I went skinny-dipping in a public bathhouse in Kazakhstan

“We are all naked here.”

With all due respect to Lewis Carroll and the Cheshire Cat, I paraphrase that iconic quote as it best describes my sauna experience in Almaty. 

Almaty is the largest and most tourist-friendly city in Kazakhstan. Once the capital (Astana became the capital in 1997), it is a competent starting point for anyone interested in exploring the ninth largest country in the world that very few people seem to talk about. Just last year, though, The New York Times brought some global attention to it by featuring it on their ‘52 Places to Go’ list.

In the age of overtourism where tourists have spilled onto every quiet street worth photographing for social media, the city feels like a well-kept secret filled with expansive plains, cerulean waterbodies, and horseback trails. Indians should love Almaty—it is just four hours away, comes with a 14-day visa-free entry, and, unlike neighbouring Europe, is easy on the pocket. Another bonus: The Kazakh people love Indians and will easily break into an old Bollywood number for you: I was serenaded by Mithun’s ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ on more than one occasion.

Another thing the Kazakhs love is their saunas and hot baths. Like the Russians and their obsession with banyas, it’s a detoxing trait they share with many other countries. Last year, I got a close-up of the Finns’ sauna culture—saunas are such an integral part of their lives that many houses have their own. (It may well be why the country is consistently voted the world’s happiest country.) Not far behind, Hungary is awash with thermal springs, and the place to experience this mineral-rich water are the historic and architecturally stunning bathhouses of Budapest. On two visits to the city, I’ve soaked myself in this water, allowing all its healing properties to try and negate years of living in a polluted city. Elsewhere, the Japanese enjoy their natural hot springs and onsens, the Turkish can’t do without their hammams, Iceland has its hot baths and geothermal pools, Tenerife and La Palma in the Canaries have natural swimming pools formed by rock formations, and, closer to home, the Bhutanese swear by their hot-stone baths.

In Almaty, the bath and sauna is an all-in-one ritual: a massage on top of a marble slab, a cold plunge, a hot, steamy sauna, and then a cold bath again makes up the experience at a traditional bathhouse. And the best place to enjoy these saunas is at Arasan Wellness and Spa (or just Arasan).

Arasan occupies prime real estate; it’s right next to the popular tulip-filled tourist spot Panfilov Park. The bathhouse is a grand Soviet building, built in 1982 on the request of Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.

The building occupies almost an entire city block and has green domes and dull brick walls that look austere at first glance. Inside is another story. Arasan could well mimic a star hotel with its chandeliers, sweeping staircases, and rooms that are a study in marble, pine, and glazed ceramic. It has 12 pavilions, can accommodate about 2,000 people in a day, and includes a fitness centre, a beauty studio, a gift shop, and a coffee shop. There are separate, symmetrical blocks for women and men.

And much like a hotel, everything here begins at the reception.

Visiting the baths requires some planning, especially because every blog and article we read said one thing: clothing is discouraged. I was travelling with three friends, and the thought of skinny dipping with them was a tussle between our liberal adult lives and our more conservative upbringing. Would we really have to be naked inside?

Spoiler alert: it is advised that you wear your birthday suit, but swimming gear is allowed too. However, wearing your swim trunks is likely to make you stand out and get more glares.

The day we visit, unbeknownst to us, is a public holiday, so we pay holiday/weekend prices. Time at a public bathhouse is broken into one-hour, two-hour, three-hour, and unlimited slots. On the side are services—massages, pedicures, scrubs, and more—and visitors seeking some privacy can opt for private rooms with their own pool and access to just two baths. However, the best way to explore Arasan is to book an hour’s session (for approximately 3,000 KZT) and get a service done (for a minimum of 7,000 KZT), which is a great combo that allows for unlimited, all-day access to the baths. To simplify the math, all this comes for under ₹2,000.

Payment gives you a bracelet with a locker number on it. In the absence of any ID inside—you’re advised to just carry a towel, flip-flops, and water inside—this band becomes your identity. Like a roll number from school, but cooler.

The women’s locker room sets the tone for the rest of our visit. Here there are women in various stages of undress, some blow-drying their hair in their underwear, others applying lotion (saunas are drying on the skin) liberally and butt-naked.

For Indians like me, nudity can feel a bit awkward or discomforting, but the place has a way of making you feel comfortable in your own skin. All around, women of all ages walk about with purpose. Everyone is naked, and nobody cares. Some sport a tea-cosy-like sauna hat on their heads, others sport temporary tattoos made from the leaves of the venik—a small bundle of leaves like birch, juniper, linden or oak—which are part of the Russian steam experience. And their confidence is contagious, so, naturally, our swimsuits are left behind.

Arasan has three floors of baths, with sauna rooms attached to open showering zones. There are three saunas: A Turkish or Eastern steam room, a Finnish sauna, and a Russian steam room. Or, as I come to refer to them: too humid, too dry, and too steamy.

A typical sauna session—there are helpful notes outside each room—involves a cold bath, hot steam, and cold water again. This hot-and-cold therapy is what some social media influencers are peddling to us as biohacking.

It is in the additional services that Arasan truly shines. Though my masseuse speaks only Kazakh, we communicate in gestures and her fingers unravel all the knots and stress caused by an airline cancelling our tickets to Almaty at the last minute. In one room, naked women on cold marble slabs are being scrubbed and washed down like at a hammam. Their performative nonchalance is inviting. It looks like they’re enjoying it, so I hesitantly ask for a ‘bath’.

It’s exactly what it promises: I lie on the marble slab, and a woman scrubs my body with soap and gloves like I’m a laundry load that can only be dealt with on a deep-cleaning setting. In seconds, my skin is on fire. I grit my teeth and bear it because 20 minutes later, after she throws buckets of lukewarm water on me, my skin feels supple and smooth.

An hour in, there’s a rhythm going. The Turkish steam room is crowded with steam and best for sweating it out. I am drawn to the dry heat of the Finnish sauna, which is more bearable. The Russian room has a suffocating wet steam that heats up the face and makes breathing difficult. It is, however, the most interesting of the three. Here, the veniks come into play, and the room is filled with the thwack of leaves hitting skin. What initially looked like a weird kink turns out to be a beneficial treatment. It is quite fascinating to watch people whack themselves—not so gently—or each other. I look at the felt-hatted pros and start imitating them: Stand in front of the steam and then rotate like piglings on a spit so every part of your body soaks in the heat.

Past the labyrinthine massage area is another circular room—the Eastern Bath, or the Moroccan Bath. Consider it a relaxation lounge, with benefits. The central slab is heated, and lying down on it feels like a warm hug. Small sectioned-off rooms around it are also heated, offering a steady warmth sans steam.

As I came to figure, it’s easy to spend an entire day at Arasan. There are enough resting and seating zones. Should you need, there is a restaurant too, making it the only such place that will give you service while you’re dressed in a towel. You can carry in snacks and beverages, and although phones are discouraged, you wouldn’t be surprised to see many use them inside.

Before my (self-allotted) time is up, my friend and I take a dip in the cold pool. There’s only one rule: we have to be naked. We didn’t stare or stay too long but it was enough to make me realise I had already come a long way toward embracing my naked self.

Arasan doesn’t just make us feel better and more invigorated. It is, as my friend describes, like being in a sisterhood of sorts. A place that teaches you that letting go of inhibitions can be beneficial.

Arasan is open Monday to Sunday, 7 am to 11:30 pm. Rates from 7 am to 4 pm are lower than for 4 pm to 11:30 pm. Rates start at 3,000 KZT (1 hour, weekday, weekend) and go up to 7,200 KZT (unlimited)