If your hotel is located on the European side of Istanbul, start your hammam experience with a hotel pickup. Alternatively, make your own way toThe Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamami, the beautiful Turkish bath house that dates back to the 16th century, and head inside with your entrance ticket.
The Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamam in Istanbul was designed and built by Mimar Sinan, the chief Ottoman architect. It was built at the request of Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana), the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century
Leave your coyness at the door and follow the locals’ lead to strip off completely or alternatively, change into your bikini or swimming shorts if you want to reserve your modesty. Then slip on your pe
_tamal (traditional cotton robe) and step inside the bath chamber where a heated marble platform covers the floor. Lie on the marble slab to encourage your body to sweat, and splash yourself with hot water from the bathing basins that line the edges of the room.
After roughly 45 minutes of relaxing and building up a sweat in the steamy bath chamber, one of the baths’ attendants will exfoliate your body, scrubbing you down with a loofah mitten and hot, soapy water.
Rinse away the soapy suds with hot water from the bathing basins, put your pe
_tamal back on and then visit one of the baths’ cooler rooms to relax. The duration of each stage of your Turkish baths experience varies, but most people find 45 minutes on the marble slab, 15 minutes of exfoliation and an hour of relaxation time to be the norm.
Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, return to the changing rooms to dress and then leave the bath house.