Hammam Al Ándalus Madrid — Attraction in Madrid

I gave this hammam 3 stars as I found some elements of it to be excellent and some to be bad. Booking needs to be done in advance online, when I did this I got a message stating that my card hadn't been accepted which I assumed was due to it being a UK card so tried booking again with PayPal which was accepted. A confirmation email of the booking didn't come through so I checked my spam folder, on doing this it turned out that both bookings had been accepted meaning that I had paid for the same treatment twice. On emailing the hammam asking for a refund, I received a reply stating that the request would 'be sent to the accountancy department' which I thought seemed odd- normally whenever I have requested a refund from a company they normally process it straight away and I receive it a few days later. I ended up having to send several emails about this and finally 9 days later I was advised that the refund had been made. On arriving at the hammam I found the receptionist to be very helpful and they spoke excellent English. I was provided with a host who showed me the changing rooms and explained that I would be fetched for my treatment and that when my time was up that a bell would be rung to signal this (a procedure that I was already aware of having visited the Aire hammams on a couple of occasions, which incidentally I would give five stars to). The hammam itself consisted of a steam room and several pools of various temperatures. After being there for around 10/15 minutes (guessing here because there were no clocks inside which was really annoying), I was approached by an attendant. She said that I should come with her for my massage (my treatment consisted of a scrub and massage). I found this a bit odd as normally a scrub would be given before a massage so I told her my name just to check that I was the right person. She said that I should go with her so I did. I went to the massage room with her and two other customers. It turned out that massages are not given in a private room but that each room has 3 massage tables, so I had my massage in the same room as 2 other clients. The massage part of my treatment was supposed to be quite short but went on for much longer which I thought was strange but I assumed that they knew what I was there for and that maybe as I'd booked it several months ago that I'd made a mistake with the timing. During this time the host came into the massage room and then walked back out but I didn't think anything of this at the time. After receiving an amazing massage I wasn't sure when I would be receiving my scrub so returned to the pools. After maybe 10 minutes the bell sounded and it became obvious that something had gone wrong as I hadn't been approached for the scrub and that instead I had received a long massage instead of a scrub and a massage. I returned to the changing rooms to get dressed and was wondering if I should speak to the receptionist about what had happened on the way out. As I was getting dressed, the host came in to show another customer the lockers. During this time, she peered into my locker where my watch was sat. She then took it out and held it in the air asking who it belonged to. When I replied that it was mine, she responded 'Be careful, people steal'. I found this a really strange comment to make as there were several other customers in the changing rooms. Surely that comment would put people off visiting if they thought there were thefts in the changing rooms? It then dawned on me that she may have been making a barbed comment aimed towards me due to what had happened with the massage. Maybe I was being paranoid but I felt very uncomfortable and left as...

The space is beautifully decorated and the overall environment is very seductive. Highly recommend for couples or solo travelers like myself looking to indulge and recover from traveling. The staff was extremely welcoming, friendly and attentive. I got to work with Iago and he had a wonderful personality, was so kind, accommodating and gave an amazing massage. I would 1000% return.

Book in advance, this is a very popular spot and they have very strict timelines. I asked if I could add an additional 30 minute massage and they were able to meet me halfway and do 15.

I saw a few other negative reviews and I want to address them here.

What you should expect: Arrive 5 minutes early so they can check you in and give you some disposable shoe covers - the entire experience is bare foot.

The host will greet you and explain where the changing rooms are and where to go next. The staff is super friendly, accommodating and communicative but they don't all speak fluent English - and as a tourist you shouldn't expect people in other countries to conform to you. At least make the effort to try to understand them with visual cues.

Your first stop are the baths. There are showers, 3 baths (warm, hot, cold) a steam room and a room with a hot stone and some aroma therapy. There's also a tea room.

You can explore at your own pace but I chose to ask for a run through. The recommended order is: shower, warm, hot, steam, cold. The temperature differences are barely noticeable until you get to the cold, then everything hits you in the best way. I had just enough time to do the recommended circuit and wait in the hot stone room prior to being called for my bath/massage.

This is a shared experience. Be mindful of your neighbors. There are signs everywhere asking folks to keep their volume down and the staff speak to you in whispers in case you don't get the hint. It would be far more disruptive if they went around shushing people.

The bath/massage was incredible and I left feeling so relaxed. Thank you so much to everyone there for making it a...

The entire place was dimly lit and very calming. There were 2 pools with varying degrees of warm water, 1 with cold water and little bowls you can use to pour the cold water on yourself, as well as a steam room.

I opted for the relaxing massage, which was nice, there were 4 oils to choose from which was also available for sampling in a little room to the side in the spa. If you've booked a massage, I recommend to look for that room and figure out which oil you'd like in advance as the masseuse didn't let me sample the oils in the massage room, she only repeated the names of the oils for me and I had to decide on the spot.

At the end of the alloted time, the staff will tell everyone to leave. I went to sit briefly on this heated seat in the next room while I dried myself off, to the mild disapproval of the staff who emphasized my time was up.

There were sweetened and unsweetened mint tea for drinking too, for me, a mix of the 2 was perfect as the sweetened one was a little much.

There are hooks to hang the provided towel but for people with glasses (such as myself), note that there is no place for you to store any other belongings, so I didn't end up entering the steam room.

The shower area is great, with toner and moisturiser and some basic hygiene products for people to use. There are provided free lockers and a changing area as well as showers with hot and cold water. The provided towels were in quite a bad condition, being torn and raggedy, probably the only bad thing in my opinion about the whole experience.

All in all, I would do it again, I've had cheaper and nicer hammam experiences in the south but it is quite a decent option for Madrid, and ultra central in its location too.

Note that for booking online, I had to try different timings in the day to get different options for booking. If you can't find what you want, try a different timing and...