An underappreciated Vancouver institution is the Hastings Steam & Sauna (766 East Hastings Street, East Vancouver, 604-251-5455). Opened in 1926, it operates in the same wood-frame building it started out in. It’s rustic and basic (and spic-and-span) — but what a deal. This genuine Finnish-style sauna caters to men, women, couples, and adults with children, in twelve private units (there’s also a com¬munal men’s sauna). For about $13, you can spend ninety minutes in your own private, all-wood sauna lying on the boards and pulling the chain that produces the robust steam that will propel you, again and again, to a cold shower. You have a choice of dry or wet steam (milder, and suitable for the novice). Throw on a little eucalyptus oil and the sauna acquires a woodsy, Scandinavian scent. Then collapse on a cot in your little rest-room and prepare to reenter the world. “Say it’s a healing place — because it is,” says a young Asian man working the desk. “Afterwards, you feel good inside. It’s mentally relaxing.”
Vancouver may seem an unlikely location for an authentic Middle Eastern hammam, or steam bath, but Canadian-born Surinder Bains Kassour coveted her own hammam after seeing one in Paris. With the support of her French-Algerian husband, she investigated hammams in the Middle East, and adapted their features to a privacy-conscious Western clientele at Miraj (“paradise”) (1495 West Sixth Avenue, Central Vancouver, 604-733-5151).
Miraj includes an arched, pillared, and tiled steam room, skilled prac¬titioners offering an authentic treatment known as gommage, and a comfy lounge where well-steamed visitors are served tea and sweets. While the hammam is aimed mainly at women, men are welcome one day a week.
Modern services don’t come cheaply — indeed, the North American spa sector is inching toward movie box-office status when it comes to revenue. That said, city spas that may (or may not) inflict you with anything from a good pounding to acid infusions include Beverly’s Spa on Fourth (2185 West 4th Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-732-4402) and Spa at the Hotel Vancouver (900 West Georgia Street, Down¬town, 604-648-2909).
Skoah Spa (iou Hamilton Street, Yaletown, 604-642-0200, www. skoah.com) vows to entertain while exfoliating (“no whale music, bubbling cherubs or pretentious attitudes”). It will do up your face, feet, hands, or body with anything from apricot whipped-cream moistur¬izer to seaweed, in modern premises built into a former warehouse.
For details on spas at the airport, see “Airport.”
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