Saunas in Moscow

[Sculpto]

During my research about all things Moscow I happened upon an interesting site.  www.goldsauna.ru.  It is in Russian but translated pretty well with google.  Lots of interesting saunas are listed there.. some seem innocent and others state clearly they can provde certain "services".  Nevertheless I found many places that look like a great way to spend a few relaxing hours with my lovely lady free of any "hookers in the lobby" vibe.

However, I am concerned there may be a stigma associated with such places.  I would not want to accidentally offend her by suggesting a visit to such a place.  Of course such an invitation would imply the relationship had moved beyond a certain point so making the invitation would be purely for the relaxing and romantic nature of such a place.  Any thoughts or opinions please.

[AnastassiaAsh]

I don't know, it's a little too risky in my opinion, and kind of awkward. I would go there with your wife, but not to move the relationship to another point...

[groovlstk]

Perhaps you can strike up a conversation about traditional banya and tell her you're interested in experiencing it. You might even search one out in your local area in the US and give it a try so that you're prepared. There's nothing overtly sexual about the experience, just be sure you look for a place that is a traditional banya and not a massage + "happy ending" 

Here's a thread I started a year ago after my first banya experience:

http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=6774.0

[Gator]

Rather than a sauna, the BANYA is part of the Russian soul.  

I went to the  Sandunovskiye in the centre of Moscow.  Very traditional.  Splendid experience.  As much a part of the Russian soul as ballet and borscht and vodka, the last served freely between sessions.


http://rwapplewannabe.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/sanduny-baths-the-banya-in-moscow/

One problem, the Sandunovskiy is segregated because everyone is completely nude.  I assume the other traditional banyas are the same.  So you need to rent a private mini-banya.  A hotel may have a private banya that you can rent.

I have also done private hotel banyas, many years ago.  While the experience is not the same as with the traditional large banya, it certainly was an icebreaker with my dates, who loved frolicking in the hot and cold extremes.

[UTRO]

Well I know that in Lana's Kirov, 900km east of Moscow, there are public Banya's abound. In fact her Dad reserved a Banya/Freezing Pool/Sport Hall for 3 hours during my visit one Sunday in February. We had it to ourselves. I'm sure Moscow has plenty of the same that are Banya's for Banyaing(sp?) and not a cover for a Sexy Time place   

[UTRO]

Of course Dacha Banyas, winter and summer, are much more traditional...................... and fun!!! 

[groovlstk]

I got one of those conehead banya caps for a gift a month ago, can't wait to give it a try.

[Gator]

I got one of those conehead banya caps for a gift a month ago, can't wait to give it a try.

Those conehead caps, made of pressed felt, are a necessity for an authentic banya.

The Sandunovskiye sauna room was large with seating areas at various levels.  The room was emptied of bathers while it was reheated.  Upon reaching the elevated temperature, bathers re-entered via a queue.  During my first session, I was at the end of the queue and the lower seats were taken.  So I went to the top and stood near the ceiling. 

The banya was heated with wood and temperature control was not exact.  Because heat rises, it was painfully hot there. My RM friend shared his hat with me, or I may have had to exit early. Soon the staccato beat of birch branch flogging commenced, and that somehow made me forget about the pain of the heat.

One word of advice.   When you exit the heated area and start the cold water baths and showers, do not listen to your friend who gives you a rope and says,
"Pull down."  I pulled and then looked up just as the rope tipped a large bucket of ice water onto my head.  I do not know why he thought that was funny.

One man, amid much cheering, dove from 8-10 feet into a small pool of ice water.  When he got out, his genitalia had somehow been replaced by a raspberry.

[ConnerVT]

One word of advice.   When you exit the heated area and start the cold water baths and showers, do not listen to your friend who gives you a rope and says,  "Pull down."  I pulled and then looked up just as the rope tipped a large bucket of ice water onto my head.  I do not know why he thought that was funny.

Aw, Gator.  You just have to appreciate the classics!   

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJfo1t1W0C0[/youtube]

[Sculpto]

Great answers everyone.

Anastasia.. I would not even suggest it unless the lady and I have moved past a certain stage in the relations.  I would never even consider using such a place as a form of seduction.

I have been a regular at Harbin Hot Springs north of San Francisco for years.  It is a natural hot spring on a 1200 acre private reserve surrounded by beautiful forests.  It is clothing optional and they have camping as well as rooms, all vegetarian organic food grown on the premesis, theraputic massage, yoga, dry saunas and of course the hot spring pools.  The hot pool is a scorching 114 degrees F and there is a cold plunge right next to it.  I love going there and cooking and freezing for hours on end.  Harbin is one of the places where the hippies retreated to after SF turned into Multi Media and BioTech central during the 90's.  I have also visited hot springs in the Black Rock Desert.. I have to say goining into water at 120 degrees makes the 105 degree air feel positively cool afterwards.  I love the volcanic mud which is really good for the skin.

Many of the saunas/ banyas listed on goldsauna appear to be the kind of places a family can rent out for a party.  The smallest ones accomodate 10 people and some are listed that can take over 100 people.  I have read about Sandunovskiye and it looks awesome also, though it would not be a romantic experience since people are segregated by gender.

[Gator]

I have to say goining into water at 120 degrees makes the 105 degree air feel positively cool afterwards.  I love the volcanic mud which is really good for the skin.

High air temperatures and volcanic mud - reminds me of Vietnam, not Russia.  My future Russian wife adored it.  Unlike you, I noticed no difference in my skin afterwards; however, my teeth were muddy for a day (perhaps I should not have submerged my head).

[groovlstk]

One man, amid much cheering, dove from 8-10 feet into a small pool of ice water.  When he got out, his genitalia had somehow been replaced by a raspberry.

The icy water thing looks and sounds very uncomfortable, but if you spend enough time in a super-heated room, the feeling is extraordinarily pleasant.

The best way I can describe it? You know when you have had a really bad fever for a few days? At night you wake up sweating and your blankets are soaked; you fall back to sleep and later still you wake up and you're freezing. Your skin is so sensitive that just touching it brings mild pain. Then, one night you wake up at 3AM and your fever is gone. You're not hot, not cold, everything is just perfect. Your skin is still hypersensitive but rather than causing pain, touch brings pleasure. You can finally think clearly.

This is how I feel when that cold bucket of water is upended over my head. Beats a York Peppermint Patty any day

[Chicagoguy]

I have been to the banya Gator talks about 3 times. The Sandaniovskiye is famous and sort of old fashioned and traditional. It is for men only.

As for me, the sauna was way too hot even at the lower level. But he is correct that the temperature can vary. Very hot to extremely hot. And they have a little ice pool next to it so you can cool off. My first clue should have been when my Siberian friend wouldn't go in. I did and it was so cold I believe ice cubes could not melt. It was torture. I did it to prove I was a "Russian Man". Only once !

There are ads for more modern ones in Wheremagazines at the hotels. But I have used the hotel banyas and they can be very nice and private.

[Ooooops]

Watch this movie before you go to banya   

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073179/

[ScottinCrimea]

Sculpto, You can't really equate the sauna experience in the FSU with anything in the US.  It is a traditional experience where whole families go together and friends meet to socialize.  Sure there are those who use it for sexual encounters or to conduct business with or without the invitation of "escorts", but those are not the typical reasons for going to a sauna.

This was one of our favorite things to do when my wife and I were dating and after we were married.  We would rent a private sauna for a few hours either alone, with our daughter, with another couple or with a small group of close friends.  At that tiime the price ranged from $8 to $30 an hour depending on the amenities. We would bring food and drinks and spend the time alternately sitting around the table eating, drinking and chatting, sweating in the sauna or cooling off in the cold pool.  When in the sauna, if members of the other sex were present, swim trunks were worn.  We would sit around the table wrapped in towels. I don't see going to a sauna together as something that necessarily takes a relationship to a different level. While it can be, the experience is not necessarily a sexual one, rather it is just another way to socialize and share a relaxing experience.

I would recommend, however, that if you are intent on impressing your girlfriend, don't hit the cold pool without your trunks on for the reason that Gator described only too eloquently.

[Sculpto]

Scott,
Thanks for the input.  I had the feeling from looking at the goldsauna site it might be something as you described, but, I wanted to make sure I wasn't walking into a mine field.  I love the whole idea of the sauna, super heated air and then the cold plunge to clean the bodies systems and I am frankly overdue for such a health treatment.

So, ladies still don't understand "shrinkage"?  HAHAHA

[ScottinCrimea]

So, ladies still don't understand "shrinkage"?  HAHAHA

No different than men observing a certain physiological change in a woman and assuming the woman is really into them when the truth is that she's just a little chilly.   

[Sculpto]

LOL good point. 

[Ooooops]

So, ladies still don't understand "shrinkage"?  HAHAHA

I love Sienfield!   

[AnastassiaAsh]

  you guys have nothing to talk about or what? 

[Sculpto]

Anastasia, since when do I have nothing to talk about???  LOL

[BC]

Anastasia, since when do I have nothing to talk about???  LOL

Good point. 

[ca71447]

This may not have anything to do with saunas in Moscow, but if you want to take your special lady to one of the most beautiful natural hot springs in the entire world - Take her to Trabacon Hot Springs in Costa Rica.  It is beside an active volcano in the middle of the rain forest.  The place is incredibly beautiful ....

[Sculpto]

sounds like some places I have been in Mexico...

hot quick sand at laguna miramar in the jungle surrounded by volcanos..

[Gator]

This may not have anything to do with saunas in Moscow, but if you want to take your special lady to one of the most beautiful natural hot springs in the entire world - Take her to Trabacon Hot Springs in Costa Rica.  It is beside an active volcano in the middle of the rain forest.  The place is incredibly beautiful ....

Completely agree.  Been to Tabacón twice, once with my Muscovite wife.  We were there at dusk and stayed till closing. That evening, while drinking piña coladas served in  coconuts at a swim-up bar, we witnessed many eruptions with huge lava balls rolling and bouncing down the mountain. 

I visited it 20 years ago when tourists could walk near the lava flows.  My shoe soles started to melt from the heat.  The government stopped that after a few tourists were killed.

While Tabacón is indeed fantastic, it is just one example of the glorious tropical experiences available in Costa Rica.  One must really like nature.  My wife loved it, especially the howler monkeys doing their thing above our palm straw bungalow at 6 in the morning.

I see your photo in a kayak.  Did you try the whitewater excursions in Costa Rica?  I did, got thrown out of the raft, and managed to get through the standing waves yet short of breath only to get sucked down in a hole.  Upon popping up after an eternity, my sons asked why I looked so paniced given that I was under for only 15-20 seconds!!!  Later when I had recovered I explained that one never knows if and when one will pop up; it is not a controlled Disneyland ride.