What happens in a Turkish bath, step by step

Before the hamam: pickup and transfer

The day starts at your hotel in Belek, Kadriye or Boğazkent, the three areas we collect from. Both the pickup and the journey back at the end are covered by the price.

We confirm the pickup time with you after you have booked, and before the hamam day comes round. It is set hotel by hotel: the hotel's position, the route, the timetable at the hamam and the logistics of that particular day all feed into it, so guests at different hotels may be given different times. The time tells you when the transfer comes for you. It is not the start of the hamam session.

Put swimwear and water in your bag, along with comfortable clothes, flip-flops or other easy footwear, and any toiletries of your own you like to use. Keep to a light meal beforehand, and no alcohol before the hamam. Drinks and refreshments sit outside the Basic price.

The ride is in an air-conditioned vehicle, and it ends at whichever hamam covers your hotel's transfer area. Because the hamam is matched to the hotel and its area, guests staying in another part of the coast may be taken to a different one; the stages of the Basic programme are the same at each.

Arrival and warming up

Arrival and check-in come first. From then until the programme ends you wear swimwear at every stage; nobody in the hamam is naked.

Heat comes before any hands-on stage, and it comes in two forms, a sauna and a steam room. They are not the same: a sauna gives a hot, dry heat, while a steam room is warm and full of steam. The Basic programme includes both.

The hamam is not recommended for three groups: pregnant guests, guests with heart or circulatory trouble, and guests who react badly to heat or humidity. Other medical matters — a skin complaint, blood pressure on the high or low side, an injury or operation not long ago — should be talked over with your doctor first, and the hamam needs to know about them before your session begins.

The kese scrub

When the warm-up is done, the kese begins: the traditional scrub, covering the whole body, which an attendant gives you with a kese mitt.

You keep your swimwear on for the scrub, as for every other stage. If anything about it is uncomfortable, say so to the attendant.

The kese, with the foam wash that follows it, is the part a sauna or a steam room does not have; it is what gives the Turkish bath its own character.

The foam

Foam comes next in the usual order. On the Basic programme this stage is a foam wash plus a foam massage, and it is part of the Basic price.

The massage stages were designed with grown-ups in mind. A child can still take part with a parent, within the rules set by the hamam your area uses, so please include each child's age in your booking.

Would you prefer an attendant of the same gender as you for the kese and the foam? Mention it in the notes as you book. We hand the request on to the hamam, and it stays a request.

The oil massage and time to relax

Then comes the basic aromatic oil massage, approximately 20 minutes long and included in your fare. If you have an allergy, we need to hear about it before the massage, so add it to your booking notes.

It is the only oil massage in the Basic programme. A longer or premium massage sits outside the Basic price, and this site cannot book one; questions about it can go to us on WhatsApp.

Time to relax follows. It is a stage of the programme in its own right: a pause once the heat, the scrub, the foam and the oil are behind you, before the transfer back.

The return, and how long it all takes

When the programme finishes, your transfer drives you back to the hotel. That return leg is in the price, just like the pickup.

Some costs are not in the fare: tips for the attendants, photo and video service, and personal expenses. Tipping is customary, but it is optional and entirely up to you.

There is a single page listing what the Basic programme includes and, just as plainly, what it does not; how hotel pickup works in each area has a page of its own. To book the Belek Turkish bath, pick a date (tomorrow at the earliest), your hotel and your party. The total appears on screen before you confirm. You pay nothing online; the fare is paid in person at the hamam. Other points are covered in our questions and answers.

Allow about 2.5–3 hours from pickup to return, journey included. We give no length for any single stage apart from the massage. In outline, the day runs in this order:

• Hotel pickup
• Transfer to the hamam for your hotel's area
• Arrival and check-in
• Sauna and steam room
• Kese scrub
• Foam wash and foam massage
• Basic aromatic oil massage, about 20 minutes
• Time to relax
• Hotel return

The stages do not change, though a hamam may run them in a different order or at a different pace, especially when it is busy.