It’s rare to experience both excitement and fear before a spa day, but Banya No.1, London’s foremost – and indeed only – Russian Spa, is a bit of a special case. I was really looking forward to experiencing an authentic banya, but I was also afraid of being stripped naked, beaten senseless with birch logs and thrown

Kate Weinberg is massaged with twigs at a Russian bathhouse Photo: Paul Grover Banya involves being hit by branches and having a bucket of icy water chucked over your head. Kate Weinberg visits a bathhouse in London. It’s 9pm. I am lying face down on a wooden slab in a hot room, musing on how

Banya No.1 is bringing the traditional Siberian spa experience to London, swapping candles and soothing music for cold water and hot leaves… Being thwacked with bunches of wet oak leaves by huge Russian bears might not sound relaxing, but it is. Banya No.1, tucked away on a quiet street in London’s Clerkenwell, is a spa

There’s a joke the Finns make about the Swedes: they call their saunas “warm rooms”. This is because the Finns aren’t very good at jokes. (Nobody, you’ll note, is insisting Mock the Week has at least one Finn on its panel every week.) It’s also because the Finns think a sauna should be hot. Really

Banya No.1 in Old Street, London, opened in January 2013. I will admit to a little trepidation visiting Banya No.1 for the first time. Images of the near freezing plunge pool haunted me as we arrived, while thoughts of the banya staff (banschiki) lashing my skin with birch branches were also a cause for concern.

I spent my gap year in Moscow learning Russian. With not a jot of the language to get by on and taken aback by the freezing weather, my world shrunk to calendar-watching and English-language books. It was a difficult experience by most measures. I stayed for the winter and left in spring when the snow

Down the glass steps is Banya No. 1, a secret spa that will whisk you away from London. A “banya” is a traditional Russian bathhouse dating back hundreds of years. On arrival, Nathalie gives me a tour, taking me to the new private Taiga suite. Designed for groups of around ten visitors, the green, leather, high-backed chairs that…

Expert: Ganadi, a chap with 16 years’ experience of parenie venik massage. Procedure: Russians refer to banya as their “first doctor” (vodka is the second, garlic the third). I am lying face down in birch leaves while a topless Russian man lashes my back with foliage that’s just come out of an oven. This is

RBTH correspondent Ilaria Parogni visits the first-ever Russian banya in London and shares her impressions and thoughts on one of Russia’s favourite activities. I have a confession to make. Despite having lived in Russia for a while in the past and writing about this country for a living, I had never been to a Russian

Banya No.1 is London’s first (and currently only) traditional Russian Banya. Whilst the word ‘Banya’ may be unfamiliar to us in the UK, for most Russians, it’s a way of life. Many Russians go to a Banya once a week or more, to socialise, meet friends, and get the relaxing and invigorating Banya treatment. But

Hardly a week goes by without another Russian themed pop-up event or exhibition appearing in my inbox; this is the problem with signing up to all these events websites, they start making you feel like you have to join in or you’re missing out. If I had the time I could easily be at a different event,

When life gets tough, a spa is where I go to relax and forget about life for a few hours. Whether it’s having a swim in one of the pools, detoxifying in a steam room, or destressing with a full body massage, nothing beats a good spa day. When I think of a spa, rarely