Bathhouses are making a wave in Australia and overseas. And it's not an isolated trend; it reflects the broader advancement ...

On a recent concert tour in Japan, I had the chance to visit several thermal baths and to chat with people about the tradition of bathing. I was fascinated by their differences with American spas.

Kiraly Bath, the oldest thermal bath in Budapest, was built by the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century. Communal baths like this one (pictured in 2008) were the public’s main means of washing for ...

Hubert Robert, "Ruins of a Roman Bath with Washerwomen" (after 1766), oil on canvas, 54 x 41 1/2 inches (courtesy the Philadelphia Museum of Art) Bathing in massive public baths was once a hallmark of ...

“So, where do young people here go to hang out?” someone had asked from the back of the van. We hadn’t even seen a sheep, let alone another car, for miles. “The baths,” our guide had shrugged. This ...

“Clothes off,” an attendant gently tells me, touching the woven cotton towel I have gripped around my body. We are standing in the sıcaklık, or hot room, of Istanbul's Zeyrek Çinili Hamam. Around us, ...