the Dutch Sauna experience...

[laylak]

send me a pm, i can suggest you a couple of places in Sweden.

[coupleak]

Just in case you are interested, most of the Belgian sauna centers are as liberal towards coed and nudity as the Dutch and German are.
But always check their website in advance. Some do have women-only days or 1 day a week when bathing suit is required.

[meheretoday]

Does anyone have recommendations for a mixed spa/ wellness place fairly central in Rotterdam?

Went to Elysium out in the middle of nowhere near The Hague I think - very nice, but we had a car to get there, this time we will not, se need to be fairly central.

We are there early May

Thanks.

[johnhenry@dr.com]

Originally Posted by laylak

send me a pm, i can suggest you a couple of places in Sweden.

Thanks for the offer Laylak. For some reason, I can't send PM on OCC - the system blocks me and I get an error message.

Would you mind sending me your suggestions to my email? It's my user name. Your suggestion would be super helpful!

[mastertrader13]

So from aggregating the feedback about the saunas in and around Amsterdram:


-Sauna Deco
-Zuiver
-Haarlem Sauna
-Egmond
-Weesp Sauna
-Fort Beemster
-Sauna Denilp
-Sauna Van Egmond


Ill be there a week this month and wanted to check out all of them. If there is feedback for these or others, please let me know. Thank you, everyone.

[thelighterthief]

Originally Posted by mastertrader13

So from aggregating the feedback about the saunas in and around Amsterdram:


-Sauna Deco
-Zuiver
-Haarlem Sauna
-Egmond
-Weesp Sauna
-Fort Beemster
-Sauna Denilp
-Sauna Van Egmond


Ill be there a week this month and wanted to check out all of them. If there is feedback for these or others, please let me know. Thank you, everyone.

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.

[MissMaisyMarsh]

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.

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.

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...

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.

[saunalover87]

Hi Folks, we are a couple in Netherlands for a couple of weeks. My wife is very shy and I am hoping to help her get comfy with nudity. Can you suggest some saunas where she can slowly start getting comfortable.
Most places are fully nude and that’s great, but I was thinking of getting her slowly comfy with it. Maybe places where the showers can be separate as well as communal might help her feel safer at first. That’s just an idea but looking for more thoughts from people familiar with different saunas in the area.

[wizziam]

Folks,

I'm heading to Rotterdam next year. Any recommendations?

[coupleak]

Don't think there is such a thing as "slowly getting comfy to being nude in public". Besides the fact that I have never seen a public nude sauna with private showers, she will be exposed anyway once she's in a sauna or pool.
And if she is planning to cover up with a towel in a sauna, everybody for sure will be looking at the "shy lady", catching even more attention.

What I can advise you, from my experience in Dutch and Belgian saunas, is to go on a workday during office hours. Far less crowdy than during the evening or weekend. Might be easier to overcome her shyness.
And be warned, if your wife reacts the same why as my wife (19 yo gf at the time), she will only cover up for about 15m. After that she will be nude the whole time asking why I didn't convince her sooner to try it 🙂😉