A hammam is an ancient ritual of cleansing and purification in a heated chamber, often quite beautiful, that combines a vigorous full-body exfoliation by a therapist who uses a coarse mitt. It's followed by pouring of warm water, a bubbly soaping, and sometimes a full-body massage.
A real hammam, from an Arabic word meaning 'heat', consists of a hot room (the sıcaklık, or hararet), a warm, intermediate room, and the cool room (or soğukluk). Traditionally these were architectural marvels in the Eastern European/Middle Eastern/North African hammam (hamam in Turkey)Read about what happens in a traditional Turkish hammam or hamam.
A hammam is NOT a simple steam room. It's still relatively rare to find an authentic hammam experience in the U.S. because they are expensive to put in. Miraj Hammam was an early innovator in Vancouver. More recently, The Drift Spa at Palms Place, Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas, InterContinental Montelucia in Arizona, Montage Beverly Hills and Trump Soho in Manhattan all have hammams. And although traditionally they've been a same-sex experience, new modern twists have broadened the experience to couples."
Introduced to the modern spa scene by lavish Middle Eastern resort spas (such as Dubai's One and Only Royal Mirage or Morocco's La Mamounia), next-generation hammams are already gaining popularity in Europe.
p>If you want to see the real thing, travel to venerable hammams like the 16th-century Çemberlita in Istanbul.