets, try your hand at a hammam experience. The hammam, like the Roman bathhouse or Turkish bath, is a traditional public bathhouse that originates back to the times when private bathrooms were a luxury in the majority of homes. Once a week, local people would visit the bathhouse in order to meet friends and bathe - the equivalent of today's modern-day girl's spa vacation.

These days there are two main kinds of hammam experiences accessible for the visitor: the local hammam where you can have a true, albeit rougher experience of the hammam; or give the hammam experience a try as a spa treatment in one of the day spas or luxury hotel spas around Marrakech - the only catch is that it'll cost you much more for the latter.

Hammams in Morocco use hot water and steam rather than hot dry air like Turkish baths. A rough mitten/glove and black soap are the staples of any hammam and may be bought whenever you go into the spa and for less expensive than in the markets. You can select the do-it-yourself bathing technique or go with an assistant - motherly Moroccan women who do not have pity for Westerners' low ability to tolerate a hard, abrasive scrub. With black soap and mitten in hand, they'll scrub you down so hard you'll wish you selected the do-it-yourself, while the only relief given is definitely the dousing of warm water to scrub away the dirt every now and then. By the time you're done, you'll feel as if you've got completely new skin and fewer as if you were at the mercy of your assistant.

The benefit to having your hammam experience as a spa therapy in one of the spa hotels in Morocco is that you could select a spa day package (hammam, massage, manicure, pedicure, and etc.) or maybe a hotel spa or spa trip deal (accommodations, food, spa therapies).

Located beside Marrakech's famous Royal Palaces and the Saadian Tombs, La Sultana Hotel & Spa (http://www.ghotw.com/hotel/home/la-sultana.htm) is a quiet oasis in the heart of the ancient city of Marrakech. The traditional-style villa is made up of several riads, each with a different style and feel, while each suite is devoted to one exotic animal like the Elephant Room. Within the villa, quiet gardens with trickling fountains are a great spot for reading or taking a cup of mint tea; domed columns surround a crystal clear pool; but it's the spa at the Sultana Hotel that is a gem, with traditional hammam rooms and a private indoor pool for spa guests fit for an ancient goddess.

Article from Pure Spa Hotels.