One day in the Thermen R in 2014

We have tested for you the Thermen R spa in Roeselare, in Belgium, in December 2014. It is a modern sauna complex, mixed and naturist. Children are welcome if accompanied by their parents.

Thermen R is located in the Kaasterstraat 44, 8800 Roeselare (Rumbeke). This is in the province of West Flanders, in the west of the Flemish region, in Belgium. You need forty minutes by car from Lille, one and half an hour from Brussels or Antwerp and two hours from Calais. The place is easy to find with a GPS. You can easily and for free park in the big private car park of the spa.

We have been welcomed by a man, who seemed to be the manager. There was also an employee. The staff at the reception and in the spa is perfectly bilingual Dutch-French. Your identity card will be asked to add you as client.

You can come without anything, it will just cost more, because you will have to buy flip flop sandals and to rent a bathrobe and a towel. Every client receives an armband with an electronic chip. With this armband you can open and close your locker in the changing room and record your consumptions at the bar and the restaurant. You will pay everything when you leave the spa.

Because it was our first visit to the Thermen R, the manager has started by showing us how to open and to close our lockers with our armband. The changing rooms are modern, clean, mixed and collective. As soon as we had put our bathrobe, we returned to the reception for a guided visit of the entire spa ; the manager gave explanations in French and in Dutch. Listen well to his advise, to get the most out of you spa day.

Thermen R has an activity programme (called Aufguss by the Germans). It is displayed, so that you know when and where to go.

After this nice presentation of the spa and after a good shower, we have been to the "scrubsessie" (scrub session) in the steam bath. When you enter, you clean the bench with a jet of water, then you remove the water from the bench with a scraper. It is the only place where you will not sit on your towel (to avoid it to be completely soaked !).

It is important to arrive in advance for this activity because it is quickly complete. For this first activity we were twenty and it was full. The animator arrived and she has explained us the different stages of the scrub session in Dutch and in French. We started to put some liquid honey on our face. She clearly insisted on not putting honey on the forehead to avoid that it runs in the eyes. We massaged well our face. Then she has given us coarse salt to rub our body but not our face. It is easy to understand here why going to a spa in your swimwear has no sense ! Why should we rub coarse salt on our swimsuit ! Once we had well scrubbed, we all left to take a shower and to wash off the salt. After the shower, we all returned in the steam bath for the following stage. We received a handful of an exfoliating product composed of salt, argan oil and lemon (as far as my memory is good) that we rubbed gently on our body. Another shower, and after this, we got a cream based on verbena to apply. A last shower and the activity was finished. It had lasted about half an hour. The animator said that we had now a clean skin !

While we waited for the next activity, we have enjoyed the facilities of the spa complex, like the indoor swimming pool. The pool is nicely styled, deep and has a very enjoyable external part. A wildlife film was put on one of the walls. Its interest slightly escaped us.

The following activity was in the Kelo sauna, located in the garden. It can welcome up to 80 persons and it was full for this activity.

For the beginners, we remind that there are two principal rules to respect in the sauna.
Rule nr. 1, no part of your body may be in contact with the wood for hygienic reasons. The upper part of your towel serves to be seated on, and the lower part, to put your feet on.
Rule nr. 2, respect the silence.

During this activity, you will not apply treatments on your body. You will focus on the relaxation of your body (and mind). The animator putted ice with essential oils from orange and other species, on the burning stones. There was a break after 15 minutes.

After the sauna, we have been to the lounge of the bar-restaurant. You can chill there on a couch or at a table. Every table has a bell. You just need to ring and the waiter arrives. If you don't ring, you won't be disturbed and you can relax quietly. For food and beverages, you have all kind of things. Drinks : beers, fruit juices... Food : croquettes, pasta, steak...

The following activity was in the big external sauna. The theme was breathing. During this sauna session, the animator has used oils to boost the respiration like eucalyptus, pine and mint...

After another break in the rest room, we have finished our day in the whirlpool outside and in the beautiful Himalayan salt crystal sauna, a sauna in the basement with salt chrystal walls and a ceiling with little lights changing of colour.

The spa complex Thermen R is very complete. For the first time, we have not found the time to try out all the facilities. Remain to discover : the panoramic Japanese sauna, the bio sana, the infrared sauna, etc.

We left at night, completely relaxed. We recommend the Thermen R. They are modern, clean and mixed. The activities are well done and bilingual Dutch-French.

Address

Thermen R
Kaasterstraat 44
8800 Roeselare
Belgium
www.thermen-r.be