Review: Turkish Baths, Harrogate

The other day I was staying in a Yorkshire village near to where I grew up…Harrogate. It’s a Victorian spa town that is renowned for its water, and believe me you can taste it from the taps! The water was so famous for its supposed healing properties that the Tsarina of Russia and Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Alexandra stayed here before her wedding in the hopes that the water would heal the pains in her legs.

With this ‘Spa’ atmosphere in mind, I wanted to do a post on an extraordinary day out I had at the Turkish Baths in Harrogate. Now I presume that you have the same ideas that I did before I had visited. Perfumed, steam, hopefully tanned, muscled male attendants?

Sadly not, but let me explain what is there instead, and why it is worth a visit…

Turkish Baths were immensely popular in the Victorian age, as they were slightly more exotic than the public baths that we see in the Georgian/Jane Austen age. Turkish Baths were largely hydrotherapy centres; places to convalesce and heal by using treatments involving high levels of sulphur. Typically they included a sauna, steam room and some kind of ‘hot room’. I’ll explain below how the Harrogate ones work, but it has largely kept its old mechanisms and it was how the Victorian ones worked too.

The Harrogate Turkish Baths were opened in 1897, and are the only Baths that are ‘historically complete’ (their words, not mine) and in full working order. Beginning with the First World War up to 1969 there was a steady decline in the kind of customers who would traditionally use these Baths. As a result, the Baths were shut in 1969. However, in 2002 the Baths were entirely refurbished, complete with the colourful tiles and decorations that would have existed at the time.

On to the review. Obviously, with people walking around in swimsuits, I wasn’t allowed to take photos, so I have nabbed these from the website (link at the bottom).

There are both ‘mixed’ sessions and female only sessions, and you have to book in advance. The timetable is on the website, and it’s worth keeping an eye out on the time as the price varies depending on the peak times and days. We went on a Saturday evening, which was £29.50 for the 6pm-8.30pm slot.

When you first go in, you are given towels and directed to the changing rooms. These are wonderful, as they are still the old wooden cubicles that were likely to have been there at the time.

It all feels very luxurious, with the dark mahogany and red drawback curtains!

After changing, we went into the next room, with lockers to the side (bring a £1 coin folks) and with sunloungers either side. Here one of the attendants explained to us how to use the Baths properly. I have to say I was disappointed he didn’t look Turkish as he was blonde, but I shan’t judge:

So, here is my go at explaining how the system works. It is quite different but a really invigorating experience!

- Shower. There are showers in two rooms (although it is mostly open-plan). It’s best to shower before you start, and shower each time you use the plunge pool to get rid of the chlorine. I just rinsed but I’m sure you could have a full-on wash if you wanted!

- Steam Room. This was quite a small room with a blue-tinge. At the start of the session everyone ended up in here as we weren’t brave enough to go somewhere else first. There were only about 30 though so it wasn’t too crowded. You are meant to stay in here for about 5-7 minutes, breathing in deeply etc.

- Yes. It’s the plunge pool. An icy pool of death, it seems to loom in the background and masquerades as a full-size swimming pool. It’s tempting to jump in after getting very hot in the steam room, but you need to take it slow for this one. Once you’ve managed to get in, it should cool you down and then you can move on!

4.     - The “Tepidarium”. This room is the first of three ‘hot rooms’, where you sit and bask in the heat. At 45 degrees, this room is lovely. It’s spacious and has a drinking water stand in the corner for some more of that spa water. After 10 minutes it’s back into the plunge pool.

-- The "Calidarium". This is the second hot room, which is reached through some curtains at the end of the tepidarium. It's 55 degrees in here, so after about 7 minutes you're done. The only thing I will say is that in this room the floor gets very hot, so it's worth taking flip flops or hopping!

- The "Laconium". This is the hottest room and is up a few steps from the intermediate room. At 75 degrees it's bloody hot. But nice at the same time?

After trying all of these you can stay as long as you want. I kept going back for more as they were so relaxing. You can also get treatments done elsewhere in the overall building, from basic beauty treatments to massages, it's all there! I didn't get to try one of these but I would love to go back. Instead, you can relax in the cafe bit at the start:

Verdict: These Turkish baths are so special. It's not just a spa/sauna, it's a real history experience as the decorations make it feel exotic yet Victorian at the same time. It's also just simply invigorating and a nice way to relax. I would personally recommend going on an evening, but there are lots of time slots available. Seriously, try this place if you're up in the north! (Although wear a swimsuit, not Victorian clothing. We don't want people thinking you're weird.)

All of the pictures are from the website/Pinterest: http://www.turkishbathsharrogate.co.uk/Pages/home.aspx5.