Take a Plunge at MECCA HQ’s Favourite Bathhouses
November 6 | 3 minute read
Words by Lisa Marie Corso
This isn’t an exaggeration. Bathing rituals actually date as far back as The Neolithic Age, while one of the earliest known public baths was built around 2500 BCE in the Indus Valley, in what is now Pakistan.
Since then, bathing culture has taken on various forms around the world, from natural springs and cold plunge pools to the thermae of the Roman Empire, Turkish hammams, Japanese onsens and Finnish saunas. Through it all, the humble public bathhouse has often represented more than just hygiene, acting as social hubs for the community – because when you’re stripped down bare, you quickly learn we are all more alike than not!
This social aspect to spa culture is still afloat today, and whether you visit your local bathhouse socially or individually, it provides an opportunity for unfettered relaxation – a chance to disconnect from an always plugged-in world.
The bathhouse politely forces us to take a break like nothing else. Goodbye phone! Goodbye clothes!
So, next time you’re in need of a recharge – and not the ‘Can I borrow an iPhone cable?’ variety – bookmark this list of our favourite bathhouses in Australia.
Sense of Self, Melbourne
This is the place to give tired bodies some serious love with bathing, massage and spa treatments. But for those in the pursuit of a good soak, the double-storey converted warehouse includes a large mineral bath (39℃), Finnish sauna (80℃), cold plunge (10℃ – 12℃), and a Steam Room or Hammam (46℃). Bathing sessions are for two hours, and we highly recommend the Sud & Mud add-on in the Hammam; a multi-cleansing experience like no other, it uses oily, rich black soap that primes the skin, a deeply exfoliating scrub and a soothing muddy paste that leaves silky smooth.
Instagram/@sos.senseofself and Jessica Tremp (photographer)
The Bathhouse Albion, Brisbane
Consider this the fine dining equivalent of the bathhouse world, where your wellness degustation includes two heated pools (38℃), a cold plunge (12℃), ice bath, traditional sauna, infrared sauna, steam room, float room and a Finnish sauna with a fireplace. The Bathhouse Albion is an excellent destination for those experiencing the bathhouse ritual for the first time, with a wide variety of soak-at-your-leisure amenities and an ambience of sensory bliss, thanks to travertine stone, atmospheric lighting and high ceilings.
Instagram/@thebathhousealbion
Capybara Bathing, Sydney
Inspired by the ancient history of communal bathing, Capybara is all about bringing people together by creating an all-welcoming space to meet, find repose and look after ourselves (and each other). Each 90-minute bathing visit invites you to soak, plunge and steam, giving you complete access to the venue’s amenities. We love to start with a soak in the warm mineral bath before awakening the senses with a dip in the cold plunge, then heating up in the steam room and the traditional stone sauna. A visit to Capybara is the perfect antidote when life gets a little too busy and the only thing that will restore balance is a good soak – trust us.
Instagram/@capybara.bathing and Declan Blackall (photographer)
Inner Studio, Melbourne
Inner Studio wants you to ‘curate your calm’. Their shortcut to achieving it? Making everyone forget the hustle of inner-city Melbourne as soon as they step into this (plant-filled! light-filled! endorphin-filled!) oasis. Inner Studio is on a mission to change the way we perceive stress via breathwork and hot and cold exposure (including a traditional sauna, and hot (38°C) and cold (5°C) concrete plunge pools). But for us, it’s the cold plunge pool that makes us feel alive-r – just don’t dip your toes in; it’s an all-or-nothing experience.
Instagram/@innerstudioaus
The Banya, Mullumbimby
Want to make a daytrip of the bathhouse experience? Enter ‘The Banya’ into your GPS, accelerate and go. Located in a former 1920s bank in picturesque Mullumbimby on New South Wales’ north coast, The Banya has all of your bathing essentials sorted with the added bonus of an on-site restaurant and bar for a post-dip bite. You can spend more than a few good hours here between the lap pool, two heated mineral pools and cold plunge, before warming up in the wood-fired sauna and steam room. Our preferred way to elevate ‘me time’ at The Banya? Ditch the phone. Bathe. Steam. Sweat. Then relax with a post-treatment massage followed with a turmeric shot at the rooftop bar – it’s wellness in a glass.
Instagram/@thebanya_mullumbimby
