Claudius Therme — Attraction in Cologne

We had a terrible experience 😡🤬

Although the Therme was spacious, fairly clean and from the overall impression very professional, this is definitely not the case when you look a little closer. It already started in the changing room and locker area, which was not spacious at all and dirty. It reminded me of a simple swimming bath changing area, really not welcoming you to a relaxing experience.

As experienced and frequent sauna users, we visited on a Friday with pre-booked tickets, expecting a great, professional and relaxing day. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case due to several reasons:

Pre-booking for the sauna ceremonies: This might have arisen from Covid restrictions, but however you are asked to pre-book on on of three touch screen terminals in advance to EVERY single ceremony/Aufguss you want to attend (which for us meant almost every 30mins). This wastes valuable “relaxing time”, as you sometimes have to queue at the terminals or plan in extra time to go there and book because you’re only able to book a ticket for one Aufguss at a time. This is not made clear on the website and we were close to leaving straightaway after learning about this. On top of this you need to take your printed ticket INTO the sauna where it gets collected by the staff member prior to the Aufguss - not only a total waste of paper, but a full-on dealbreaker! Felt like being on a train or a fun fare!

The staff: We had a good start with professional, friendly and competent staff members who were happy to help. Unfortunately this deteriorated throughout the day when one specific staff member thought it fun to be disrespectful and unprofessional whilst performing an Aufguss ceremony. This is just unacceptable!

Construction works vs. full entry price: There was neither a pre-warning about one of the main Aufguss saunas being renovated and unavailable for use as well as a large are of resting rooms nor a price reduction or alternative ceremony offers to compensate this.

Expensive: I am used to paying extra for being able to access the sauna facilities, but there are many hidden additional charges for certain ceremonies. Though I understand that for a massage or specific beauty treatment you would pay extra, here they for example charge 6€ extra for a typical thermal water bath called “Schwebebecken”, which in my opinion should be included in the not so cheap thermal bath entry fee.

Water temperature too low: Specifically in the sauna areas the inside and outside pool water temperature was way too cold, especially when I imagine going there at winter season (I already experienced the same at the vabali spas which belong to the same company). In addition there was only one cold dipping pool in the whole of the sauna areas - which means if you want to dip after a hot sauna you have to specifically go there. The only warm-temperatured pool is located in the thermal bath area which is textile only - which means that you have to get dressed to be able to use it.

Clientele: This was definitely the biggest problem of the day. People not respecting the basic rules in a sauna, but being allowed to misbehave and being disrespectful. Although the staff are very clear about the rules, there is no consequence for the visitors when they don’t obey the “Saunaknigge” at a sauna.

We’ll definitely not...

OK as long as everything works well – except for the permanent haughty behavior of some staff. However, my last visit turned into a very distressing experience. A technical error with the payment terminal caused my card to be pre-authorized for €96 instead of the correct amount of €33.

What followed was shocking: zero customer care, completely unacceptable and unprofessional behavior. Instead of showing any trust or flexibility toward a frequent guest they treated me like a potential threat.

As I didn’t have cash on me, I offered to pay via bank transfer. But since I didn’t have my ID with me (which I find excessive and irrelevant for simply settling a payment) they threatened to call the police. The only ‘solution’ they proposed was letting me go – but with a permanent ban.

Not once in my life, nor in the experience of anyone around me, have I ever seen service staff threaten paying clients with a ban. Even if a customer left without paying, that would pose a smaller risk to the business than the long-term damage caused by deeply negative reputation.

This was surely my last visit. Fortunately, Cologne has other wellness centres that care about their clients and know how to treat them without causing emotional harm.

Update following the owner’s response:

I was not aggressive. I only reacted with emphasis because I was truly shocked by the kind of “solutions” your staff offered. All I expected was something naturally reasonable, like: “OK, this isn’t your fault. We’ll give you an account number, please send us the money via bank transfer.” That’s how I treat others in my life, and that’s how I expect to be treated in return. And fortunately, that’s usually the case. Because it’s simply worth it. Sadly, your response here only confirms the same lack of empathy I...

Finding something to do when the weather is cold and rainy and then throw on top of that its Christmas Day, this was the perfect way to relax and just enjoy the day with my wife. We didn’t know much about the rules or the things we would need for the experience so we were very happy when they have a shop to buy flip flops and swim suits. You will need a swim suit, shoes to wear when walking around outside of the pools and saunas, robe if you plan to go to any of the food areas, towel for you as well as a small one for your feet in the saunas and we would suggest another one to take a shower with at the end and dry off with so you aren’t using your towel full of sweat. We went in and just started to explore everything. The large indoor outdoor pool was a great start. The outdoor hot tub wasn’t the hottest but who can complain about a hot tub outside in the cold. We then started to explore into the saunas. We stayed with the three that were outside in cabins and it was an amazing and relaxing experience. We highly suggest signing up for the Kelosauna bit Kaminzimmer it was a great experience. We stayed about 4 hours and didn’t even scratch the surface on the places to go and experiences. This is definitely a repeat place to go and unwind and relax while in Köln.

Our negative comments are that there isn’t much signage as well as not much in English. My wife was able to translate anytime we needed it so just be prepared to translate or ask. We also couldn’t find anywhere to drink water or drinking fountain. You cant have your phone anywhere past the locker area. So be prepared to leave that there and take the map and a bag with water bottles and things in with you.

All in all a great experience and one that we...