Morocco

ONE PIECE OF ADVANCE FOR IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN MARRAKECH:

In many cultures, community baths are important, and if you find your way to Morocco, you must experience a hammam.

A hammam is the Moroccan bath ritual. It’s similar to a Turkish bath (the wet cousin of the sauna.) You will relax in a steamy room and wash with black soap (a soap made from olive oil and macerated olives).

Once your skin is softer than you imagined possible, you will be rinsed and scrubbed vigorously by an experienced attendant who has seen it all, and does not care what your body looks like. The scrub is taken very seriously, and I’m pretty sure my spa attendant stripped off an entire layer of skin. (Was it painful? A little. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I go once a week when I travel in Morocco and miss it terribly at home.)

After your scrub, you’ll be covered in rhassoul, a thick grey clay paste which has astringent properties. You’ll be rinsed again, or asked dto rinse, and once you’re clean, you’ll be covered in argan oil. A massage might be involved… a reward for the rigors of the hammam.

It’s worth noting that there are three types of hammams: luxury spas (often organized by hotels and catering to rich tourists), regular spas found in riads (less expensive, often recommended by locals or found in the medinas) and community hammams (which are where the locals enjoy their community baths.)

I’ve partaken of all three, and find the required nudity and intimacy with your fellow hammam-goers increases as the price of the hammam visit goes down. This essential Moroccan ritual is available at a very wide variety of price points, so find one that matches your budget level and get soft, silky and squeaky clean.