My Visit to a Moroccan Local Neighborhood Bathhouse

While researching for my trip to Morocco, I learned that the country is famous for its ‘hammams’ – aka spas. I knew immediately that I wanted to experience that during my visit!

Looking at various photos online, Moroccan hammams seemed a lot like Turkish or Roman bathhouses. They always feature a large enclosed hall centered around an inviting square pool of steamy water.

I also found out that a main treatment is skin exfoliation, done by a spa attendant who vigorously scrubs guests’ bodies with a cloth covered in fragrant herbs or creams. They also offer various massages and other spa treatments.

Moroccan luxury hammam – photo by Carlos ZGZ on Flickr CC

Reading further about Moroccan hammams, I discovered that there are also budget versions of the more luxurious spas, in the form of local neighborhood bathhouses.

I was very surprised to hear that because Japan also has local public bathhouses. They are part of traditional Japanese culture.

Until recent history, most Japanese families did not have bathing in their homes. However, Japanese love bathing and are fastidious about their grooming and cleanliness. And Japan, with its volcanic and geothermal geography, has natural hot springs all over the country.

For daily bathing purposes, the Japanese created inexpensive public bathhouses in every neighborhood. To this day many local bathhouses still operate in small traditional neighborhoods in cities and towns all over Japan.

When I lived in Kyoto for six years before my world travels, I used to frequent my local bathhouses, particularly in winter. I went at least once week in late evenings during the coldest winter months. All that hot bathing really warmed up my body just before bed time.

Lash enjoying an onsen and sake in Yoshino, Japan

So on my travels through Morocco, I definitely had to try their public bathhouses for pleasure as well as for comparison.

So upon my arrival in Marrakesh, one of the first things I asked my hostel staff was where I could find a local hammam. Since I was staying in a primarily traditional neighborhood, with just a bit of tourism creeping in, I was pretty sure there’d be a hammam or two around.

Luckily, that was correct. A hammam was situated only a few blocks from my hostel. Walking around the neighborhood, I also found another one.

So one afternoon I headed off to bathe at my first Moroccan local hammam!

I already knew I had to take along my bathing things – towel, washcloth, soap, shampoo & conditioner, and so on. If Moroccan were anything like the Japanese, they would take their toiletries in a small plastic bucket.

You’ve got to expect that everything you take into the bathing area with you will get wet, so fabric bags don’t work too well. I packed mine in a small zipping bag that I didn’t mind getting wet.

Here I’ll add an apologetic note before I proceed – Sorry, folks, no photos of the interior of the women’s hammam, for obvious reasons.

unmarked hammam entrance

The hammam wasn’t easy to find, even though I had precise & accurate instructions from my hostel staff. In the end, I had to ask a woman to show me where it was.

The problem was that I didn’t know how to identify a hammam. There’s no sign in English or French. No icon indicating bathing or men/women, like you’d find at public toilets. As it turned out, I had been standing practically in front of the hammam door before asking for help. I just couldn’t identify it!

At that particular hammam, there was a little payment booth just inside the entrance hallway before entering the bathhouse. The prices were sign-posted. It cost me a whopping 12 diram / $1.25 US.

Inside, the hammam was made entirely of white tiles – floor, walls and arched ceiling, In the first room there was an attendant at a clothes storage area and some long tiled benches along two walls where bathers dress and undress.

A large older woman was sitting there waiting for customers to scrub down, by request. That apparently cost 10 diram / $1 US. I really wanted to try out a Moroccan exfoliation treatment, but I passed that day because I didn’t know if she was asking for 10 diram or 100 diram ($10 US).

sneak photo of the hammam interior

After shedding all my clothes and handing them in at the storage room, the attendant gave me a huge plastic bucket and a small scoop-style bucket, then ushered me inside the main bathhouse rooms. Luckily, I also knew what to do with those, due to my experiences in Japan.

The large bucket was for filling with water to use for bathing. The small scoop was for scooping water out of that bucket and pouring it over my body, both for pre-wetting and for rinsing soap and shampoo afterward.

So, with my personal buckets in hand, I walked into the bathing area. Inside were two adjacent long, low white-tiled rooms with arched ceilings and the distinct sound of flowing, gushing water. Water was flowing all over the floors and gushing out of a couple large faucets.

Dozens of stark-naked women were sitting on the floors, mostly clumped together in the center of each room, near the water spickets. Other girls were sitting around the rooms, against walls, over in corners, positioned with their own buckets and personal toiletries.

They all looked up and gawked at me standing there. They didn’t quite know what to make of me being in there, so it was slightly awkward. But I just smiled, watched what they were doing and copied them.

The hammam set-up was considerably different from Japanese bathhouses, so it took me a few minutes to assess the situation and figure out what to do.

In Japan, the outer walls of the bathhouse are lined by a dozen or more low water faucets, one for each bather. Customers sit on small low wooden or plastic seats in front of the spickets. One spicket per bather. There they fill their buckets, splash water on themselves, and bathe down before entering the various hot and cold baths situated in the bathhouse.

In my Marrakesh bathhouse there was just one large spicket in each room where everyone had to fill their bucket in turn. It wasn’t nearly as efficient or ‘private’ as the Japanese bathhouses. My hammmam also was lacking any pools of water to soak in, much to my disappointment. Nothing at all like the photos of the luxurious hammams I’d see online!

So I stood there, stark naked, in the middle of the room, awaiting my turn to fill my bucket. That gave me time to look around and absorb things.

As I’d expected, the hammam was filled with woman and girls of all ages, all shapes and sizes. That day there were no babies or young children, thank goodness. The youngest girls seemed to be pre-teens and the oldest women in their 40s or 50s. No grannies, as I’d usually seen in Japan.

I noticed then that a majority of women were actually wearing underpants, which was a surprise to me. But several others were completely naked, like me. Whew, no faux pas there on my part.

Some women sat on small plastic stools, others on a foam mat simlar to a yoga mat. A couple sat directly on the tiled floor. I hadn’t brought any stool or mat with me, so I’d be on the floor too.

Eventually, a few women began trying to assist me. One indicated that it was my turn to fill my bucket. There were two taps, one hot, one cold. So each bather can adjust the water temperature in her bucket to her taste.

After I’d filled my bucket, I located an empty space in the room and sat down to bathe. A couple of girls watched me the entire time, from across the room. A couple women smiled at me encouragingly. One woman nearby offered some of her water when my bucket ran out.

I happily went about my bathing, shampooing, conditioning and rinsing while looking around at everyone else from time to time. Once finished, I dried off with my towel then headed out to the changing room, giving my buckets back to the attendant.

I took my time drying off and getting dressed. After all, I was pretty steamy from the hot room and scalding water I’d used to bathe. I paid a small fee to the clothes-check attendant – 5 diram / $0.50 US. Then I headed outside and strolled leisurely back to my hostel, all toasty warm and relaxed.

Although I greatly enjoyed the experience, I’d also like to try a more luxurious hammam that has a hot soaking pool and a steam room. I’ll write about that experience after I go, too!

Meanwhile, following are some tips for anyone else who would like to visit a local neighborhood hammam in Morocco.

Tips on How to Visit a Local Hammam

What to take

Take all your toiletries, towel and washcloth. Keep in mind that everything you take into the bathing area will probably get wet. So put your things in plastic – a small bucket, plastic bag or box.

If you don’t want to sit on the tiled floor, take a small plastic stool or bath mat. I suppose you could sit on a plastic bag, for that matter.

Finding the hammam

Get specific instructions on the hammam location. Maybe a map would be helpful. You could also have someone write the word ‘hammam’ in Arabic for you to identify the hammam or ask someone for help locating it.

Some hammams do have icons of ‘men’ and ‘women’ at the entrance. Others don’t.

Other useful Tips

Local hammams should cost 10-20 diram for entry. Exfoliation by an attendant should cost 10-50 diram. If a local hammam is trying to charge you more, they’re trying to rip you off as a tourist. Find a different hammam.

(I had that experience at a different hammam near my hostel)

Locals visit the bathhouse once a week, on weekends. If you want a more private/less busy experience, go during the week.

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