My friends sometimes like to throw left-field suggestions at me, like my rat photoshoot, or playing Chubby Bunny – visiting a salt cave was certainly one such suggestion. I’d never heard of one, and I really couldn’t picture it. Thankfully we live in a time where Google can fill in the gaps, and I soon learned it was a relaxing, salt-covered room: walls are made with Himalayan salt bricks, loose salt covers the floor, and salt-infused air is pumped in. The salt caves supposedly have many healing properties and are said to help most with coughs, colds, asthma, and allergies.
I was curious and added it to my list, thinking that it would be something I’d do further in the future, however with the discovery of a 2-for-1 voucher for a Frankfurt salt cave, only valid in March, my weird-sounding possibility, had turned into to an intriguing probability.
Unassuming from the outside, the SalzHeilGrotte in Frankfurt had an immediately warm and calming atmosphere inside. Filled with plants and many glowing, pink, Himalayan salt lamps, the waiting area had a very soothing ambience.
After a complimentary tea, we were instructed to enter the salt cave. Unlike a sauna, a salt cave is at a normal temperature so you wear your normal clothes, but what important is to wear white socks in order to not dirty the salt on the floor. We entered into a dark room that was, as advertised, covered in salt. Walking on the salt was very pleasurable – like walking on sand at the beach but with larger grains – and there was a soothing, soft pink glow so you could find your way.
The owner set us up on a lounger that we lay on, a blanket, and a cushion. After a short, recorded introduction, relaxing spa music started playing and I felt so chilled out that I was certain I would fall asleep. That was until the gentle hum of the salt diffuser stopped and the music got quieter so far through our session. It meant that every sound from the other people in the room was highlighted, unfortunately including one man who was snoring at a volume and had a very loud and frequent cough. Given that talking is not allowed in the cave the room was totally silent aside from the man’s cough, which unfortunately heightened the volume of it even more. It became very difficult to relax, and we were ready to leave the room once our 45 minutes were up. Given the current climate, being in a room with a coughing man for a large amount of time wasn’t the most comfortable experience.
All of this is obviously through no fault of the SalzHeilGrotte, and I do feel that if it wasn’t for the loud individual I would have definitely fallen asleep. The salt cave had such a soothing and relaxing atmosphere, that despite the disturbance, I still left feeling more chilled out than when I entered, which is surely a win.
I was glad I satisfied my curiosity with this one: it was interesting, relaxing, and I was able to breath better afterwards. I would possibly try it again, just maybe outside of flu season next time!
New Day, New Thing 