[Pita]

A question to jump-start the English side this summer...

What amenties do you like (or dislike) in a spa?

By amenities I mean the extra "novelty" facilities beyond the traditional dry sauna, steam room, pool, etc. Things like the salt baths, ice grottos, cinema saunas and so on.

Personally, I really enjoy the salt bath at Elysium, the cold walk-through plunge at Vitilzee, and the kruidentempel at Thermen Barendracht, among others.

Anyone else?

Pita

[oeroek]

Many spa's have their own specialities and I love many of them in their own way. But what I really like on most spa's is the Loyly. It is a universal ritual that is done in many places but can also be customized to fit the atmosphere of the individual spa.

[Pita]

I certainly agree with you about the lolyl sessions. They're one of my favorite features as well. I've come to understand that different saunas have different techniques for the session. Some, in my opionion are good, others not so good.

What does it take to be a Saunameister? Is there training involved, or is it just someone from the staff who is assigned to do it for the sauna. I'm curious because I've see some who take a lot of care in the process, and others who seem to just be going through the motions without really paying attention to the comfort and enjoyment of the guests.

Pita

[Pingu]

[Pita]

I think there is a certain element of care that is important in the sessions as well. I've actually walked out of a couple of sessions because the leader was not paying attention to the heat (too hot, too fast), or too busy chatting with one or two guests to be bothered to give a good loyly session.

I gave myself a meritorious afternoon off from work last week and visited Thermen Holiday (wasn't my first choice, but Elysium was FULL - at 1300 on a Friday!). I did the Aloe Loyly at TH and while I thought the aloe itself was somewhat of a gimmick, the sessions itself was very good. It was very long (about 35 minutes), but the woman leading the session did a great job of circulating the hot air throughout a very large cabin. It was quite full, too. Over 50 people in that session.

And I also like the initial blast of hot air when your thinks it's cold rather than hot. Great!

I've no interest in leading lolyl sessions. Seems like too much work, but not being a native speaker I am interested in what techniques they are taught, if any, or if they just do what they think is right at the time.

Speaking of Lolyl saunas, I went to Bussloo last winter and sat in their automated lolyl sauna. It is a fan that deploys from the cieling and sperads hot, steamed air around the room. I was very disippointed and I'm rather surprised they would build something like that considering how nice the rest of their complex is.

[kevin8]

[palestrina]

Is Loyly similar to Aufguss? Or is it a special kind of Aufguss? Thanks!

[oeroek]

To my knowledge there is nog difference whatsoever between loyly and aufguss.

[palestrina]

Thank you. I have been to a few saunas in Germany, and it took me a while to work out what Aufguss was. Here's what I liked and didn't like:

Therme Erding: My favourite thing was the Calla Kaskaden. My wife got tired of me talking about it! The Geysirhöhle sauna was a bit strange. We sat and sweated and watched a fake geyser.

Schwaben-Therme, Aulendorf: We had our first Aufguss, which was an ice Aufguss! Since then I have read on the website that it is "for experienced saunagoers only". It was great. We tried the whole Roman Bath ritual, which was nice but not exciting. The Roman Clay Ritual was funny. We covered our faces in white clay, then sat in the steam room with a whole lot of other naked people with white clay on their faces!

Bodensee Therme in Konstanz: This had experience showers. There were three buttons. The top one made a lovely mist. The bottom one started jets of warm water coming from the side. The middle button caused icy-cold water to come from the top. So it was both good and bad! We went to the Bodensee Therme only days after it opened, so they were trying out different things. We saw people escaping from a garlic Aufguss, which was quite funny.

We shall have to try to get to the Netherlands next time we are in Europe. Your spas look fantastic.

[Pita]

I had the pleasure of visiting the thermen at the Holthusen Bad in Hamburg, Germany, a few weeks ago. Their aufguss is is much diferent than the Dutch versions I've been in. It only lasts about 10 minutes, but it is very intense. It is very hot and they bring the heat up quite quickly.

Another interesting feature was they held it every hour on the hour, and every two hours they would have a 2nd aufguss session in an adjacent sauna cabin 15 minutes after the first one began, so if you wanted you could sit in the first session, take a couple minute break, then walk into the 2nd session. I did that a couple of times and was spent by the time the evening was finished! it was great!

Pita

[palestrina]

I have (unfortunately!) only experienced German aufgusses, which are hot and short, as you say. So a typical Dutch Löyly is cooler and lasts longer... interesting.

Two aufgusses in a row sounds like fun, though personally I’d feel better if there was an ambulance waiting outside for me