Do you like Wellness? - Time to have a good time in one of Stuttgart’s sauna worlds!

It is cold outside, it is getting dark earlier and everybody wants to have a warm place to relax. In the area of Stuttgart there are lots of great opportunities to spend a nice time in a sauna world.

In Stuttgart you can find saunas which are under city administration and private ones. Here you find the biggest ones with a short summary:

At first there is the indoor pool in Heslach. Here you will find a nice pool to enjoy and a sauna area with a Russian-Roman steam bath (with three areas with different temperatures), a Finnish sauna 90°C (194°F) and one with 100°C (212°F). The sauna regularly offers special events which can be found on the homepage. When you want to go with your family or just love warm water: every Wednesday and Thursday the water in the pool is 86°F and 90°F!

Another place to go is the Mineralbad Leuze. Here you will find two highly carbonated healing springs and a mineral spring which are used for the swimming pool and the saunas. The LEUZE offers a large sauna area with 3,300 m². You can find saunas with different temperatures, with and without steam, outdoor saunas, a comfortable cooling pool and a beautiful outdoor terrace. On the homepage you can learn more about the offers and you can also enjoy massages and other wellness rituals.

Another public sauna is the Mineralbad Bad Cannstatt where four different healing springs are used for swimming and the sauna area. Here you will find two indoor and one outdoor swimming pool with 30°C (86°F) warm mineral water. But there is also a swimming pool which is filled with 18°C (64°F) naturally cool, highly carbonated healing water. The sauna area (1,200 m²) consists of four differently tempered sauna rooms, an integrated Russian-Roman steam bath, a meditation bath with music and color light therapy, a cooling pool and an outdoor terrace. On the homepage you can inform yourself about the wellness rituals and massages which are also offered.

The fourth public sauna is the Mineralbad Berg which is currently undergoing a major renovation. After completion, the Mineralbad Berg will welcome its guests with its old special charm but in a new splendor. Here you can swim and go to a gender-segregated sauna area.

One of the very special private saunas can be found in the Fildorado. It offers an adventure pool with a sports pool, a thermal pool (93°F) with an outdoor area, a wave pool, a flow channel and two slides, which are over 100 m long, and a unique ski-jump slide. In addition, there is a huge sauna area with around 6,000 m² with eight saunas, three steam baths, a sauna garden and different relaxation rooms. On the homepage (https://www.fildorado.de/wellness-spa/uebersichtsplan.html) you will find a plan of the whole area. In the Fildorado you can also book wellness treatments. Children are allowed to go to the sauna from 3 years on.

Another opportunity to go to is the Mineraltherme Böblingen. Here you have warm thermal water (87-98°F) in six relaxation pools with lots of bubble loungers, massage jets and neck showers. In the sauna area, you can choose between the Classic Sauna and the “Saunagarden.” The Classic Sauna - which is already included in the basic price - offers a “SinnBad” with ethereal vapors, atmospheric lights and relaxing music, two Finnish saunas, a herbal sauna, a soft sauna and a Roman steam bath. In the sauna garden (1,400 m²), there are six other themed saunas and a sauna pool. Massages can also be booked here. Children are allowed from 5 years on, but between 5 and 12 only with an adult!

Last but not least, there is the “Schwabenquellen” where you can enjoy an exotic wellness world tour through 18 country and cultural circles. The sauna area is over 7,000 m². Daily you can have over 30 experience infusion ceremonies. There is a refreshing swimming lagoon, beautiful relaxation areas, whirlpools, steam baths and sensory showers. There are also wellness treatments that you can book. Here is the link to the English booklet: https://schwabenquellen.de/_upl/de/_d-upl/Booklet_in_English-1.pdf. Children are allowed from 6 years on, but between 6 and 12 only with an adult!

How to create a perfect sauna day:

When you have arrived at your chosen sauna, you should go to the changing room and get prepared. Please leave your valuables, your mobile and clothes in the lockers there. Do not take watches and jewelry into the sauna, because metal objects can heat up heavily in the sauna, which can become unpleasant on the skin. You can take your sauna bag (with towels, a book, cosmetics and drinks and a snack) to the sauna area itself. Mostly there are special storage opportunities in the sauna area. If you wear glasses there is usually a special eyeglass rack in front of each sauna.

Before you start your sauna event, take a short shower and dry well after the shower (otherwise the water cools down the skin and the sweating is delayed). Now you can go to a sauna room. In Germany you go to the sauna naked or enter it with a wrapped towel. This is up to you.

Before you enter the sauna you must check if an infusion is running. Then you cannot enter and you must wait for the next round. Mostly you can see this through a clock attached to the door or a green/red illuminated lamp. Please leave your bathrobe outside and go into the sauna room with a towel. Spread out your towel on the sauna bench. Make sure that it is positioned in such a way that no sweat can reach the wood surface. If you don't want to sweat naked in the sauna cabin you have to take a second towel with you, which you can now put around your body.

In each sauna there are hourglasses, which usually show a period of 15 minutes. However, you do not have to stay in the sauna for that period of time. Simply focus on your personal well-being.

After you have finished, the cooling phase follows. You can go to the fresh air or have a shower. You should not cool down too fast, because this is not good for your circulation.

Now you should have a rest before you start a sauna session again. How long this rest period lasts, you decide for yourself according to your needs (15 to 30 minutes). During this time you can make yourself comfortable on of the resting couches, or take a foot bath or use plunge pools. How often you visit the sauna room depends simply on your personal well-being.

During your stay don’t forget to drink! You should drink at least 1-2l after going to the sauna. (mineral water or fruit scabies)

Have a great wellness time in Stuttgart’s saunas!

Dr. Christine Krämer

Pictures: from Pixabay

Naked in the sauna! It is common to go naked to the sauna here in Germany. When you leave the sauna, it is common to dress yourself with a towel or a bathrobe. (In case of an increased feeling of shame, a bath towel wrapped around the body is allowed in the sauna cabin). Swimwear and street clothes is not allowed.
No sweat on the wood! The sauna should always be entered dry. Your bath towel must be so large that one's own sweat does not drip onto the benches.
Respect for others! Try to keep some distance to your neighbor. Foreign towels should not be touched when "climbing up" to an upper level.
Quietness in the sauna! Please avoid changing places unnecessarily or leaving the sauna after only making a brief stop. A short greeting when entering the sauna is OK, long conversations are not.
Hygiene! Before entering the sauna, a shower is mandatory, as well as before cooling off in the plunge pool.
Privacy! It should be natural not to stare at other people. It is also out of place to exchange tenderness with your partner in the sauna. Mobile phones are not allowed.
Keep distance and make room! If it gets full in the sauna, consideration is required. Make room for newly arrived guests if possible.
Behavior in the rest area! At least the towel and bath slats are mandatory for the relaxation room. Loud conversations or expansive picnics don't fit here.