Sidi Azouz

"It’s fair to say that a trip to the hammam isa quintessential Moroccan experience and is a salve for the soul as much as it is for the body. Fes’s bathhouses may not have the sheer wow factor of those in Marrakech, but they perhaps offer a more intimate and authentic experience at more wallet-friendly prices. Yoursafest bet is to take a taxi to Nausikaa in the Ville Nouvelleand hang with locals while being treated toa deluxe treatment which involves a luxurious steam, followed by an enthusiastic scrub-down ( gommage ) with an exfoliating mitt ( kessa ) and olive oil soap, before getting slathered in rose-scented claywhich leaves the skin baby-soft and sparkling. It also offers excellent pedicures and waxing. If your heart is set on goingold-school, be aware that the medina’s hammams are not always as hot, nor as clean, as you might like. In the medina, the pink and womblikehammam at Dar Bensouda is perfect if you’d prefer a private to a public hammam. It’s properly hot, and the local women who do the gommage mix their treatment lotions with lavender and chamomile as well as with other healing herbs and spices.A treatment costs 350 dirhams. The Riad Laaroussa provides a luxurious, candlelit experience. It’s the place to go if you want to experience a hammam with yourpartner, followed by sublimely relaxing massage. Have a cocktail in the courtyard afterwards; the orange- and cinnamon-infused gin and tonic is legend."