¿What is a Hammam?
In Morocco and in most Arab countries, it is a public bath for community use. Traditionally they have been used as hygiene spaces, in times when running water or hot water was not so common in homes. They have also had a religious use, as a way to perform ablutions or deep and purifying cleansing for prayer.
Furthermore, hammams in Morocco have traditionally been a source of pride and prestige for a city: their level was valued based on the grandeur and cleanliness of their bath(s).
Currently, its use is also related to aesthetics and bodily well-being, since it involves steam baths and water pools at different temperatures that achieve a relaxing effect on the people who undergo them. That is why this bathroom concept has become internationalized and today it can be found in the cities of many other countries, including non-Islamic ones.
The hammam is often known as a Turkish bath, but its origin does not exactly come from this country. You have to go back long before the appearance of Islam in the 7th century to find its direct precedent: we are talking about the Roman baths, which were in turn inspired by bathing enclosures from Ancient Greece. From Rome they spread through the main cities of the Empire and, in this way, they reached its eastern area, which after the fall of the Western Roman Empire was renamed the Byzantine Empire, with its capital in what is now Istanbul. This may explain why the term “Turkish bath” is used for these facilities.
What is certain is that the new Arab civilization knew the practice of public baths in the Byzantine Empire and assimilated them into their own daily life, making them very common also in later times, such as during the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
It should be said that the Roman baths operated very similar to the current hammam, based on pools with water at different temperatures. In these cases, they did not have a religious function, but they did have a hygienic, social and aesthetic function.
In the case of the hammams of Morocco, as in the rest of the countries, thermal contrast is maintained as the main axis of the ritual, but they are not always equipped with pools full of water in which to immerse themselves, but rather rooms with abundant steam and a temperature very different environment. Furthermore, in these rooms there are benches, taps and buckets so that the bather can apply the water and soap at his own pace and resistance.
However, the hammams in Morocco that are privately managed, often linked to hotels and riads, can have different pools with water, in which the bather can immerse himself and relax at a different pace.
Types of hammam in Tangier
In Tangier you can find 2 types of hammam:
*Traditional Hammam
*Hammam Spa
Best Hammam in Tangier Province
- Hammam Al Alba – Assilah Medina 42€ – 90 min:
Created an intimate space dedicated to your attention. It has two rooms, warm (massage area) and hot (bathing area), where we recreate the traditional Moroccan hammam process.
Comfortable, discreet and welcoming, the Hammam Al Alba is the ideal place to let yourself be carried away by endless pleasant sensations.
CODE 20% OFF
2. La Tangerina 45€ – 45 min:
Small hammam with capacity for 4 people located in Riad La Tangerina. Offers discounts for local public and massages upon reservation.
From Tangier to Assilah & Tetouan
Day Trip + Hammam
