European Sauna Advice
 

As many have suggested, myself included, that the "Mixed nude European sauna experiences" thread be reserved for reporting experiences, and a new thread be created for those seeking advice, here is that thread.

This thread is for those who have questions or need suggestions about visiting European saunas. Many questions have focused on where, when and who (specifically young women).

I'll start it off with my best advice: Try. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. I've been to some lousy saunas. Just enjoy the health benefits of that sauna and move on. That is, after all, the fun of traveling - trying the new and unknown.

The experiences reported in the original thread leads to questions. And that leads to advice. I don't see any sense in trying to separate that.

Thanks Soulac! The other thread is supposed to be about experiences, but is 90% contaminated by posts of everthything but ..

One thread is Ok because when you give advice you must tell your experience. The original thread is gold

Here we can dicusss whether we need two threads, instead of doing that in the experiences thread. 😆

What is your opinion of VinB, in general?

What do you like and dislike?
The layout, the concept of the space, the number of ceremonies, the outdoor space, the pools....

Lots of info in the the experiences thread. Check the last 20 pages.

v berlin
 

Am going to v at the end of December, when I booked my ticket I could only get one for 9am but my flight doesn't get in until 11, do u think this will be an issue?

I was there in the summer so I don't know what your experience will be like if during the winter you're mostly inside. I did see a nice panorama sauna on the first floor (2nd floor for N Americans). Just outside that sauna there is a balcony that looks down on an indoor pool. The outdoor pool is larger than the indoor pool. There are multiple locker rooms. They are mixed gender.

Compared to my usual locations V trends younger, upscale and more tourists. That has certain advantages. The motif is SE Asian zen, not the northern European style of most saunas. I enjoy German sauna culture and I'm normally the only non-German in the places I frequent, because of the tourists and the motif V doesn't give me that same sense of enjoying German culture. Please don't misunderstand, it is a legitimate German sauna, just not what I'm used to. (For example, at V it was the first time I saw a hermaphrodite. I certainly never saw one in the rural towns where I normally sauna.) The ceremonies were hourly, if I remember correctly, and qualitatively neither better nor worse than other facilities I've been to.

One thing I will mention, if you don't like staff members showering with customers then V in B is not the place for you. I saw one male and two female employees showering after leading an aufguss. I don't know about you, but when I'm paying to shower in public it chaps my hide to see a twenty-something blonde employee standing buck naked right next to me using the facilities for free.

Vabali
 

The positives are the sheer size of the place, the variety of locations and activities along with the beautiful young women you see everywhere.

The downsides? Bit too much bathrobe culture for me, especially inside. I’d like to leave my robe to one side and just spend my day nude. That’s okay outside and you can be nude as much as you like but inside you’re expected to wear a robe when not partaking in the activities; swimming or saunas. I didn’t often follow this and sometimes just lay naked on the loungers. In other places - Zuiver in Amsterdam (which is not as good as Vabali), you can pretty much be naked for the day.