A spa can be so many different things—a luxury retreat, a social crossroads, even a cultural experience. While Seattle’s spa landscape includes plenty of blissful massage purveyors, we also boast spas devoted to skincare, a Russian inspired soaking spot at South Lake Union’s Banya 5, and Lynwood’s Korean-style Olympus Spa. Meanwhile, Vancouver offers a good reason to cross the border: a Middle Eastern hammam, where steam and soap come together for a simple, singular encounter.

Miraj Hammam hides on a residential block just outside of downtown Vancouver, not far from tourist favorite Granville Island. An unassuming exterior gives way to an interior decorated in bright tile and wrought-iron window screens, a burbling fountain and a brass tea set. Vancouverite Surinder Bains founded the establishment in 2000 after visiting Turkish hammams in Paris, but has since passed it along to current owner Yen Thai.

“In the Middle East, bathhouses used to be for the upper class,” says Thai, and signature styles developed in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Morocco, among other places. “Back [in 2000] it wasn’t in the Western world yet, and people weren’t used to being nude in public.” So Bains created a women-only space in the Granville neighborhood for Canadians to undergo the signature hammam and gommage treatment. When the spa shifted to private sessions only during the pandemic, these proved so popular that Thai retained the practice. While hammams historically encouraged social interaction, Thai found Canadian customers preferred the solo experience. Miraj also now accepts men.

The process is simple: sweat, then exfoliate. Spa goers spend about 15 minutes in the hammam, lined with tile and Jerusalem gold marble. Steam fills the space. In one glassed-off corner the air gets so thick you can’t see the wall a few feet in front of you. (There’s an easy exit door and an off button if it gets too stifling for newbies.) The process relaxes muscles and turns the entire body slick with sweat. Eucalyptus and lemon scents help the steam clear sinus congestion.

Next, gommage (a French term for exfoliation): The customer reclines on a flat slab of marble, a strict contrast to the cushy beds of a hotel spa. A technician sprays down the body with water, then scrubs the body with a stiff mitt and rough, black Moroccan soap.

“Without the steam first, it would hurt,” says Thai, and while the experience is certainly invigorating, it’s more pleasant than it sounds. Even the bed of marble has a certain kind of comfort, none of that cloying cushiness of memory foam.

There are, however, plenty of cushions in the recovery lounge, where Thai serves tea and madeleine cookies as spa goers can wind down. The spa also does relaxing massages—in soothing Swedish style, not clinical deep tissue—and facials.

Miraj was the first of its kind in Canada, and while it may no longer capture the social nature of hammams across the globe, it adds a unique layer to Vancouver’s spread of spa experiences. Your skin might retain the softness for days; the brief escape from West Coast reality lingers even longer.

Miraj Hammam Spa

1495 W 6th Ave, Vancouver, BC

Travel time from Seattle: 2 hours, 40 minutes