Safaga Hammam and Full Spa Program with Massage
Heat first, then the glove, then the mask, and only then the massage: the hammam in its proper order.
Overview
Safaga has always been a town that people came to for what the water and the sand do to a body. It is a wind town too, and a diving town, which means most weeks here are spent being knocked about pleasantly by the sea. Soul Spa Wellness Club sits inside the TK Royal in the InterContinental district of Hurghada, about an hour up the coast road, and that hour is part of what you are booking: a driver collects you from your hotel and returns you to it afterwards. Every program on this page opens in the same room, with heat.
You sit in the hammam and let the warm steam work through you slowly, until the skin gives up its resistance. Then the glove arrives: a full body scrub, brisk and thorough and a little startling the first time, and a rinse afterwards that leaves you several layers lighter. Between treatments the dry sauna, the herbal steam room and the jacuzzi are yours, used in whatever order and for as long as you please. Every program ends the same way as well, in a quiet room, with a full-body massage.
What separates the five programs is chiefly the material worked into your skin and the length of the visit. The Turkish hammam is the plain original, milk mask and foam, around two hours. Cleopatra replaces the milk with coconut soap and adds a face mask; the Moroccan turns to coffee soap and a coffee scrub, which smells as good as you would expect. Above them are two rituals of two and a half hours, divided evenly between bathing and massage: the Ramses, which runs you through a second hammam as well as the first, and the Chocolate, whose scrub is cocoa and coconut.
There is a certain logic to booking a bath ritual from Safaga, a town whose reputation was built on mineral sand and salt water long before anyone thought to put a spa in a hotel. This is the same instinct in a different form: warmth, then scouring, then rest. The drive north is the longest we run for this program, which is precisely why it is arranged for you rather than left to a taxi and a hopeful conversation about the return trip.
None of this is a modern invention. The hammam is how this part of the world has bathed for centuries, heat first, then the scrub, then the long rest, and the order has lasted because it works. What a hammam program really gives you is not a list of treatments but a change of pace: two hours or more with nothing in the diary, the phone somewhere else, and one decision remaining, which is how much pressure you want.
Highlights
- Five hammam programs from 120 to 150 minutes, each of them ending with a full-body massage
- Heat comes before the scrub, the order the hammam has followed for centuries
- Dry sauna, herbal steam room and jacuzzi between treatments, taken at your own pace
- On the two longest rituals the massage runs 75 minutes rather than the usual hour
- What mainly changes from program to program is the material: milk, coconut, coffee or chocolate
- Return hotel transfers from Safaga included, and herbal tea in the lounge before the road home
Included
- A single hammam program of 120 or 150 minutes at Soul Spa Wellness Club, inside the TK Royal
- Time in the warm hammam before the treatments begin
- Exfoliation and peeling over the whole body with the traditional glove
- A foam or soap treatment on the hammam table: milk, coconut, coffee or chocolate, whichever the program calls for
- A closing full-body massage, style agreed with your therapist once you arrive
- The dry sauna, the herbal steam room and the jacuzzi, free to use during your visit
- Robe, slippers, towels and toiletries, all provided at the club
- Herbal tea in the relaxation lounge after the treatment
- Return hotel pickup and drop-off from your Safaga hotel
- Female therapists for women and male therapists for men, without exception
Not included
- The hot stones upgrade and the 30-minute foot massage, both sold separately as add-ons
- Swimwear, which you will need for the hammam, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi
- Any food or drink other than the herbal tea served in the relaxation lounge
Good to know
- Child price: ages 12-17 · Infants not permitted
- Your massage
- Each program closes with a full-body massage, and you settle the style with your therapist when you arrive, at no extra charge. Tell them what the week has done to you and how much pressure you want. Hot stones sits outside that free choice and can be added to the booking for EUR 5.
- Same-gender therapists, always
- Women are treated by female therapists, men by male therapists, on every program and every treatment. The policy does not vary, and you do not need to ask for it.
- Guests aged 12 and over
- Only guests aged 12 and over can be treated. Anyone below 18 needs an adult present. Infants and younger children cannot be treated.
- Appointment times
- Appointments run on the hour, at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00. Set aside about two hours for the shorter programs, arrival to last cup of tea, and about two and a half for the longest two, with roughly an hour of driving each way in addition. Take the 18:00 appointment and you will be back in Safaga at around half past nine.
- What to bring
- You will want swimwear for the hammam, the sauna, the steam room and the jacuzzi. Robe, slippers, towels and toiletries are provided.
- Before your appointment
- A light bite beforehand serves you better than a full meal, and arriving hydrated helps. A heavy lunch and a hot steam room make poor company.
- Tell us when you book
- Please tell us at the time of booking if you are pregnant, have an allergy, are carrying an injury or have any medical condition, so that your therapist can adapt the treatment or advise you beforehand.
- Getting there
- Soul Spa Wellness Club is inside the TK Royal in the InterContinental district of Hurghada, roughly an hour north of Safaga and the longest transfer we run for this program. Return transfers from anywhere in Safaga are included in the price; you are collected from your lobby and brought back to it.
- Booking and cancellation
- Reserve now and pay later. Cancellation is free, and nothing is charged for the booking until the day comes.