The Damascene hammam, or public bathhouse, is not merely a place for hygiene; it is a thousand-year-old social ritual that has survived as a cornerstone of the city’s identity. Since the Umayyad era, "palaces of the poor" have served as centres for community news, business deals, and pre-wedding festivities when the groom and his friends meet for a rowdy bathing session on the morning of the wedding. Damascus still has about 20 functioning public bathhouses, some of them exceptionally historical and beautiful. 

Syrian hammams are strictly single-sex, with some bathhouses exclusively used by men and others alternating morning and evening hours for men and women with young children. A visit typically follows a three-stage progression designed to transition the body from the chaos of the souk into a state of total relaxation – and the good news is that foreigners are welcome to join in the experience.

To enjoy the Damascene hammam experience, you do not need to bring anything. At the bathhouse entrance, the maalem, who is the manager, takes the admission fee (usually $10–$15, which covers admission, a scrub, a massage, and tea) and puts your valuables in a locker. Next, you enter the al-barani cold room, a grand, domed hall where you leave your shoes, undress completely, and the nattour attendant discreetly helps you wrap yourself in traditional colourful towels, with your dignity left intact at all times. Your clothes are hung from a wooden peg, covered by a cloth. The ajir attendant then hands you a pair of qabqab, pronounced ib-eb by Damascenes, high wooden clogs named onomatopoeically for the qab-qab clicking sound they make against the wet marble floors. You may also get a bowl with some ghar, the famous Aleppo olive-and-laurel soap, and a lifa, a cord or handful of string made from the loofah plant or palm fibres.

Next is the al-wastani warm room, where your body acclimates to the heat. Use the basins with hot water to rinse yourself thoroughly before heading into the al-jawani hot room, a steam-filled chamber, where you should sweat for ideally about 15 to 20 minutes. This process prepares your skin for the next step, the core of the hammam experience, when you are invited to lie on a warm marble slab while the masabin or mukayis attendant performs a quite vigorous exfoliation using a rough kessa glove. After washing yourself again, you undergo a sabun massage (if you feel a slap, it's time to flip), leaving you covered in a cloud of olive oil soap that is highly moisturising and antiseptic. Then head back into the hot room for a wash and optional extra sessions in the steam room.

The ritual concludes back in the al-barani, where the attendants may greet you with the fabulous term na'iman, a specific blessing used only after you get a haircut or finish a bath, meaning 'may it be a blessing of paradise'. You could answer 'Allah yuna'em aleik', or, 'May God grant you bliss as well'. Now, you sit on cushioned benches to sip tea, smoke narghile, and dry off in the cool air before dressing and heading back into the souk, feeling like a new person. The whole experience takes about an hour, less if you're in a hurry.

This short video shows the procedure at the venerable Hammam Al-Malik Al-Zahir.