Predicament

A dilemma: 

What to do when soaking in natural waters is your hobby and you are located far-far away from such opportunities? 

Or what to do when you've been made curious by other natural water and/or heat based therapies?

Or you notice that the effects of soaking are to be equated by other more obvious choices?

Then sometimes you'll opt for what might be perceived as second choice, but actually is an all new experience, which need not to be thermal related. 

So that's how we come to slowly become fans of public sauna's.

With this in mind the Hôtel Le Moulin De La Wantzenau, located just north of Strasbourg (Alsace region) was another of these places we actively sought out, as a case of French sauna bathing experience. And as being a smaller resort, the intended stay is perceived to be much better (usually) than the various hotel chains. And as it's located close to the French border and Strasbourg is the Ville Européenne one could expect a more liberal sauna culture, akin to France's north/northwestern neighbours. Because, if you haven't noticed yet, we are more fans of liberal/socialable bathing opportunities.

The hotel itself is highly acclaimed: an old watermill which has been tastefully reconstructed with considerable attention to details. For instance, in the hallway are small windows in the floor through which you can view the rushing water which passes under the building.

It's a bit out of the local town, so if you prefer to stay in, you'll be dependent on what's on offer. That said, a vegetarian curry was cooked up, despite France having a (well-earned alas) reputation for lack of vegetarian options. Overall customer service was excellent.

Lost

Then over to the wellness on offer, as that what's interests you (and us) the most.

From their own website (in English):

'Come and enjoy a true voyage of discovery in the heart of the country!

Our spa and relaxation area, built from natural materials, provides a delightful break and unique experience with its forest, nature and river themed areas..

You can relax in a 300 m² intimate, exclusive setting, with a sauna decked with wooden loungers, and which opens onto the rural landscape, a 400 year-old millstone that is now the seat in the hammam, an outside terrace spa built from natural wood, opening directly onto the gardens and surrounding natural landscape'.

So what did it entail? 

A single hallway with various amenities which connect through. 

First off changing room / bathroom (nothing special), then on your right: a relax space dominated by straw (photo below) and the hamman. 

coco_spo

Échappée du vendredi fin d'après-midi 🤗

Spa, dîner 🥂

Magnifique endroit et de qualité

#lemoulindelawantzenau#alsacemylove

While on the left are seperate showers and the sauna. In the corner a larger ensuite relax space. And outside an in-built large jacuzzi on a wooden veranda opening up to a garden.

Permission

How was the experience?

Well, I'd like to say that the efforts put into details ensured this was an excellent experience, but somewhere the details seem to have conquered the customer experience.

Let's start with clothing expectations. I had expected clothesfree was the way to go; there's nothing to contradict this. Their own website notes (in original English):

'Access to the SPA, from 16 years of age / bathing trunks not permitted'.

The German original refers to 

'Bermuda und Badeshorts nicht zugelassen'.

The photo's from the website could also  be intepreted as such, there are no clothes in sight (but many towel encapsuled models). 

While as we are in France one could experience a clothed situation, it seems what can be expected here. 

As we were just 4 kms from the border of liberal thinking Germany and it was not a very open-to-public experience (the public from outside the hotel were required to pay €49 for three hours; that might explain the lack of shares from outside experiences) one could presume the impression made was indeed correct.

But it was very clothes de rigueur.

Other points:

• Shower water pressure was poor.
• The sauna could be hotter and it was noticable that the glass wall leaked heat big time as well as the door failing to close correctly.
• The hamman was not very on temp.
• The outside jacuzzi could be warmer.
• Early closing time, even for hotel guests.

Other users (just a few) were not helping the experience either; loud and very inconsiderate: one person entered the sauna, dumped a bucket of water on the heater and then left two minutes later! Is this the French way of sauna?

Notes

Overall reviews gave this a 4.6 stars (from 300+ reviewers) on google, though not much on the wellness experience.

Booking.com gives the hotel an 8.7 (from 250+ reviews), other than comments on the spa exterior, no sauna user.

Tripadvisor notes 4.5 stars from just below 200 reviews, again only the brief remark on the spa, none recent on the wellness experience.

Their own Facebook page rates it as 4.7 stars from 230 plus reviews.

What sticks out is that virtually all are French guests / visitors with little real experiences of the wellness itself, most probably hotel guests, easily impressed even. Question mark. No sauna fans? But very liberal in dealing out compliments.

So what did we learn?

The French sauna experience is (based on what we experienced here) nowhere near to the more pleasant experiences of said neighbours above. Is this perception solely due to the abundance of clothes? 

Details do not always ensure that the experience is likewise; maybe I'm just too practical to be taken in by all schmuck.

florencetihaywalter, fully clothed in the designer sauna space:

A ce week-end pour nous dans ce cadre plus que parfait, merci mon amour ❤️

@lemoulindelawantzenau

#weekend #spa #detente #amour

So, I don't know how this sauna review section will pan out, so let's see if we can compare the experiences by adding a number to the visit. Six out of ten here?Based on impresssions near-perfect, but the practical experience itself was a let-down; I probably wouldn't adivise anyone to visit this hotel based solely on it's wellness spa. So a six seems fair.