Turkish Baths Harrogate - Harrogate

M A

Beautiful, historic interior with picturesque tiling. Book ahead especially at weekends and bring your swimming costume and flip flops; they have lockers. Essentially it comprises 3 interconnected rooms of increasing heat intensity, a sauna, warm and cold showers and a cold plunge. Staff are constantly making sure things are tidy. There are printed instructions in the changing rooms and posted around if you’re not sure which order to go about things.
Fairly clean but old, as you’d expect from a historic building, with some cracks in the tiling and wear in the stone seats from years of use. Hottest room is 68C. There was a mildly acrid smell in some areas and it wasn’t clear if that was the room itself or other users.
£37 seemed quite high for the experience but heating costs must be high. Having just been to an exceptionally pristine historical hammam in Istanbul, Turkey (albeit for £65 for 1h, but including a personal attendant), this was quite a different experience. We were not sure what to expect (probably could have done more research) and were a little underwhelmed. Essentially you move yourself between hot to cold to increasingly hot experiences, so if that’s what you’re expecting, and what you’d enjoy, then this is a charming way to pass a couple of hours in Harrogate

Ionut Neacsu

Lovely way to destress the body and forget about the day to day problems.

The venue is very clean and the staff always makes sure that everything runs smoothly.

I would recommend to bring some slippers with you as they only offer 2 towels. (not a necessity as I’ve mentioned earlier the place is very clean and tidy but I wish i didn’t forget mine)

We felt very relaxed after and would definitely repeat the experience when we travel back in Harrogate.

Brian Ferris

Very good Turkish bath / spa. Prices are £12 more expensive on the weekends.

Some small changes could elevate it to a 5 star.
1. Cold plunge is only 26c in summer which is about ocean Temperature in Florida and 18c in the winter. I would like to see it around 8-12c.
2. Put rails in cold plunge. Brits love to swim and multiple people tried to swim in a cold plunge ? ?
You can't close your eyes and mediate neck deep in the cold plunge for 13 minutes like how the experts recommend when someone is swimming around
3. Hotter dry sauna room.
4. Do away with the 2 hour limit. I like 3 or 4 hours in the spa.
5. Too loud of quiet room with the swimmers in the cold plunge.

Pros
The wet steam room was perfect. ? very hot
Staff is excellent.
A+ decor and ambiance

Amz Wallace

Beautiful decor and relaxing atmosphere, with three different saunas, a steam room and cold plunge to work through. Not crazy temperatures, wouldn’t have minded an even hotter sauna option and an even colder plunge pool! The lockers are a bit fiddly and quite a few are broken and also the curtains across the changing rooms don’t feel particularly secure

Martin Downes

This place is off the scale amazing. Beautifully restored, staff are so nice, it’s amazingly clean. We felt very chilled when we left.

The only reason for the 4 stars is that it was noisy at times which we were not expecting. There are quiet signs about but the large groups just chatted openly and laughed a lot. A minor point but quiet would definitely have got 5 stars.

But it was still so good we are definitely going to come again. Thank you so much for a wonderful experience.

Pauline Harrison

Lovely interior. A nice experience, very quiet on our visit. We must have missed something as didn't really know what to do. So sat around in the toasty chill out room.

James Hunter

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh! I’m so relaxed I can barely get my thumbs to type, but I must, so that everyone knows about this gem! Get your tickets in advance - you generally can’t just walk in - and spend a couple of hours unwinding while the stresses of modern living melt away. And when I say “melt”, you should know that the hottest room is about 68°C (154F), so you’re going to be sweating! But you build up to it, and you’ll be hydrating constantly (won’t you?), so it’s all part of the experience. As is the cold plunge, which starts off feeling glacial and is not quite cold enough by the end. The sauna room, which features - what? Eucalyptus? - was almost too hot to bear, but we still managed a couple of rounds. The staff are friendly and helpful, even when you forget your locker number, as I did. My only regret is that I didn’t book a massage or other treatment. I won’t make that mistake again.

After the serenity has been returned to you, roll up the hill to Betty’s, and if you’re lucky, you can get in for a Yorkshire Cream Tea without having to queue for too long.

Joel Pagett

I recently visited the Turkish Baths in Harrogate and had an enjoyable visit. It’s steeped in history, opening back in 1897, and it remains relatively unchanged to this day.

After checking in with the reception team, we were given towels and then got changed. You are given lockers to store your belongings, but there was a frustrating amount of broken lockers that did make storing your belongings more inconvenient than it should have been.

The main experience focuses around 3 rooms that increase in heat intensity. The first being mild, then the following 2 becoming much warmer. After you spend the time in the hot rooms, you’re then cool yourself in the plunge pool or with a cold shower.

I did enjoy spending an hour, going through the different levels of heat and then cooling down in the plunge pool. It’s certainly a shock to the system with the sudden cold of the pool, but I genuinely left feeling very relaxed. There was also an aromatherapy steam room which was nice too.

Overall, I did enjoy my visit, and I did find it relaxing. It was also fascinating from a historical aspect too. However, I feel for the price that’s being charged, there were a few maintenance issues that need to be remedied such as broken lockers, showers and a few areas needed repainting. I felt that it was a premium price being charged, and it did fall a little below my expectations due to these reasons.