Tired of London and you’re tired of life, the saying goes. Feeling a bit lacklustre about your newfound freedom? This Russian Banya experience will reignite your passion for the city (and all its… eccentric offerings) while conveniently making it feel like you’ve escaped to Moscow. Added bonus, it’ll pep you up for any events filling … Read more

I’m face down on a hot wooden bench, in a dimly lit steam room. To my side, a large, hairy man dressed in swimming trunks opens the door of a deep stove that resembles a pizza oven. Inside, red-hot metal glows at 700ºC. He throws in a ladle of cold water, which explodes into steam. … Read more

If you were to find yourself, as I did, prostrate and naked on a bench in an infernal steam sauna, your face mashed into a pile of birch leaves as a hulking Russian banschik beats you with bundles of oak branches, you might question your life choices — which is precisely the point of the … Read more

Banya No.1, Islington Where: 17 Micawber Street, London N1 7TB Price: From £45 to use the spa space, treatments extra Apparently, Kate Moss, Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger have all been for a session here. There are plenty of traditional treatments to try while enjoying the Slavic -style hot room. The plunge pool is a … Read more

Forget the fry-ups and the beer. Here are six ways to sample the city’s more wholesome ways to eat, relax and travel around. But the visitor to Britain is more at risk. Every hostelry, from rural B&Bs to five-star hotels, offers the full English; at the former, you will be asked the night before how … Read more

I do love a good spa experience. A few days ago, I tried something new and exciting which I have never tried before. We visited Banya No. 1, a traditional Russian bath and wellness spa located in a quiet residential area, very close to Old Street. They opened in London in 2012 and have branches … Read more