Lessons to learn at Therme Erding
A visit to Europe's largest spa raises questions U.S. naturism hasn't answered
The sauna, inside a log cabin building meant to resemble a banya in Siberia, is dimly lit. Two saunameisters are dancing, waving flags and towels to popular music as the dozens of people inside sweat, clap and gyrate on the benches. The saunameisters are clothed, but everyone else—most in their 20s and 30s—are totally naked.
Such is the scene during an aufguss—infusion ceremony—at Therme Erding outside Munich, which calls itself the world’s largest spa. It is indeed enormous. The textilfrei section is just one of four areas, and includes about 20 saunas, a huge resort-style spring-water pool with a lazy river and two swim-up bars, and two restaurants. I was able to spend a few days there in April, tacked onto the end of a family vacation to Italy.
The textilfrei section holds thousands of people. The clientele includes mixed genders, ages 16 and up, and all shapes and sizes. The number of people from ages 20 to 40 might make U.S. nudist resorts envious, however. American nudist resorts, with membership skewing 60 and up, worry about the lack of younger members.
Therme Erding, like other facilities I have visited such as Archimedes Banya and Harbin Hot Springs in Northern California that allow nudity and attract a fair number of younger people, does not consider itself a naturist or nudist resort. In the textilfrei section, nudity is required in the saunas and pools, but guests are expected to cover up with a robe or towel when moving between them. German saunas, in general, require nudity for hygienic reasons. Therme Erding guests seem to conform to the covering-up etiquette, although there didn’t appear to be active enforcement.
One feature that I’m sure attracts people of all ages is the ability to lounge in chairs under palm trees in a warm, tropical environment during often-chilly German weather. Many guests were sunbathing inside, nude. A large portion of the textilfrei section is covered by a clear, retractable roof. One can also swim through a plastic covering to a fully outdoor section that includes the banya, the lazy river, one of the swim-up bars, and even a sandy beach with a volleyball court.
For a very different, more traditional German sauna experience, I visited Müller’sches Volksbad on the Isar River in central Munich. Again, there were quite a few younger people during the one evening I was there. Housed in a beautiful art nouveau building that dates from 1901, it includes three sauna rooms in a row featuring progressively hotter temperatures, a separate modern hot sauna, a steam room, a large warm pool, and a cold plunge. The clientele numbered in the dozens rather than the thousands, but included a mix of young and older people. Nudity was required in the sauna area; the two swimming pools in another section required swimwear. Müller’sches Volksbad was a nice, quieter change of pace from the giant Therme Erding.
The graying of nudism is one of the most discussed issues facing U.S. naturist clubs and resorts today. Even the thriving club where I am a member, Glen Eden in Southern California, has an average membership age of more than 60. Therme Erding and other non-explicitly-nudist facilities draw plenty of younger people, however. I don’t know why this is the case, but all these facilities share a connection with wellness, a growing industry worldwide. U.S. naturist organizations can perhaps glean lessons by looking at Therme Erding, Müller’sches Volksbad, Archimedes Banya, Harbin Hot Springs and other non-explicitly-nudist facilities. 🪐
Editor’s note: The author of this piece recently appeared on a podcast exploring Archimedes Banya—coincidentally released just as this article was going to press. Worth a listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ducking-realitea/id1589320878
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Okay, where to start. Was last at Therme Erding last summer, first was there in like 2011, maybe, we went to a FKK hotel in Austria with the kids on that trip, maybe the second one, a lot of trips ago. It is the only place I can swim up and buy my favorite beer (although not beer in Germany) Erdinger hefe-weisen. Back then, I was going to include a blurb about Therme Erding in my TNS article "The hills are a live with the sounds of Nudists" (Nude and Natural 31.4 pages 53-55) I'd have to look at which trip I was going to write about it. I contacted TE management and was actually threatened with being permanently barred from any owned sauna if I mentioned anything about the nudity or especially it being FKK (WE ARE NOT FKK! I was told), so I never said much. The Austrian hotel owner sent me pictures to use, quite a contrast.
My first nude experience was at age 16 in 1982 at Eurohotel in Munchen when the college women's volleyball team and my family shared the hotel. The ladies liked to use the hotel pool and sauna and never wore clothing. I never saw much of Munchen back then, but I spent nearly 12 hours a day in the sauna which a 17 year old Scot kid I met there. My parents thought I liked saunas so well, we built one, but it was just not the same...lol
When I was there last summer, Therme Erding had changed. Whereas a decade ago, almost everyone walked around and ate naked on the nude side, there were actually signs last summer encouraging to cover up in between, which most of the older Germans did not religiously follow, but definitely shyness for the younger crowd. Some of the younger crowd last summer was also getting amorous in the outside pool, saw three obviously having sex, and in one case, 11am in the morning and 20 feet from the monitor. I never saw that before. It is still quite the place, however, overwhelming to be honest
When we checked in first time, was hard to get then to explain the rules. There is also advice to go, bring your own towels, we have two very nice sauna towels that cost us 50 euros each we needed to buy since we came unprepared back the first time. The hotel is nice, albeit over priced. There is expensive plug ins for electric cars in the ramp but for an american, difficult to use. Beware of parking in the surrounding communities, you need to pay, but hard to find a payment station (fine is 20-50 euros!). I sent a really nasty note in German that made my German living son, laugh, when I grumped that I did not know to use a parking lot at a park, you have to go to the village center and buy a parking pass where I got a parking ticket while even buying the parking pass. They expect you to go there without the car first apparently Free parking at Therme Erding and also enough room to park your Caravan. Eat your meals at Therme Erding in the nude section. They have a couple of fine restaurants. We walked naked in a robe from the hotel through the entire non-nude section all the way to the nude section, and that was considered okay. It is a long way to walk from the train station in Erding, btw. It is also the best place to see rooks (the bird) while being naked, naked lifer bird 1040!