Here in Germany it almost always works the following way if we’re talking about 16+ or 18+ spas: there’s a separate lockerroom for men and women. You get a towel and a bathrobe that most people walk around in but when you want to enter a pool or a sauna you get naked. I know this is common in some other European countries too but not all.
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Germany: I wasn’t aware of the age limit, I definitely remember seeing families with kids in my local one. But it’s not a spa, just the sauna of the swimming pool.
Turkey: Not at all. Public nudity is not a thing in Turkey.
We also don’t really have saunas, they’re not super common. We have hamams, men and women wash separately, and they have a towel covering the naughty parts. You may see some boob, but never fully nude.
First time I hear about “nude spa”, but they might exist
Some single-sex saunas in locker rooms (at e.g. gyms or the pool) have signs that tell you to remove swimwear before entering the sauna. These are commonly not adhered to, and those who do usually wear a towel
Not a chance…The British are generally really not into the old Freikörperkultur.
I’m sure there are a few niche places that cater to it, but in any remotely mainstream spa or pool you’re expected to keep your kit firmly on or risk getting kicked out or even arrested.
Very common here in the Netherlands, but most spas will offer bathing suit days or women only days for those who are uncomfortable with being naked in a mixed setting.
Hotels with spas (we call them „Wellness-Hotels“) are quite common in Germany and Austria as well.
I stayed in such hotels in Austria, and their saunas were always nude saunas.
Still same culture a few miles south, crossing the Italian border into Südtirol. The area is usually German speaking, the more south you get, the more Italian is spoken, the sauna etiquette is different: no nudity.
I spent time in a hotel in Trento and was looking forward to go to the hotel spa after check in before dinner. People sitting in the sauna with swimming trunks and bikinis.
The real fun was infusion (Aufguss) – an employee in bikinis played loud music on a portable CD player, poured some scented water and then performed a dance. Strange vibes.
Not something I’ve ever come across in the UK. We tend to be a bit prudish about nudity.
Filtering guests by age is illegal here (and authorities really care) so you rarely find anything 16+ or 18+.
For saunas it is expected to be naked there, I don’t really understand people wearing anything in sauna
I think it’s only the Rudas in Budapest that’s an actual spa and offers nude bathing in hot tubs and spa treatments. It’s nue and men only during the week except for Tuesday, and from Friday in the noon over the weekend it’s mixed, but bathing suits are mandatory. Some saunas are nude or clothing optional, but I don’t really go to saunas, so I don’t know how much of them are actually nude.
It’s probably very similar to the UK in attitudes here. We’re not as prudish as we might have been – there are a few nudist beaches and bathing spots, and there are charity events like “The Dip in the Nip” (naked swim) and the annual naked cycle events, and even one of the major public galleries in Cork had a very successful event about nudism and the human body in art, where certain times and tours were fully nude. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30870206.html
However, nudism just isn’t a thing you’ll encounter that much and there’s just no tradition of using spas or saunas nude or otherwise. They exist but they’re niche.
You’ll find saunas and steam rooms in a lot of swimming pools and leisure centres, but they’re also just things you would wander into in your swimming gear and they are definitely not nude spaces.
Even pool changing areas are sometimes clusters individual stalls with doors. There’s a seat, shelf, clothes hooks etc inside. They’re just in open areas next to lockers, hairdryers, mirrors, sinks, showers (also enclosed) and pre-pool open showers that are just intended to be used in your swimming togs. We really don’t tend to do a lot of the public nudity thing, even in locker rooms.
I know a lot of the time sauna and steam rooms aren’t really very well understood in terms of how to physically use them either. You’ll see people wandering in for a few mins and looking totally overwhelmed with the steam or heat and exiting very quickly. I’m not sure if it’s just how we’re evolved, but a lot of Irish people seemingly physically just don’t handle heat very well and tend to become very flushed, red and uncomfortable looking in steam / extreme heat. It seems to go with the complete inability to deal with even mild sun exposure that a lot of us have. SPF 50+ is normal and you’ll find SPF 80 and even 100. I can assure you no amount of regular use of steam rooms or saunas would be likely to make me acclimatise – I just know I am putting my body into a situation it really doesn’t like.
Personally, I find steam and saunas a bit like torture. I just turn bright red and find the whole experience very unpleasant.
That being said, I also find weather over 25°C unpleasant too. I think I’m adapted to a lovely 14°C summer Atlantic breeze …
Saunas have individual rules, but pools are by and large clothed. Maybe, maybe there are special times when they are only open for nude, but in general bathing suits are mandatory.
Not at all. There are some nude beaches near natural lakes but they aren’t really advertised and there aren’t a lot of signs so I’ve never been to one. I’m not sure what is the allure. I don’t enjoy skinny dipping and I certainly don’t want to do it with a bunch of men, and it is considered rude to stare or approach others, so what’s the point?
I don’t know what a 16+ or 18+ spa is. We have sauna’s or wellness centers. Inside a sauna you are nude, just because that is normal in a sauna.
As a Finn, I am very much offended by some of these comments. I couldn’t care less what you wear in the water, but you are naked in a sauna. Damn you all for ruining my good mood
In Lithuania, in sauna areas of water parks and swimming pools people just go with their swimsuits. In a water park the south of Poland the sauna area was strictly nude, which was somewhat unusual to me.
As much as we’d like to think that Italy is a secular country, everything is very much Roman Catholic
Nudity is frowned upon so no nude spa, no sauna, no beaches for nudists
A public banâ of the most typical type is sex-segregated and people are naked there, since it used to be the place where you went to wash yourself.
If it’s your own private banâ then it differs. Mixed companies stay in bathing suits, with single sex companies it really depends on the group norms.
In the Netherlands it’s absolutely the standard. Completely mixed gender even down to the locker rooms.
Many spa facilities will host one or two “badkledingdagen” (swimwear days) per week to accommodate those who are more reserved or prudish, though this will almost always be during the week rather than peak weekend days.
Not common, as far as I know. I’ve only been to 2 so I’m not in the best position to talk about it, but both times, people were wearing swimsuits.
I quickly looked it up and going naked seems to be possible in some spa places, but you need to ask ahead. It looks like it depends on places and on the different activities: naked in saunas and hammam but not in swimming pools, for example.
Never.
In what little sauna’s there are you’d keep some swimwear.
And tbh if I went into one I’d be out of there immediately.
Our genitals are strictly for pounding.
Only public place where it is acceptable is the locker room.
Last thing I want is dicks and tits swinging around while I’m trying to relax.