The heart of Barcelona is home to its top Hamman, AIRE Ancient Baths. A place where time does not exist and relaxation has no limits. Located in an old 18th-century warehouse next to El Born Market, a temple to wellness has been created to disconnect the mind and body from the surrounding reality. AIRE Barcelona transports you to the ancient Ottoman, Greek and Roman civilisations, to a place in history where wellness rituals were sacred. At AIRE Barcelona, ancient rituals, holistic therapies and water are all combined to take each individual back to a place in time where reconnecting with yourself started with reconnecting your mental state with your physical.
With the space inspired by temples dedicated to the relaxation of both body and mind, you are wrapped in a blanket of wellness traditions as old as time itself, and exposed to a historical experience that has been restored for the busy and burned-out body and minds of today.
The Space
Full of history and dedication towards the pursuit of a unique experience, your relaxation journey begins and ends in pure candlelight. There is not a single distraction in sight, and every sound has been intrinsically designed to be some form of ASMR that encourages all of your senses to take a well-deserved break.
On arrival, you are guided to the changing rooms where you are warmly greeted with a clean robe, towel and special footwear to wear inside the baths. The luxury you are greeted with sets the precedence for the entirety of the experience, with private shower rooms, luxurious bathing products and professional grooming kits to make sure you leave the baths just as comfortable as you first entered.
The aesthetic flows through each step of the experience, with candlelight guiding your every move. Upon entering the baths, you are taken on a tour of each thermal pool, explained the advantages of each thermal bath and the order in which pools you should experience. There are several thermal baths, each one benefitting a certain area of your mind and body. From a Caldarium (Hot Bath /40ºC), two Frigidariums, a Tepidarium, a Balneum (Bath of a thousand jets), a Vaporium, a Floatarium (salt bath) and lastly, a wine bath.
Privacy is at the heart of this experience, with hidden rooms and hidden pools to really allow you to fully disconnect and indulge in the no mobile phone policy. Everything within your surroundings has a purpose in AIRE, specifically the scents and sounds when you’re in the thermal baths. Light meditation music is filtered through each room, combining with the natural sound of water that fills the air. Each sound acts as a form of therapy, beginning with the mind and ending with your body.
The Ritual
When deciding what Ritual to choose for my AIRE experience, I was given a lot of guidance as to which ritual would suit the current state of my body. I was advised to try out the brand new ‘Ultimate Blossom Experience’, a ritual that is extremely unique and different from all the other experiences AIRE offer. Created from the scent of flowers to guide you to complete renewal, this experience has been designed with the aim to reconnect with yourself, and this is exactly what I was looking for. The best thing about this experience is that it is completely sensorial, hitting each of your five senses. You begin by touring the baths at different temperatures to relax the body and mind and finding complete peace in the sensation of floating. I was then advised that to ensure I have a complete experience and to prepare my skin, I spend a few minutes in the Vaporium at the end of the bath tour.
After taking a seat in the candlelit waiting area sipping on some ice-cold water and green tea, I was then taken to the next sensory stage. Scents and sounds envelop my mind and to my delight, the ritual is performed on a heated marble bed, encouraging you to fully sink into your surroundings and let go of any tension you may have carried into the baths. The first thing I felt was the sensation of warm water drops running down my spine to prepare for the next step of the ritual – exfoliation.
A floral exfoliation with Himalayan pink salt, which offers great cleansing and purification, and Kukui oil which, adding its regenerative qualities, is meant to leave your skin feeling renewed, rejuvenated and velvety. And this is exactly how my skin felt afterwards. After exfoliation, a jasmine and lotus mist was applied to my body to help transform all the products that were used in a beautiful floral oil in preparation for the next stage – the massage and moisturising of the body. By this point, my senses were in a state of complete tranquillity – I had never felt more at peace than I had at this moment. It was at this point that the noise of running water became even more apparent creating a purposely open mind.
Moving on to the next sensation, a relaxing body wrap mask made up of white clay and infused with sacred Hindu flowers hydrates and refreshes the skin whilst purifying. To finish the experience, I was then given a gentle head massage whilst continuing to melt into the warmth of the marble beds. Once the ritual had ended, I received a fresh juice to reactivate my senses – I left the marble beds feeling completely rejuvenated and more awake than I had felt in many months. The entire experience was guided by the sounds of natural elements and the smells of botany.
Final Thoughts
I had entered AIRE feeling very disconnected from myself due to stress. Alongside this, prior to my visit I also suffered a psoriasis flare-up. I have nothing but huge amounts of gratitude towards the ladies who performed the ritual on me – I walked out of the experience with at least 50% of my psoriasis flare-up having healed and my entire body feeling as light as a feather.
The experience was so gentle, yet they knew exactly how to conduct the experience in order to cater to my flare-up. The thermal baths combined with this brand-new experience had worked wonders on both my mind and my body – I left feeling light, renewed and most importantly – rejuvenated. This is the perfect experience to share with someone or to have as a solo treat. I was lucky enough to share this unique sensorial experience with my mother, and it was the most amazing way to reconnect with one another and catch up.
For the ultimate breath of fresh AIRE – The Ultimate Blossom Experience at AIRE Barcelona is perfect for a new beginning.
To discover more, visit: beaire.com
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All imagery courtesy of AIRE Barcelona.