hammam in syria

Dear friends

i plan a trip to Syria and one of my dreams is to go to a ... hammam LOL. moreover i think Damas or alep has some of the oldest and most beautiful in the world.. But i dont want to look ridiculous inside so i d like to know what s the etiquette inside a hammam and what are the different steps. What should i bring also.. Anyone who can give detailed info is welcomed.. Also i am going during Ramadan. Is there then a better time to go to the hammam ? Maybe after dark? after everybody has eaten and broken the fast?
Thanks for your good advices i am looking forward to discover Syria.

PS i am a man

Hi JH,

There are a few very old hammams in Damascus, and they are definitely to be experienced. The one of the oldest hammams in Old Damascus is Nurreddine near the Omayad Mosque in the Spice Souk Bzouria. at the entrance you wil find a man in a ltlle cubicle, he will hgive you a small bag for your valuables Watch, Mobile etc. lock it in a locker and give you the key, you then proceed to the undressing area which is situated around a fountain, and you will be given a towel and you can undress, hanging your clothes on the wall. please note that when you remove your underwear, to have the towel wrapped around you and keep it around your waist at all times in the hammam so as not to expose yourself., if you feel uncomfortable you can always wear a speedo or something.

After undressing the staff will then lead you to the Sauna, where you sweat it out for a while andthen you go to the Steam room and spend some time inside after which you can have yourself scrubbed like nobody has done since you mother did it!, you can then still hang around the steam room, have a shower and have a quick massage and shower afterwards.

When you return to the changing area, your towel will be replace with a fresh one, another wrapped around your head and your legs will be covered, and you will be offered flower tea "Bzuorat" which is very relaxing and you can the n get dressed an leave and pay when collecting your valuable again!

There are other Hammams in the city a which you can also try out during your visit!

have a great time!

Thanks a lot for your detailed answer!
i feel a bit better now LOL. What is the best time to go during the Ramadan? After sunset maybe?? and can i ask youa bout the price also? how much should i pay for massage and how much tip should we give??
Thanks a lot!

I think the prices are around SYP500 or 600 at Nurredine. There is another newly renovated hammam; HammamAl Malek Al Zaher, next to the old Al Zaheriya library between the Damascus Citadel and the Omayad mosque. You are welcome to send me a private message if youwant more details.

It is a great experience!

I am a woman and I travelled alone in Syria couple of times.
even if you are a man, I want to say you that the Hamman I had there, obviously in these days dedicated at the woman, was the best experience I had.
I didn't find any tourist inside, just real Syrian woman, that in front of a foreign girl was so friendly and tried to speak and communicate with me. At the end of the sauna, they invited me in the main room for dancing, smoking and drinking tea..Ut has been a surprise, a great surprise
I spent a lovely time that it is, and it will be, printed on my mind forever.
So, please, go to have an hamman there, you can get in touch with real people.
It is not important which hamman you will go, any of those can give to you a great experience.
You don’t have to bring anything. They provide towels, soap and stuff like that for a very cheap price.

dear friends,

I just got back from wonderful Syria and i really loved it!! I am so happy i tried hammam twice! First in Damascus Al qamariyeh and second in Aleppo Nasreen hammam. First one they didnt ask if i wanted "complete" hammam so i just got in there and washed and steamed myself like the locals. it was a fantastic atmosphere, inside a hammam its so magice specially in Syria they look so old..... But the best was to come in Aleppo. There i had the "complete" hammam. First i was helped by an attendant to soap and wash myself. I felt so good as i had a long day out so the cleansing was a real pleasure!! after that the steam room and finally the massage right on the marble floor. Great! Hammam is a very social thing in those countries. Next room , there was a group of boys playing, singing, and washing each others... After everything is finished you are brought back into the main room where you are served hot tea, wrapped in clean towels and watch Arabic soap movies with other companions from the hammam who all smile at you. Everyone is very nice , they offfer me cigarettes also.. that night i completely lost the track of time and felt like an Arabic myself LOL. Unfortunately it was time to get back to the hotel and head for the airport for my crazy 03-45 am flight to istanbul and on to Paris to return to Western civilization alas!!
Ilove Syrians and syria and i am so sad for the explosion this morning..
Cant wait t return there!

Hammam al-Qaimariyya in Damascus is nutty! I was told by the staff at my hotel that there was a nicer hamman in town but they only had 2 women's days that I had missed, while Qaimariyya had daily women's hours.

No English at al-Qaimariyya. I got a "complete" hammam for 200SYP. The front room staff was sort of dismissive, unlike the other people I met in Syria, and even tried to overcharge me 100SYP because they thought I couldn't read Arabic numerals. They had me to disrobe right in the open area where a few other naked women were walking around. Considering the only barrier to the street from here was a curtain, it was...abrupt. I was not given a towel or pestamel or a locker, just threw my clothes to the floor and walked naked to the back. So weird. The scrub/bath was quite rough and the woman sang loudly the whole time. It lasted about 20 minutes. They gave me a pestamel afterwards, finally, but still there was no separate dressing area.

Hammam Yalbougha an-Nasry in Aleppo was 415SYP for the complete hammam. Very pretty hammam. Here there were small curtained changing areas and lockers and you got wooden clogs and a pestamel. There were several steam areas of different strengths, and it was much busier with families than Qaimariyya. It's nice, they all tried to chat with me and some had brought food (yeah...a little strange considering the steam heat but I took it). Scrub was slightly less rough here, lasted about 15 minutes. I was offered a drink after I finally emerged from the steam. Some English spoken here.

My only previous experience was the Hammam Al-Pasha in Amman, which is quite fancy--Western standard I'd say--with an international mix of English-speaking staff, and very relaxing. Massage is a full hour, entirely separate from scrub bath, which is a decent amount of time as well. It's more expensive too, at 15JD...very different experience but I loved them all for their differences!