Banys Àrabs: Medieval Spa

Rays of sunlight filter through the holes in the brick dome supported by 1000-year-old columns. Squint your eyes and imagine the steam escaping through these very same holes. At a time when the inhabitants enjoyed a hot bath. Let your eyes wander and follow the way out to the lush garden. The Banys Àrabs are the only Arab bathhouse preserved on Mallorca. And they are a true urban oasis.

The nearby Almudaina Palace was equipped with underfloor heating and steam baths, too. But when the Spanish conquered the island, they didn’t have much use for the cultural heritage of the Arabs. So they turned the bath into a storage. Other Arab inventions, like the irrigation system used at Raixa and Alfabia, lasted longer. And the Arab way of terracing the landscape characterizes the island to this day.

So it’s worth to travel back in time and get a feeling of how the Arab era looked like. A narrow arch leads into the bathing house complex. Enter the room used to undress, step into the magnificent bath itself and further on to a place to cool down after the steam bath. Time has left its mark on the columns, they look fragile but have lost none of their pride.

The medieval spa directly opens up to a private garden. Stroll along the paths amidst palm trees, orange and citrus trees. Or find a place to sit between hibiscus and rose bushes, and listen to the birdsong. The Banys Àrabs are a place to escape the city’s busy routine and get lost in time for a moment.