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Originally Posted by thelighterthief
I've been to Sauna Van Egmond in Haarlem (which I think is mentioned 3 times on the list)
Haarlem is a 20 min train ride out of Amsterdam. The sauna is weirdly on a residential road and quite odd to look at. I had a great time there and there were people of all ages hanging out. You might want to eat there and check the timings for trains as Haarlem is a small town with not a lot going on.
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This is true, it is slightly out of the way of Amsterdam, and compared to places like Germany where they have large complexes with huge car parks, it does feel a bit mini, but it is very charming and 100% recommended.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnhenry@dr.com
Thank you for the info. It certainly sounds like I need to plan a trip to Amsterdam or Germany...
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If you can only travel to one or the other, it is Germany.
Sauna Van Egmond near Amsterdam (The Netherlands) is great for what it is - well themed, cozy atmosphere, large variety of sauna types, etc. Only one smallish swimming pool iirc. If you would like any descriptions please ask specifics, I'm very happy to go into details. I haven't been to Sauna Van Egmond for about 7+ years however, so no idea how covid is affecting things there. If this is your first spa experience you may even think this is holy grail. For example, for Brits, if you've ever been to the Thermae Bath Spa in Bath, it felt more featured than that in terms of spa facilities (except Bath has more "swimming" pools). If you are in Amsterdam I can't recommend a trip to Sauna Van Egmond enough.
However, given the choice, it is still Germany. I'd recommend going to Munich to go to the Therme Erd*ng which is outside the city but worth it. You now see the big boss of sauna complexes. Now you've seen the holy grail. This is a big center that has various things there besides the sauna world - large swimming pools with slides etc for family, I think a cinema screen (not sure?), but we never used these and would have had to pay extra, but besides, the sauna world is literally like a theme park, you can totally spend ALL day there. I'm very happy to talk more about things there too if you have specific questions? I've been to other ones in Germany too, and they have many others that are bigger than what you'd find in The Netherlands. Oh, the Aufgusses at Therme Erd*ng are mental... themed, music, waving flags...
I know that for people on here, the times when they force a break in the aufguss and all 30 of us stand up from sitting our towels, climb down the sauna benches and proceed to head outside to the open air and stand there for 180 seconds until the saunameister calls us back in. This is when you realise how confident Germans are at being nude socially. We all file back in respectfully to find our spots where we left our towels. Pretty cool.