The bathhouse, with its steam and brooms, a cozy atmosphere, is not so much a hygiene object as a favorite resting place. And if so, that you want her to be the best. But to be honest, we all love to add “cheap” to “convenient” and “beautiful”. And since our people are not lacking in ingenuity, solutions can be very funny, albeit often practical. We have compiled a selection of photos, some of which may give you ideas ...

Many are often confused by the window in the steam room. Well, how to make it so that under no circumstances blew, but it opens easily. And here is the solution - the door from the washing machine. Why not a sealed window. No drafts or problems with opening.

More to the question of beauty. How is your firewood stored? Yes. Me too. And there are some very simple, but very unusual and decorating solutions. Moreover, they do not require any extra effort for implementation.

For the construction of such a woodpile, a medal must be given. Only now, it will be a pity to disassemble it ... I'll have to go back to the forest.

And this is a work of art. It will be a pity to destroy

V recent times Japanese mini-baths with heated ofuro or furako are becoming more and more popular. Here is our answer to the Japanese who stole our wooden barrel. Everything is very simple and you don't need to build anything.

The main thing is not to overheat ...
If there was a hunt, you can take a steam bath ...

We have already written, but there are also baths in the trailers.

This version of the mobile bath does not need to be assembled. You can bathe even on the road ... if you have a desire

But these are not all mobile baths. For those who like to ride bicycles, there is a sauna on bicycle wheels. You cling to the bike and go. Such is the miracle on wheels.

For cycling enthusiasts - a sauna on bicycle wheels

There are even stranger baths. One of the ski resorts has a thermae in the lift. Frozen while skiing down the mountain? Climb up, take a steam bath.

Sauna in a ski resort ... in the ski lift

You can move not only on roads (or off-road). If there is a lake or river nearby, you can put a floating bath. And no problem with and. I went out - and into the water.

Bath on the water - no problem with the pool
Floating steam room - straight into the water

Who told you that you should only be in the stove? If there are several large stones, all that remains is to finish the walls between them. You will get a fireproof bath. As in this photo.

And yet the bathhouse is associated with a tree. And rightly so: due to the fact that wood "breathes", we can breathe in the steam room without any problems. But the construction of a log cabin is not an easy undertaking and very expensive. Not everyone knows how to work well with an ax or pay the cost of building a log house by specialists. Here is the solution: a chock bath. They are smeared with clay mixed with straw. The result is warm, reliable, beautiful walls, which also breathe well and keep warm no worse. These are the baths from the "cheap and cheerful" category.

Sauna for walruses, thermal baths in Baden-Baden, Budapest thermal baths, Rzhevskaya steam bath and other baths around the world, which are worth warming up in. At different stages of its history and in the most different places of its habitat, mankind has discovered approximately the same ways of unhurried, but very effective rejuvenation, recovery and, at the same time, just relaxation. The main ingredients of such a recipe are steam and hot water... Condiments are very different: birch and other brooms, massage, scrub, whipped soap and other additions that vary from region to region. For those who feel like a new person after a steam room every time, Forbes magazine has compiled a list of the most remarkable baths on the planet.

Bani Gellert (Budapest, Hungary)

Where: H-1118 Budapest, Kelenhegyi út 4 There are 118 thermal springs in Budapest. The ancient Romans steamed in them, and in the 16th century, together with the Turks, the first hammams appeared here. But the glory of the European capital was brought to the city by the majestic bath complexes built at the beginning of the 20th century. And the most famous of them is Gellert, a masterpiece of Budapest Art Nouveau, which opened in 1918 at the foot of the hill of the same name on the banks of the Danube. The doorman at the entrance, marble columns, tall arched vaults, stained-glass windows in the lobby, mosaics in baths and steam rooms - all the signs of a great style are evident here: it is not for nothing that they say about Gellert that when you swim in his pool, it seems that you are taking a bath in a cathedral. On the lower level there is a hammam with eucalyptus steam, a sauna with an antique clock and three baths with cold, warm and hot water. Here, for a fee, you can order massage, mud baths and other medical procedures. One floor above - the same "cathedral" pool with a sliding roof, the appearance of which reminds of Roman baths: along the perimeter it is surrounded by a two-tiered colonnade with a gallery at the top. In the 1930s, during the reign of Admiral Horthy, the best balls in the city were rolled here: the pool was covered with a glass floor, and the orchestra was located on the gallery. Now there are only palms in tubs and a cafe where you can have a cup of coffee with Unicum balsam or just a glass of Tokay. Or you can go out into the courtyard, where there is another pool - with an artificial wave, stone cascading terraces and a pavilion decorated with majolica, worthy of the best palace parks in Europe. Cost of admission: from 3600 (weekdays) to 3900 (weekend) forints (€ 13-15) Read more: www.gellertbath.com

Rauhaniemi (Tampere, Finland)

Where: Rauhaniementie 24 Tampere is home to the oldest sauna in Finland - built in 1906 by Rajaportin. But the younger sauna Rauhaniemi (it appeared in 1929) is much more popular - and not only among the locals: this place is called the best sauna for walruses in Finland. Rauhaniemi stands on the shore of the beautiful large lake Näsijärvi, and in winter, heated paths lead from the sauna to its shore, ending in a spacious hole, into which a staircase with a handrail descends. In the ice-hole (the water temperature is from two to four degrees), pot-bellied Finns and burly Finns, as well as rare and timid foreigners of various sizes, snort and grunt. Then all together they gradually go to warm up, and for these purposes there are actually two saunas in Rauhaniemi (the largest - it is the hottest - can accommodate 70 people). Having thoroughly steamed, the red-bodied people slowly return to the hole - and so three or four times. Before leaving the sauna, good form it is considered to ask: "Heytyankyo leuluya?" - whether to add, that is, a couple? And if everyone says "Heitya vaan" or just "Kyllja", then you need to splash some water on the hot stones. By the way, in summer the quality of steam is no worse, you can even sunbathe on the beach, and next to the stairs leading to the former wormwood, you will see a two-meter diving tower. Entrance fee: € 4.5 Read more: www.rauhaniemi.net

Daikoku-Yu (Tokyo, Japan)

Where: 32-6 Senju Kotobuki-cho, Adachi-ku In traditional Japanese public baths, instead of steam rooms, there are hot water baths where people sit, sweat and relax. And the king of sento is called the Tokyo Daikoku-Yu bath, which has been operating since 1927. In the nineties, it underwent a large-scale reconstruction, which mainly affected the internal structure: from the outside, the bathhouse still looks exactly the same as eighty years ago, and more like a Buddhist temple. Opened by Daikoku-Yu from three days to midnight, sterile cleanliness and turtle calm and unhurriedness reign here. Behind the locker room with small compartments for clothes, weights and massage chairs, there is a hall with a full-wall view of Fuji, taps with water and three baths, moreover, massage ones. The hot water temperature is 42 degrees, but there is also cold, 15 degrees. In the inner courtyard, under the roof, there is a roten-buro - the so-called outdoor bath. It has the same 42 degrees, and around it there is a small garden with a traditional stone lamp: contemplation also helps to relax and forget about vanity. Usually, people with tattoos are not allowed in sento, but in Daikoku-Yu it is quite possible to sit in a bath next to a yakuza covered with patterns from head to toe. In the bath, however, they are very good-natured. Entrance fee: ¥ 430 (approximately $ 5.4)

Sauna Deco (Amsterdam, Holland)

Where: Herengracht 115, 1015 BE Surprisingly, an old Parisian department store played a major role in the fate of a small sauna in the center of Amsterdam. When in the 1970s the owners of the famous Le Bon Marche store decided to update the interior, designed in the 1920s according to the sketches of the renowned Art Deco master architect Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, a huge number of decorative details were simply dismantled. They were acquired by the agile Dutch, who gave their bath the appropriate name. A wooden staircase with a bronze cast balustrade, along which Parisians hurried to shop, now leads to the second floor of the sauna to the relaxation room, a glass elevator shaft separates the pool from the rest of the rooms, and the gilded stained glass windows in the lounge and pool were used as lanterns on the roof of a department store. Now these luxurious Parisian interiors are wandering completely naked and wrapped in towels, people of both sexes: like most Dutch baths, Sauna Deco is mixed, and bathing suits are not allowed here. After visiting two saunas with different temperatures and a hammam with eucalyptus steam, you can go to the pool with hydromassage, relax in the tiny garden in the courtyard, and then head to the lounge to look at photographs of the same department store: there is a pyramidal glowing object on the floor, crowned with a vase of flowers , used to be a chandelier in the trading floor. Another reason to visit Sauna Deco is the best massage therapists in Amsterdam, with whom you need to make an appointment in advance. In addition, the local beauty salon offers seaweed wraps and facials that are specially imported from Brittany. Entrance fee: € 21 More information: www.saunadeco.nl

Gedik Pasha (Istanbul, Turkey)

Where: Hamam Cad. No. 65 - 67 Gedikpaşa, Beyazit Hammam Gedik Pasha, which is located next to the Beyazit Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, is one of the oldest in Istanbul: it was built during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror, in 1475. Most of the guidebooks write that only locals go to it, nevertheless, it may happen that the locals will be in the bathhouse in the minority, but there will be many well-read tourist guidebooks. Tourists, as a rule, leave here not too satisfied and deceived in expectations: the bath attendants are lazy, and the massage is weak. But in fact, this is one of the best hammams in town, and tips help greatly improve your experience of it. In the hall with a marble fountain, they give out pestemals - either towels or sheets, without which it is not customary to be in the hammam. In the center of the main hall, which is called harareth, there is a large marble elevation, hebektashi, that is, the "stone of the belly." This stone is hot, and the attendants put clients on it and do massage-peeling with the help of a rigid mitten (it removes the skin from a layer of dead cells), and also wraps it in foam from head to toe and kneads the body properly (in the women's department of the attendant, at the same time and sing lingering songs). In hararete, by the way, it is not too hot, because here it is customary not to take a steam bath, but rather to languish, from time to time diving into a cool pool. However, there is also a small sauna in the hammam. Entrance fee: 50 Turkish Lira, or approximately $ 30 (massage included) More information: www.gedikpasahamami.com

Sandunovskie Baths (Moscow, Russia)

Where: st. Neglinnaya, 14, pp. 3-7 The most famous Moscow baths were founded, oddly enough, by the actor: Sila Nikolaevich Sandunov served as a comedian at the Imperial Theater, but he approached his business project seriously. Having sold, as legend has it, a diamond necklace presented by Catherine II for the wedding of his wife, he bought up plots on the banks of the Neglinka River, which had not yet been hidden in a pipe, and in 1808 opened stone baths. Subsequently, the Sanduns changed owners many times, and by the end of the century they were greatly dilapidated, so the next owners - the millionaire Vera Firsanova and her husband, Guards Lieutenant Alexei Ganetsky - decided to build a new bathhouse on the same site. The complex of buildings, erected by the architect Freudenberg, is a masterpiece of eclecticism: through the pompous neo-baroque arch of the main facade you can see the “Moorish” arch in the courtyard, and in the interiors with marble columns, stucco and gilding, you can find everything - from Gothic to Art Nouveau. The clientele of the Sandunov reopened in 1896 in their diversity was not inferior to the interiors: ordinary people washed for 5 and 10 kopecks, and serious merchants rested in a luxurious department for fifty rubles per person: with a hairdresser, a fireplace and separate offices for 5 and 10 rubles. The system of "ranks" has survived to this day: in modern Sanduny there are five departments - three for men and two for women, but all the main beauties are a "Gothic" hall with wooden carvings, a "Turkish" one with ceiling paintings and stucco moldings and a pool with an Ionic colonnade, where Eisenstein filmed episode "Battleship Potemkin", open only to visitors of the highest male category. However, the famous Sandunov couple, about which Chaliapin said that he "frees" the voice, is still available to everyone - as well as the services of the bathhouse attendants who work here in dynasties. Visit cost: 1500-1800 rubles More details: www.sanduny.ru

Kotiharyu (Helsinki, Finland)

Where: Harjutorinkatu 1, 00500 Half a century ago there were about 120 public saunas in Helsinki, but now there is nothing left (Finns now prefer to arrange private baths in the basements of high-rise buildings or even in apartments). And only one works on wood at all - Kotiharyu, located in the Kallio working district, which in Finnish is now slowly going through the gentrification process. This sauna (a family business, by the way, owned by the couple Risto and Merja Holopainen) was built in 1928, and in 1999 it was thoroughly reconstructed - and with the help of the Helsinki Culture Capital Foundation: in commemoration of the fact that 2000 was Helsinki became the cultural capital of Europe. There are one and a half tons of stones in the stove there, and it takes a cubic meter of firewood and five to six hours of time to warm up the sauna. To add a couple or not, according to tradition, those who sit on the top, hottest benches decide. Regulars from neighboring quarters, students, creative intelligentsia - and, of course, tourists come here. To cool off, hot visitors wrapped in towels go straight out onto the street - they drink beer and sing songs in chorus in front of passers-by, who, if not singing along, then listen attentively. And they also do great massage here. Entrance fee: € 10, subscription for 10 visits - € 90; birch broom - € 5 More information: www.kotiharjunsauna.fi

Dragon Hill Spa (Seoul, Korea)

Where: Yongsan Gu, Hangang-ro Dong 40-713 Korean steam does not tolerate fuss, and whole families come to the local baths - jimjilbans - not only to steam, but also to eat, take a nap and chat. In the Dragon Hill Spa in Seoul, entrance tickets are sold immediately for 12 hours - this is a real bath disneyland, on seven floors of which, in addition to steam rooms and pools, there are restaurants, cafes, a fitness club, a cinema and even a golf course. At the entrance, visitors are given a uniform (shorts and T-shirts), which will be needed when visiting mixed areas, and special electronic bracelets, where information about all purchases made - from drinks to massages, is entered. In separate men's and women's zones, there are wet steam rooms and a variety of baths: with sea water, with ginseng, with aromatic herbs, as well as mud, hydromassage and cold baths. After water procedures, you should go to the famous Korean peeling: with the help of a special viscose mitten, a layer of dead skin cells is scraped off the visitors, and the skin becomes soft like a baby's. The mixed zone has a huge tatami lounge - if you wish, you can even stay overnight here (after all, many jimjilbans work around the clock and are a cheap alternative to hotels). Nearby there are several rooms designed as medieval palace halls: tourists like to take pictures in them. But the main feature of Dragon Hill Spa is the original dry steam rooms: one is heated with pine wood, the other is trimmed with cypress, the third is jade, the fourth floor is covered with heated salt crystals, there is also a steam room with yellow clay and an ice room with a real snowman. Entrance fee: 10,000-12,000 won (about € 8) More details: www.dragonhillspa.co.kr

Orbeliani (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Where: Abanotubani, st. Joseph Grishashvili Tbilisi owes its appearance and its name to sulfur springs. According to legend, king Vakhtang Gorgasali shot a deer in the Kura valley, but he fell to a hot spring, healed and was like that - and Vakhtang ordered to found a city named Tbilisi (from the word "tbili" - "warm") on the same place. Later, a whole region of sulfur baths appeared on the springs - Abanotubani, which still exists: the baths themselves are underground, on the surface only their large domes with turrets at the top are visible. The most famous institution is the Orbeliani bathhouse (named after the former owner), aka Blue, or Motley, similar to a mosque - with a lancet facade, two small minarets and decorated with blue and blue tiles. It is believed (and this legend is diligently supported) that Pushkin visited its third issue during a trip to Arzrum, and on the wall of the bath there is a sign with his quote: "I have never met anything more luxurious than the Tiflis baths." At that time, the noseless bathhouse attendant Hassan worked on Alexander Sergeevich: he broke his limbs, stretched his joints and beat him with a fist, and the poet felt not pain, but an amazing relief. Now you will not find noseless mekise (as the bath attendants are called), but they still do an excellent massage on a marble trestle bed, then, like Pushkin, they rub with a kitty - a coarse woolen mitt, removing an unnecessary layer of dead skin, and then lather it with weightless foam - and wash it off already from a completely different, new person. Entrance fee: from 5 GEL (approximately € 2)

Thermal Baths Friedrichsbad (Baden-Baden, Germany)

Where: Römerplatz 1, D-76530 A majestic building in the spirit of the Renaissance palazzo was built in Baden-Baden in 1869-1877 by the architect Karl Dernfeld - on the personal order of the Grand Duke of Baden Friedrich I, who dreamed of reviving the culture of ancient Roman terms on this site, 2000 creatures years ago. The facade of Friedrichsbad is decorated with statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, and the internal structure partly repeats the layout of Roman baths, with a male and female wing of steam rooms and baths and a round pool in the central rotunda with a marble colonnade. There is a gallery with healing drinking water, but the main thing is, of course, the baths themselves, in which, in full accordance with the antique dress code, bathing suits are prohibited. On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, women and men steam separately and meet only in the thermal pool, on the rest of the days, all Friedrichsbad premises are open to both sexes. The local baths are often called Roman-Irish: the exotic hybrid owes its birth to the Irish doctor Richard Barter, an active propagandist of hydrotherapy, who supplemented Roman dry steam with moist Turkish steam and insisted on combining steam and baths of different temperatures in one chain. The bath ritual that exists now in Friedrichsbad is based on his method and consists of 17 stages. It all starts with dry steam rooms (54 and 68 degrees), followed by soapy massage, then wet steam rooms, in which it is no longer so hot, and finally, thermal hydromassage pools, each of which is slightly colder than the previous one. After the water procedures, the guests enter the relaxation room: the attendants carefully wrap them in sheets and blankets, put them on the bed and ask when to wake them up. Falling asleep, many remember the words of Mark Twain, who, having visited Friedrichsbad, said: "In ten minutes here you forget about the time, and after twenty - about everything in the world." Entrance fee: € 21 (for 3 hours), with soap massage - € 31 (3.5 hours) More information: www.roemisch-irisches-bad.de

Xiao Nan Guo Tang He Yuan (Shanghai, China)

Where: F2, Xiao Nan Guo Restaurant, No.3337, Hongmei Road Built in 2002, a five-story building next to the renowned Shanghai restaurant Xiao Nan Guo, the language cannot be called a bathhouse - this is an amazing hybrid of a spa and entertainment complex with an area of ​​12,000 square meters: here a thousand people can relax at the same time. Guests are greeted by a lobby worthy of a five-star hotel: a marble reception desk, luxurious chandeliers and music played by a mechanical grand piano, the keys of which move by themselves. Women guests are given blue Hawaiian muumuu dresses instead of bath sheets, men - green short pajamas with shorts, and children, respectively, mini versions of one or the other: whole families come here. Helpful people from Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand work here, who do dozens of massages, rejuvenating body scrubs (they treat every square centimeter of skin with hard mittens - except, of course, the most delicate places) and all kinds of face masks, as well as fifty other spas. procedures. Of the actual bath options, there are, for example, a variety of baths (including milk and Japanese ofuro), steam and low-temperature saunas (in the women's section - with a large TV on which local soap operas are played), as well as swimming pools. And after the procedures - or even in between them - you can play mahjong or ping-pong, sing karaoke or have a snack: there are several cafes with decent dim sum, noodles - and more sophisticated offerings. Entrance fee: 58 yuan, massages - from 48 yuan (approximately $ 7.5-9) More details: www.xnggroup.com

Liquidrom (Berlin, Germany)

Where: Möckernstrasse 10, 10963 Opened in 2005 in the German capital, Liquidrom is a real 21st century bathhouse and perhaps the only place on earth where you can listen to a DJ set while soaking in the pool after a steam room. The minimalist interiors are dominated by natural gray-green stone and concrete; the only exception is the wood-trimmed steam rooms, of which there are four: a wet, Finnish sauna, a salt cave and a panoramic sauna with a glazed wall, trimmed with dead Karelian pine. Once an hour in the Finnish sauna, one of the signature procedures is performed free of charge: a light salt, honey or aroma massage. For lovers of serious massage - for example, Balinese herbal bags or Thai hot stones - there is a spa nearby. After the steam room and treatments, guests head to the outdoor wood-trimmed terrace to take a nap in the sun loungers or lie in a small warm bath, also lined with wood in the Japanese style. But the main attraction of "Liquidrom" is located inside, under a concrete dome - it is a large round pool with sea water. There is always twilight, colored lights and music, and the speakers are installed under the water, so when you dive, it seems as if you are wearing headphones with loud music playing. In the evenings, DJs perform here, and on Fridays, candles are lit around the pool perimeter and live concerts in a variety of genres - from string classics to jazz to electronica - are organized. Visit cost: 2 hours - € 19.5; 4 hours - € 24.5 More information: www.liquidrom-berlin.de

Rzhevskie baths (Moscow, Russia)

Where: Banny prospect, 3, bld. 1 Rzhevskie baths have been operating smoothly in the capital for over 120 years - in 1888 they were opened in Korzunovsky Lane (now Banny Proezd) by the merchant of the second guild Ivan Malyshev. Later, from Malyshevsky they turned into Krestovsky, and the current name was assigned to the bath during the war - it washed the military units sent to the front from the nearby Rzhevsky (now Rizhsky) railway station. Morals here have always been democratic - the main contingent, even before the revolution, consisted of people of ordinary rank, small merchants and students. The interiors, respectively, are not outstanding, although recently there was a major overhaul, after which VIP rooms and a sauna appeared. But this is not why people go to Rzhevskie baths - lovers and connoisseurs of a real Russian bath come to Banny Proezd from all over the city for the sake of a traditional steam room - here it is a real ritual. Steam is cooked every half hour: water is poured into the stove in batches, the walls of the steam room are sprayed with chamomile and wormwood infusions, and only then the people are sent inside. According to the old Moscow tradition, they lie in the steam room right on the floor (the steam is so hot that many come in on all fours), the bather (there are several of them here, each has his own day and his own audience, who comes on that day) becomes in the center, asks for silence and begins to perform sacred acts: "scooping up" steam from above with a broom or a towel, he "pours" it in turn on all the people lying on the floor. After plunging into the cold tub in the soap compartment after such a steam, you feel absolute bliss - in the most precise meaning of the word. Visit cost: 800 rubles (on weekends - 850 rubles) More details: //rzhevskie-bani.ru

Onsen Funaoka (Kyoto, Japan)

Where: 82-1 Murasakino Minamifunaoka-cho, Kita-ku Onsen in Japanese is a hot spring; the same word is used for baths using warm mineral water. Funaoka is a historical bathhouse: it opened in Kyoto back in 1923, and the original interiors have been perfectly preserved to this day. True, unlike the Sanduns or Istanbul hammams, the bath area here, as in most traditional Japanese sento baths, is modestly decorated, but the dressing room is a real museum. The walls here are decorated with painted tiles and carved Japanese cedar bas-reliefs representing battle scenes from the Taisho period (1912-1926), and the wood-paneled ceiling is decorated with a colored high relief depicting Tengu: this mythological monster with wings and a huge nose not only frightens travelers in the mountains with thunderous laughter but also adores cleanliness. From here you can go along the wooden bridge to the bath area, where the usual taps, basins and showers are located, as well as several ofuro - baths with hot water (45-50 degrees), where it is customary to soak after thoroughly washing. In Funoka, in addition to ofuro with mineral water and medicinal Chinese herbs, there is also a denkiburo "electric bath": a weak electric current passes between two metal electrode plates mounted in its walls - the Japanese believe that such a procedure strengthens muscles and stimulates blood circulation. There is also a sauna with a TV nearby, and next to it there is a cold bath with a faucet in the form of a lion's mouth. But the most meditative ofuro is in the courtyard: here you can take a hot bath overlooking the carp pond and rock garden. Entrance Fee: ¥ 410 (approximately $ 5.2) Details:

The bathhouse has long and firmly entered the life of our person, not only as a place where you can relieve stress and improve health. Have modern man a bath with a steam room by the water has already become the same attribute as a car or Vacation home or apartment. And in most cases, authors and customers try not to limit themselves to a boring box or an extension in an apartment in order to put their hearts and souls into making friends and loved ones happy with the originality of the design.

How can you design a bathhouse

The most original and unusual baths are always built of wood. Firstly, it is a tradition and a huge century-old experience of building a bath on the ground, next to nature and water. Secondly, wood is rightly considered the most convenient material for any building, especially since a real steam room made of materials other than wood cannot be made anymore.

What are the baths made of wood. There are good and bad, ugly buildings in nature are much less, because even during the construction of the simplest hewn bath from a bar or round log, the craftsmen put in so much invention and soul that the language would not turn to call it ugly.

The designs can be conditionally divided into the main groups of baths:

In addition to those listed, there are many buildings that are difficult to attribute to any of the groups, they are interesting and unusual, sometimes they look like a joke, but for the most part these are real baths, in which you can perfectly steam and relax by the water, despite their unusual appearance.

Wooden baths

The possibilities of using wood in the design and construction of steam rooms are practically unlimited, even in an apartment. At the same time, it is often difficult at first glance to even understand what is in front of you - a bathhouse made of a bar or a residential building.

Baths from a bar and a log

Most often, these types of baths are either simplified to a log house resembling an old hut from a Russian fairy tale, or they are built on a large scale in the most bizarre forms. The simplest will be a bath made of timber, specially processed and profiled material with a cross section of at least 150x150 mm. It is possible to build arbitrarily complex and beautiful structures from such material, even for an apartment, all of them will be strong and durable.

The buildings in the form of barrels, various kinds of figures or unusual piles look interesting.

Unusual design solutions of the structure force to arrange the paired rooms in the same unusual shapes and bends accordingly.

A sauna made of debarked and rounded logs, especially near the water, looks somehow more exotic and brighter. But in construction, it is much more complicated, since it is formed using the old methods of connecting log cabins. If you wish, you can always build something unusual with pronounced features of antiquity. A timber bathhouse against their background looks somehow too ordinary and boring.

Unlike a timber, a log vault requires a lot of additional protective and thermal insulation measures. But in design and expressiveness, the log version looks more picturesque, especially if it stands somewhere near the water, at the edge of a pine forest.

Water recreation structures

A bath on the water is more unusual for our perception. Most often, the purpose of installing a building in close proximity to the shore is the so-called contrast swimming in cold water... According to the old Russian method, you need to run from the hot room of the steam room and plunge into the soft lake or river water on a grand scale. After such stress in cold water, the body, as it were, acquires new reserves of strength and energy. Not everyone can reach the free water and not be killed on a slippery clay or muddy shore. Therefore, the water bath is taken out as far as possible into the water or special wooden paths are built to access clean water.

For example, in Finland there is a dugout bath, which has an exit directly into the water of the lake. In terms of popularity, such a bathhouse is not inferior to modern saunas, and, interestingly, it has been smoking near the water since 1906, for more than a hundred years.

Such structures near the water can be modular, in the form of mobile houses, containers or even barrels. It is easy to bring them and install them near the water, at the beginning of the season, in the most favorite place of the river or the sea bay.

The desire to go as far from the coast as possible grew into new form baths on the water. In fact, this is no longer a self-propelled craft, on which a wooden house with a stove and a pipe is installed. This approach makes it possible to be closer to clean water, away from mosquitoes and coastal vegetation. It is clear that there are a great many options for constructing for recreation on the water, with cauldron-shaped baths and old Japanese water barrels.

Resting on the water in such an unusual bath requires extremely harsh fire safety measures, because a fire, and even far from the coast, can lead to fatal consequences within a few minutes.

Bath in the apartment

In attempts to adapt a bathhouse for an apartment, a city dweller turned out to be no less inventive than those who like to relax in a steam room in nature. But, unlike rural areas, where there is a supply of water and a place where to jump out in the event of a fire, an ignited steam room in an apartment can destroy not only the owner's home, but also the neighbors' apartments.

The advantages of such a pair are obvious:

1. You can steam bones and muscles in an apartment at any time of the day or night, it is much more convenient than wasting a lot of time for a trip out of town to the country house or to a public steam room;
2. The apartment option is an ideal remedy for the prevention of rheumatism and the fight against autumn colds;
3. Its own steam room in the apartment is a guarantee of hygiene and cleanliness.

Modern baths for apartments are almost always made to order by specialized firms or purchased as ready-made sets. Proprietary designs are much safer and more reliable for an apartment, given the fact that heating air and steam using electric heaters in such a bath always requires a very reliable arrangement of wiring and protection against electric shock in water.

Most often these are box-shaped structures made of wood, some of them resemble an old telephone booth, but at the same time, the external design and design of such options do not spoil the atmosphere of the apartment. Most often, for reasons of convenience, the baths are placed as close as possible to the water source - near the bathroom or shower in the apartment.

Rarely, but you can still find interesting designs of baths - homemade products for an apartment designed for a couple of people. For all the inconveniences, their creators are happy to use the steam room in their own apartment. Some of them can even be installed in the hall of the apartment.

The design looks interesting. You can stay in such a bathhouse for an apartment enough without experiencing breathing problems and overheating from hot water for a long time.

The simplest and smallest sauna can be called without hesitation the design for the apartment, shown in the photo. Such a bath design can, if desired, be stored at all on the mezzanine or anywhere else in the apartment.

Unusual forms of baths

The shape and design can be the most unusual or even unexpected in their decision. So you can find a structure in the form of a cable car or in the form of a pyramid. But such design options do not always pursue to get full steam and rest by the water, it is rather a way of self-expression.

Separately, we can recall the category of structures in the style “ wildlife by the water. " It can be a building in the form of a pile of stones or hidden in the crown of trees, on branches.

Baths look exotic in the form of unusual extensions in the apartment.

Bath from gun carriage

Among the many types of baths, this one is especially popular with novice builders. To put a box of a sauna from a log with your own hands for a home-builder, as a rule, is not possible. We have to use an unusual material - a carriage, or a carriage block. In fact, this is a debarked log with a diameter of 35-40 cm, in which the side "cheeks" are cut off, and the lower and upper supporting surfaces are profiled with an arc.

One of the options for a bath from a gun carriage is shown in the photo, at first glance, there is nothing unusual in it. The box resembles one of the types of timber construction, but this is only at first glance.

In practice, the use of such an unusual material provides considerable advantages:

• The scheme of the corner lock is significantly simplified;
• Good sealing at inter-crown joints, there is no need to caulk the carriage every year;
• After the completion of the shrinkage processes, the walls of a bath made of an unusual material are much stronger than traditional logs;
• The smooth flat surface of the walls simplifies the decoration, without any problems you can hang furniture, a shelf, a picture, sheathe it with clapboard practically without losing the useful space of the bath.

For your information! The craftsmen say that ships and fortresses were built from a carriage 300 years ago, so it is quite possible to imagine how durable baths made of unusual material are.

The most important thing is that the construction of a bath from a gun carriage has a completely different look than a lumber or log structure. You cannot call it cheap, since you have to cut a log on a sawmill, but in many respects an unusual material is more preferable, especially if this type of bath is built in a warm climate.

Bath underground

Construction of a steam room under the ground today looks like an outlandish or unusual solution, but half a century ago, most types of "black" baths were made in the form of a dugout.

Such a steam room looks like a village cellar; it was unusual to see a chimney and a ventilation hood above the dugout.

The main advantage of these types of baths is the unusually low construction price. For the walls of the steam room, a slab or tree trunks are used, dried moss, branches of fruit trees and bushes are used for insulation. One thing can be said - such an unusual steam bath is not inferior in quality to an expensive log sauna, and its construction will cost a couple of thousand plus a stove and material for waterproofing.

Sauna from the barn

The first thing that all summer residents are trying to do before building a full-fledged bath is to turn the existing barn into a semblance of a simple steam room. In summer, as a rule, for such an unusual transformation of a utility block into a sauna, it is enough to sheathe the walls with tarpaulin and foil-coated polyethylene foam using a stapler.

The stove is made from a potbelly stove, with a pipe leading out the shed window. In fact, this type of bath is considered the most numerous, since all temporary steam rooms are built on a similar principle at construction sites and summer cottages.

Bath made of polycarbonate

Assembling a steam room made of transparent plastic is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Moreover, cellular polycarbonate retains heat perfectly. An unusual body of a bath can be made in a mini factor, as in the photo, or you can make a full-fledged steam room in the form of an extension to a shed or house.

V the latter case you will need to first assemble the wooden frame of an unusual bath, and fix the polycarbonate itself with an overlap and gluing the joints with tape or polyethylene.

According to reviews, the process of parking in a transparent bath in the middle of snow and frost gives a very unusual feeling.

Kung bath

Making a steam room from an aluminum car booth - kunga will require a lot of effort in order to find a suitable sample. High-quality, insulated premises of a car or shift plant are sold out like hot cakes after writing off.

Special alterations for the equipment of such an unusual bathhouse will not be required. The change house is installed on a columnar foundation and the interior is trimmed with clapboard.

There is always enough space in the side niches of the kunga to install a stove, a supply of firewood and even a small gasoline generator, if the place for an unusual bath is chosen somewhere in the forest or on the shore of the lake.

Of all the listed types This bath is best suited for fishermen, hunters and simply those who like to relax in nature.

We build a cellar with our own hands

The nature of steam - wet or dry, as well as other components of a bathing holiday - differ depending on the region. Most of all, baths and saunas are popular in the northern, cold regions of our planet. I bring to your attention the most popular and interesting baths in the world.

1. Rauhaniemi, Finland

As you know, Finns know a lot about saunas. The most popular and oldest sauna in Finland - Rauhaniemi in Tampere - was built in 1906. It is located right on the shores of the large lake Näsijärvi. This is the best place for walruses in winter. From the sauna directly into the lake, where a spacious wormwood is cut down, heated paths are led, the water temperature is 2-4 degrees Celsius. The spacious Rauhaniemi steam room can accommodate about 70 people, there is also a smaller steam room. For a good healing effect, it is recommended to warm up well in the steam room and cool down just as well in the wormwood for several times. In the summer they arrange a resort area with all the conditions for a beach holiday.

2. Flying sauna gondola, Finland

Another Finnish sauna is worth mentioning in the ski resort of Ylläs, Finland. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the sauna is located in ... a cable car! The cable car cabin is lined with wood outside and inside. A session in the steam room lasts about 20 minutes - this is how much it takes to climb to a height of 718 meters. The sauna can accommodate four people at the same time. If you wish, you can get off at the top station of the cable car and plunge into the purest snow. The cabin is equipped with transparent windows from the inside, from where you can admire the impressive mountain scenery. By the way, at the top station of the lift there is a stationary sauna, which can accommodate 17 people, and the cable car's cabin is, as it were, its “branch”.

3. Gellert, Hungary

In the capital of Hungary, Budapest, there are about 120 thermal springs. The healing power of hot mineral water was noted by the ancient Romans living in these territories. The most famous resort complex is located at the foot of the Gellert Hill in the center of Budapest, right on the banks of the Danube River. The complex was opened back in 1918 and is one of the most beautiful architectural landmarks of the capital. Immersed in the fables of the Gellert complex, it seems that you are taking a bath at least in the cathedral - marble columns propping up high vaults, multi-colored stained glass windows and colorful mosaics. There are baths and saunas, baths and pools, thermal baths, massage services and other wellness treatments.

4. Friedrichsbad, Germany

In antiquity, the territory of Baden-Baden, Germany, was the location of the ancient Roman baths - public baths. Duke Friedrich I. dreamed of reviving the culture of health improvement and recreation in them. And in 1869 he ordered the construction of a magnificent building for public baths in Baden-Baden. There is a male and female wing, connected by a large pool, and the interior decoration of the baths contains marble colonnades and statues of ancient gods. For the first time, a tourist who comes here will be advised to go through the entire bath ritual of Friedrichsbad, consisting of 17 procedures, following one after another. This ritual combines dry steam rooms, soap massage, wet steam rooms, hydromassage pools, and the final part is a relaxation room where you can get plenty of sleep.

5. Liquidrom, Germany

In Germany, as you know, they know a lot about good music. That is why it was here that a hybrid of a bathhouse and ... a nightclub was created. The interior of the complex is decorated with natural stone, and the steam rooms are traditionally made of wood. There is a dry and wet steam room, a salt cave and a sauna with a panoramic glass wall, massage rooms and an outdoor terrace with sun loungers for relaxation. The highlight of the "Liquidrom" complex is a vast pool with sea water, where twilight always reigns and the sparkling of disco lights. In the evenings, you can listen to the sets of local DJs here, and concerts are organized on weekends. Moreover, the speakers are installed even under water, so that after diving, you can hear the music even better.

6. Sauna Deco, Holland

A small sauna in the very center of Amsterdam, Holland, is known primarily for its unusual sauna-like design in the Art Deco style of the early 20th century. The refined interior details of the renowned master Boileau - a staircase with a bronze balustrade, a glass elevator shaft, gilded stained glass windows - were inherited by the sauna after the renovation of the interior in a large Parisian department store. There are no male and female departments here, moreover, it is forbidden to be in the sauna in bathing suits. There are two saunas with different temperature regime as well as a Turkish hammam with eucalyptus steam, a hydromassage pool and an indoor garden terrace. It is in the Deco sauna that the best massage therapists in Amsterdam work, the queue to which is registered far ahead.

7. Sandunovskie baths, Russia

The public baths, built by the theatrical actor Sandunov in 1818, are considered the most popular in Moscow. According to legend, the enterprising actor started his own business with the money raised from the sale of a diamond necklace presented by Empress Catherine II for his wife's wedding. At the end of the 19th century, on the site of the dilapidated baths, a pompous building was erected, striking in luxury and a mixture of styles. The clients of the baths at that time were different - from ordinary people to wealthy merchants. The women's and men's departments are separate, but the main architectural beauties are available only to men. An interesting fact is that bath attendants and vapers work here in dynasties, each has its own day and its own clientele.

8. Gedik Pasha, Turkey

The real Turkish baths - Gedik Pasha hammam - are the oldest in Istanbul, Turkey. They were built in the 15th century, and most guidebooks write that only locals come here. However, this is not the case, and a tourist who finds himself in the Gedyk Pasha hamam will be pleasantly surprised. Pestemali towels are provided at the entrance. It is not too hot in the main hall of the hararet, because it is customary to stay here for a long time, as if languishing and occasionally cooling down in the pool. For lovers of something "hotter", there is a classic sauna with a high temperature. In the center of the hall there is a hot "abdominal stone", on which clients are given massage-peeling with the help of a rigid glove. Foamy soap massage is also in favor here, which allows you to perfectly cleanse the skin. The men's and women's departments are separated here.

9. Daikoku-Yu, Japan

Baths are loved and appreciated in Japan, however, there is a slightly different heating technology. Instead of steam rooms in public baths called "sento" there are hot water baths, in which they actually sit, sweat and relax. Since 1927, the Daikoku-Yu bathhouse, which is called the "King of Sento", has been operating in Tokyo. From the outside, the bathhouse looks the same as in the distant 1920s, resembling a Buddhist temple in appearance. But inside, in the late 90s, an extensive reconstruction and improvement was made. There are hot baths, with temperatures up to 45 degrees, as well as cold and massage ones, there is even an outdoor bath. Tourists are amazed at the calmness and unhurriedness that reigns inside the bath, both among the clients and among the staff. But it is the complete relaxation of the body and soul that gives its healing effect.

10. Dragon Hill Spa, Korea

Dragon Hill Spa in Seoul, Korea is a true Disneyland bathhouse! Whole families come here, and tickets are sold not for an hour or two, but for 12 hours. There really is a lot to do here. The seven floors of the complex are occupied not only by saunas and swimming pools, but also by spas, massage rooms, a fitness club, a cafe and a restaurant, and even a golf course. The main feature of the complex is the original dry steam rooms. In one, the floor is covered with layers of salt, the other is trimmed with jade, the surface of the third is covered with cypress, and the fourth is heated with pine wood. There are wet steam rooms and baths, as well as an ice room with a real snowman, where you can have a cryotreatment session. The men's and women's areas are located separately, there are lounges and a beautiful medieval-style hall.

Unusual baths

There are Russian baths, there are Turkish, there are Japanese, and there are unusual baths, those that are used in narrow circles, not so common, and some may not even know about their existence and that such a bath can be of any benefit. Next, we will consider in more detail the popular unconventional unusual baths.

Sand bath

The bath is unusual - sand is quite widespread, river and sea sand has its own healing properties, which our ancestors knew about. The sand in direct sunlight heats up and gives off heat and chemical elements... During an unusual sanding procedure, the sand heats up and keeps the heat in itself, and thanks to its crushed particles, sweat is absorbed quickly when perspiration is continuous. Sweat is absorbed evenly, and in one such procedure you can lose about 600 grams of weight. With this procedure, the body avoids sudden changes in temperature, therefore, the load on the body is minimized. Reception of a sand bath goes something like this, forms a hole with a small depression, the length is the height of a person, the body is covered with sand, preferably up to the neck, and do not forget to cover your head or put an umbrella, the head should remain in the shade. The procedure lasts about 10 minutes, and then take a dip in the river or sea ​​water... Such an unusual sand bath is useful for people with a weakened body, for diseases such as arthritis, nephritis, and female diseases. Contraindicated in neoplasms, anemia, tuberculosis and depletion of the body.

Bath in a bag with birch leaves

A bath in a bag of leaves is uncomplicated and unusual, a person is placed in a bag filled with birch leaves. The peculiarity of this procedure is that a special microclimate is formed inside the bag, and birch leaves have excellent medicinal properties. With profuse sweating, all the toxins are simultaneously released from the body and at the same time the healing trace elements of the leaves enter. The same thing can be done not with birch leaves, but with flower hay, the effect will also be beneficial, and the aroma will be divine!

Bath in a manure heap

A bath in a dung heap, an even more exotic and unusual bath, probably, cannot be imagined, but there is such a thing. Such a bath is useful for people with sciatica and sore joints. A person is buried with manure for a couple of hours, the decay process has a beneficial effect on the body, and visiting it about 20 times will show incredible results. Therefore, if you overpower yourself and fit into an unusual bath - a bath with a smell, the healing effect will not be long in coming.