You're reading: No sweat finding a bath house in Kyiv

Sweat bathing has been popular in Ukraine for centuries. One of the earliest mentions of a banya, Ukrainian for a steam house, dates back to 945, when Princess Olha was left to rule Kyivan Rus after her husband Ihor was killed by a rival tribe.

Another tribal chief asked her to marry him in the hope of getting his hands on her land. The princess was more cunning than he may have expected and asked him to wash himself in the banya first. The unsuspecting chief agreed to test the steam house, but once inside, he was locked in and burned alive.

This little story should probably warn you against going to relax in a bath house with an angry girlfriend. But other than that, going to the banya should be a healthy relaxing experience.

There are many types of steam houses in Kyiv that differ in temperature, humidity and design. Prices range between Hr 100-250 per hour for a group. They are usually open 24/7 and provide a separate private room just for your group of friends. Although Slavic bathhouses have a reputation as promiscuous places, they can nevertheless be a great place for clean fun.

And they’re good for you. The banya improves blood circulation, cleanses skin and reduces the amount of toxins in your body. Make sure you drink enough water before going in as the body loses a lot of liquid through intensive sweating. Although drinking beer and other alcohol in the bath houses is believed to add more fun to the experience, don’t give in.

Alcohol works as a depressant, causing blood to move slowly and nerve endings to shut down, and therefore counteracts the benefits of the steam and can be quite dangerous.

Russian banya

The Russian banya is a wooden room with an oven filled with stones. It is considered to be quite extreme due to hot and heavy steam with temperatures ranging from 70 to 90 degrees Celsius. The higher bench you choose, the hotter it gets. When you can’t bear the heat any longer (maximum 15 minutes,) you come out and jump into a pool of freezing cold water or, for more authenticity, into piles of snow.

After heat and steam in Russian banyas, diving into snow is an exciting experience. (Reuters)

Don’t forget to use one of the woolen caps needed to protect the head from overheating. One other classic characteristic of the banya is the venik, a switch made of twigs from certain trees, like birch or oak. These switches are soaked in cold water first, and then are used to whip the whole body. It improves the blood flow to the skin and rejuvenates it. “A venik in the banya is more valuable than money,” says one Russian proverb.

As the temperature in banya can be hard to handle for some people, consult your physician first.

Finnish sauna

A Finnish sauna in Finland is in no way different from the Russian banya as Finns also enjoy it hot and steamy.

But for some reasons in our part of the world the name “Finnish sauna” usually refers to a dry and hot bathhouse.

The temperature is usually higher than in a Russian banya (about 90-110 C), but the low humidity makes it easier to tolerate heat.

Turkish hamam

The word hamam comes from Arabic for “hot,” but it is milder than other bath houses, as the temperature inside climbs up to only 40-60 C, with 60-80 percent humidity. Floors and walls of the Turkish bathhouse are made of stone and heated with a special system of hot pipes.

The only unheated part is a ceiling, which is usually shaped as a dome to prevent the cold water drops from dripping down.

In the Turkish hamam, foamy massages are popular. (www.millenniumtravel.si)

Bathing in the hamam comes in a few stages. First, you spend half an hour wrapped in a towel in a warm room, waiting for your pores to open up. In the next room, which is a little hotter, you lie down on large marble benches.

There you get scrubbed head to toe and covered with a soapy foam, which you will then wash away in a pool. Next comes a special room where you relax, drink some herbal or green tea and socialize.

Roman thermae

“Are you sweating well?” was a phrase used by ancient Romans instead of a greeting to express concern about the health and well-being of the other person.

Roman baths are the most damp of steam houses. (www.select-a-room.com)

Romans loved their marble steam houses, which they called thermae. It is the most damp of all bathhouses as the humidity level can go up as high as 100 percent with the temperature around 43-48 C.

The steam house usually has two pools with hot and cold water to chill in after intense sweating.

Infrared sauna

If other types of bathhouses have been around for centuries, the infrared sauna is a fairly new concept. Following the discovery of infrared light, the Japanese came up with the infrared sauna in the 1960s.

Infrared light is all around us, as it is generated by any object with temperature above absolute zero (–273 C.)

The heat in infrared saunas allegedly goes deeper inside the human body and generates more sweat than the heat in other banyas. It also apparently helps lose more weight, but not all doctors would agree.

As the temperature inside reaches only 40-60 C while the humidity is low, many infrared saunas have installed audio equipment to provide entertainment while you look after your health.

Useful links for finding a bathhouse in Kyiv (only in Russian):
www.sauny.kiev.ua
www.laznya.kiev.ua
www.bany.com.ua
www.banisauni.com.ua

Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Horban can be reached at [email protected]