Archimedes Banya

This place is awesome! Everyone is friendly and respectful (my girlfriends and I have never felt uncomfortable). For ~$ 30, you can go sit in the sauna, hot tub, jump in the cold baths and use the sun deck. One of my favorite things there is playing checkers in the hot tub — the board floats :)
They also have a café and will let you bring what you purchase up to the sundeck to eat while you soak in some sunshine and vitamin D. I haven’t tried the rest of their food yet (have only been twice so far), but the borsch is yummy!
If you wander into the sauna, you’ll probably get to see someone getting a treatment too. One of them involves getting thwacked with eucalyptus branches, if I remember correctly. Worth a try if you’re adventurous!

The front desk receptionist was not very helpful, but the staffs inside were very friendly and worked hard to keep the place clean.
Have to agree with other reviewers, having separate sections for clothed and clothing-​optional makes the whole experience very inconvenient because i had to constantly put on and take off my bathing suits. Having some days be clothing optional for the whole place seems to be a good option to try to solve this problem. The Russian sauna is a bit too hot.
The price is a little steep for $ 42 for three hours, comparing with other similar spas in the city, the one on Geary street.
I will come back, but on the days when they make the whole place clothing optional.

Great Russian communal spa in a not-​so-​great area. I go to soak away the stress and muscle pains and to just disconnect for a while. The people are generally friendly and there’s both a clothing optional and non-​optional side. After 9pm the whole place is CO. If you want a lot of people, Sunday is your day. If you want very few people, come on a weekday during the day or later at night.
The only thing I would change would be to make the whole place clothing optional, at least on certain days. I also would not allow swimsuits in the banyas to keep them cleaner since swimsuits can carry bacteria and let’s be honest, wet swimsuits are no fun in a hot environment.
For those not into the naked thing, you’ll be fine either way. Try it if you want, don’t try it if you’d rather stay clothed. Nobody will judge and it’s a safe environment.
Minus one star for the smallish locker rooms and the recent price increase.

So I found this place thanks to a good friend of mine (thanks Roxy) who used to work here and told me about this spot .
In simple words, this is a authentic Russian bathhouse located in SF and I must say it is f*ckin awesome! It has a cold pool, two authentic saunas, steam room, jacuzzi, another jacuzzi style pool thing, sauna, and the list goes on .
The cool part is you get your own locker and they provide you with robe and towels. Overall this place is damn awesome especially if you need to sweat out some toxins and enjoy SF air .
One awesome thing about this place is the bar inside as well as the beautiful view on the patio which all guests are allowed. I would definitely suggest coming here if you have a few hours to spend. I promise you won’t be done wrong.
One thing I do suggest for first timers is to get the experience when they hit you with the leaves and so on so forth. It’s really awesome and you really feel accomplished.

I love this Banya. I have been in many different Russian bath houses across the US and Russia and this one is on the top of my list. The heat is perfect. The palazzo guys know what they are doing — definitely recommend getting a professional. Very good food and beer on tap as well as nice view from the roof.
No need to bring trunks as part of the space is clothing optional.

Went with my hubby. We had a body scrub, very professional service. Cool place to go relax and feel in total nirvana. I went in a 40 year old and came out feeling like a 22 year old. This is a must do again. Try the local Kombucha.

Most positive aspect: I love the massage and the hot bath is fine although without jets. Floating checkerboard was a fun touch. I second what people said about the locker rooms being small and poorly organized. In addition, clothing has no place in communal baths. The split makes for awkward segregation, and the vibration gets set for a swimming pool and bar kind of tone, i.e. loud and sporty — overtakes the bathing/​relaxing aspect; the music contributed as well, piped even out to the deck with reclining chairs. And there was a staff person who also didn’t seem to know the healing/​calming part of historical communal baths, who saw me still closing my robe as I stepped out of the clothing optional area and seemed to mistake me for a truant child who needed a stern lecture (with hand gestures to describe how «…you CAN’T have anything showing at all out here…»), rather than a paying customer who is old enough to know what customer service is.
Very boisterous young crowd today, really too many for the space, amplifying the unnerving absence of calm. Spa area could have some extra room for seating/​reclining in a quiet setting. I get that limited space is a challenge, but somehow the design of big open, echoing spaces don’t lend to creating a sequenced journey from bath and «fever-​healing» and deep release through rest and on to socializing, but mixes everyone in together in a sort of neither-​here-​nor-​there state. Other miscellaneous design and feature wishes would be to have jets in the hot bath in the clothing-​optional area. Mani-​pedi would be a nice option with the spa services.
The Russian Turkish bath I grew up with in NYC had cold well water spigots in the oven sauna, so that you could pour buckets of cold water over yourself standing at the drain in the center of the room, making it much more effective for the hot/​cold alternation, and keeping the air from being dry and stifling ** (See below). You could add herb-​infused water to the big oven at various intervals, so the temperature could be regulated. The oak leaves were also available so you could do your own treatment or do one for your friend. There were cots upstairs that you could lie die down and nap on after your schvitz and treatment — that was not a place where people socialized; that you did afterwards in the room with the café, with a drink, food and maybe cards.
**(You can’t really get that hold/​cold wring-​you-​out effect by running out of the sauna to the cold pool, and in any case you need to shower before the plunge as well, cooling down even more before you even get there (not that every one did shower, by my observation). Seems like the plunge is perhaps kept colder than necessary to try to compensate for that effect but it is just jarring in my experience. And there is also cool air blowing over you as you try to do that, which didn’t help.)
Thai massage with Xiotle (sp?) was awesome, really deep release, highly recommend her! In previous visits I had the birch branch treatment, which was invigorating too.
In the café, solyanka was really good. Salmon plate was also good, and the chocolate flourless cake was too good! Kombucha is available, although I didn’t try it. Next time I will try ladies night on a Tuesday night and hopefully it will be chill enough to really have a good, detoxing shvitz.

It was my first time at a Banya on Sunday (3pm — 6pm) and I absolutely loved it (for the most part).
Location: Archimedes is located in what appears to be commercial/​industrial area; not much of anything else around, which I guess doesn’t matter since you’re there to enjoy the Banya. I split an Über with a friend and the total came to $ 8.50 (from Powell BART to the Banya).
Check-​in Process:
As soon as you arrive, they’ll ask for your ID and if it’s your 1^st time, you’ll be asked to complete/​sign a waiver on their iPad.
At the counter, they’ll hand you a watch-​looking thing that goes around your wrist and a bathrobe; you’ll be given a name tag to write your name so individuals don’t accidentally take your robe. The watch-​thingy is to electronically open your locker. Front desk will keep your ID until you pay for your services at the conclusion of your stay. You may want to ask about renting one of them wool caps; I was told by a regular that they help you stay longer in the sauna. I was not clear on how, but I did see many people wearing them.
Overall, the front desk ladies were friendly, offered to answer questions, and showed me a map of the place to orient me. I got lost at times, but soon got my bearings.
Locker Room:
Once you get to the locker room entrance, Women turn right, Men turn left. Find your locker and use the watch-​thingy to open it. Inside the locker you will find a pair of sandals and 2 towels. The areas you plan to experience (clothing-​optional and/​or clothing-​required) will determine whether you’ll need a swimsuit.
Once you decide it’s time to leave the locker room, you should be wearing your robe, sandals, and take 1 towel with you.
NOTE: Both the MEN or WOMEN locker rooms have direct access to the clothing-​required section and clothing-​optional sections. From the men’s locker room, the door at the back of the locker room (adjacent to the wash basins) leads you directly to the clothing-​optional section. If you would prefer to avoid this section, you need to exit the locker room the same way you entered, and find the door to the clothing-​required section. I verified that this is the same process for women. You can certainly skip/​avoid the clothing-​optional part of the Banya if you choose.
The Banya:
There are a number of pools/​saunas in the Banya. The clothing-​optional area has 2 dry saunas, a hot spa, and a cold plunge pool. The clothing-​required section has steam room and moderate temperature pool. To fully experience all areas, you can either opt to wear your swimsuit in both areas (which is totally fine), jump in and out of your swimsuit as you go between areas, or use the facilities after 9pm. I was told by people I met that both areas of the Banya are clothing-​optional after 9pm. I did not see it mentioned on the Archimedes website, but I heard it enough times from different people that I am inclined to believe it.
I signed up for the first-​timer intro package: platza + scrub. I seriously thought I was about to pass out during the platza due to the heat. I HIGHLY recommend you slowly acclimate your body 30 minutes (minimum) prior to your service. I learned that the proper way is to sit in the sauna, then do a cold plunge, then repeat 1 – 2 more times. Being a newbie, I simply spent 15 minutes in the spa relaxing. Definitely don’t do what I did.
The scrub was very relaxing. If you are familiar with the Korean bath scrubs, well, this is much, much softer.
Rooftop:
Sunday was unusually sunny /​warm, so many people were there sunbathing, enjoying some food from the restaurant, and socializing. Rooftop is clothing-​optional. It’s a very chill, social scene.
Check out:
Once you’re ready to go, you can shower in any of the shower stalls in the Banya and then make your way to the locker room. There are separate baskets in the locker room for your sandals, towels, and robe. Make sure you place your items in the right basket.
Once you exit the locker room, go to the reception desk, pay for your stay/​services, and they’ll hand you back your ID.
Things to keep in mind:
You may want to consider bringing your own sandals. Mine were taken (accidentally, I hope) so I had to take someone else’s. LOL. You have to resort to this behavior as the Banya requires you to wear sandals as you move from area to area. I imagine it’s for safety.
You can wear your swimsuit in both the clothing-​optional and clothing-​required sections. I did not witness anyone giving dirty looks because individuals chose to wear swimsuits in the clothing-​optional section. The vibe was mutually respectful and chill. In the clothing-​optional sections, there were about a dozen women (40% with swimsuits) and half a dozen men (1 wearing a swimsuit).

Amazing Russian spa. I went here to get a platzka massage with oak leaves dipped in water. I was flagellated from head to toe and it felt invigorating. The amazing man then gave me a wonderful body scrub with Morrocan black soap. He ended up giving me two tubs of the soap to take home. A very gentle and relaxing massage.
The place can be a bit confusing at first. The clothingless side is mixed gender but the locker rooms are just male. The pool and spa adjacent to the saunas and pool that are clothing optional, require clothing. The rooftop has a nice view of San Francisco and it is clothing optional as well. They have yoga classes there.
I ate a vegetarian borscht soup which was ok. Parking is easy and I left there feeling very floaty. A unique experience!

If you come here, you can’t be shy while in the buff. I visited with a group of friends and my partner and we had a pretty relaxing experience. This place is clean, the staff is professional and the pricing is reasonable. The locker room could be a tab bigger but hey. You didn’t come there to hang in the locker room. You came to show off your goods! Hehe jk. There’s two amazing saunas, a steam room with lavender (I could live in there) and a cold pool (like ice glacier cold!!). The facility is really clean. There also a nice size hot tub, huge rooftop patio over looking the bay, a theater room, and a bar and restaurant (towels and or clothing required). Remember this is a clothing optional place and many opt not to wear clothes so consider that before you visit. Yes, it’s coed. Check it out. We weren’t disappointed… well kinda. There were not hottie’s there. Hehe

The Banya asks visitors to show IDs upon entering in part so that they can give you a key to the locker room that «matches» one’s legal gender – a practice that is ILLEGAL in San Francisco. When I challenged them on this, pointing out that denying access to segregated spaces is not only unfair to transgender and gender non-​conforming people but also is a breach of SF law, they informed me that they have had issues with violent visitors assaulting gay and trans people in the locker rooms in the past. Gee, do you think maybe the solution to this problem might be to eject and ban the violent customers as opposed to discriminating against protected classes of people?

I visited the Banya as part of my testing series of spas in the Bay Area. Let me tell you this straight out: It’s not worth the money. $ 42 for 3 h on the weekends is a total rip-​off and I will tell you why shortly.
Staff:
The front desk staff was kind of brusk. First thing that happened when I walked in: Some manager yelled at the receptionist: Focus! Since I was the next customer and the lady was obviously not in a good mood because her boss just yelled at her in front of a customer. That explains, why I was treated a little rough. #unprofessional
The staff inside the property was really helpful though and I want to give them some credit for that. They brought me extra towels when I asked for them and they also try o constantly keep the Banya clean after the mess that many people produce with the beating ritual in the russian banya.
Amenties:
The spa is divided into a clothing optional and into a clothing required area and features a Finnish sauna, two russian banyas, a steam room, a hot and a cold tub in both areas. Additionally they have a nice patio on the top floor. The bathhouse also has a restaurant and TV room which I didn’t check out, because I was there for the sauna experience. If you want to get a better idea of there amenities, I refer you to their 3D floor plan.
Many people have mentioned the changing rooms being awfully disorganized and I really agree with that. What is the problem with putting up some benches so that people can actually sit down to tie their shoes and have some place to put their clothes other than the WET floor?
Culture:
Since I am german I have no problem with co-​ed nudity. In Germany all places are co-​ed and I have never seen a single person in a bathing suit in any german sauna and I have been to a lot of different ones. It is a little weird for me that in some places of the Banya clothing is required whereas in others it’s not. So it’s a little on and off if you like the hamman (steam room) and the Finnish sauna. But I get that some people have a problem with co-​ed nudity.
What I have a problem with though is people jumping in pools without having a shower first. I get that it is kind of a nordish tradition to jump in ice cold water directly from the hot sauna and don’t get me wrong I love it too, but you can’t do that in a place where you share a little cold pool with a lot of other people. Especially not when you have leaves all over your body because you were just beat up with some branches in the russian banya, which is another tradition that I understand but wouldn’t practice with other people.
The folks there is very friendly and talkative. I love to talk myself in the sauna, but for folks who want to fully relax it’s not the right place. That being said I would recommend a more relaxing place such as Kabuki if you are looking for relaxation, whereas I would recommend the Banya if you want to chat somebody up and make some new friends.
In summary I will give the place 3 stars which is particularly because it’s overpriced. All other places I have been to charge $ 25 for a day pass. If you would get what you pay for this would certainly not be a problem, but unfortunately you don’t. I have been to much nicer places here and in the rest of the world (mostly Germany and Japan).
REPLY TO THE MANAGEMENT:
Let me reply three things to what you have said:
1.) Your math is off: 3*$ 13 + $ 7 = $ 46 + $ 25 = $ 71. You really want to charge $ 71 for 3h spa, 3 towels, sandals and a robe?
You also have to be careful with the exchange rate to Euro. As of today it is $ 1.14 and not $ 1.30 which you assumed for the towels.
Apart from that:
2.) It doesn’t make sense to compare spa prices in Germany with spa prices here. If you want to be competitive, you have to compare to the local competitors who charge $ 25 for a day-​pass including an unlimited amount of extra towels AND sandals.
3.) You didn’t do good research on spas in Germany unfortunately. The highest price I have seen is 42 € for a day pass in Mediterana (
), which is tremendously bigger and offers the finest assortment of saunas and spas in the world. Great places in Germany such as Bali Therme (
) and Oase (
) come for under 30 € for a day pass. All these places are far more sophisticated than the Archimedes Banya.

I experienced my first Moroccan Hammam today at this place in Hunter’s Point. It started with really warm water being poured all over me as I was lying face down on a massage table. Then my attendant put on some scrubby gloves and exfoliated my entire back side with soap. Then she poured more warm water over me to wash off the soap. Afterwards, she applied a mud mask all over the back of my entire body and stepped out as it cooled and hardened. When she came back, she washed off the mud using a hand-​held shower attachment. I was dried off and I stood up as she redressed the massage table. The entire thing was repeated on the front of my body with the addition of getting my hair shampooed and conditioned as the mud hardened. I want to go back one day for a Turkish bath!
The facilities were a bit small for the amount of people who were there, so it felt crowded. And because it was raining, the two outdoor areas for hanging out were cold and wet, so everyone was hanging out at the spa and waiting for lounge chairs and such. I’d like to return on a warm, sunny day.

This was the very first banya experience I’ve had and it did not disappoint. Relaxing, refreshing, and leaves you completely rejuvenated.
They had a jacuzzi, hot pool, saunas, a steam room, cold pool, ice cold 46 degree pool, nice deck, food — everything you could want. Well, basically everything you could want…
Overall it was a great experience and left me feeling fantastic. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

I love banya!
Space is clean, friendly, social. I want to talk to my friends or chat with strangers, and I don’t want to hear your stupid gong to silence me (I am looking at you Kabuki Spa!)
Food is tasty and Russian :) All the things I grew up eating.
Perfect place to decompress and detox.
They do provide slippers and a robe.

This place is absolutely amazing!
From the moment you enter, to the moment you get to the locker room, and the actually banya, they make sure your experience is top notch. A very well kept, clean area that is also technologically adept to make your experience convenient.
You get a bracelet that corresponds to a locker where you can keep you stuff; none of that bringing your own lock or anything. Once you open the locker, you will see towels, a bathrobe and some slippers. They have several a different types of saunas, with plenty of space. Pools and jacuzzies of different temperatures, benches to sit and talk, and showers all over the place. You can spend hours here without getting bored. I hear you can also get a massage or some sort of mineral cleansing, but I have yet to try it.
I highly recommend jumping into the freezing pool immediately after sweating your ass of. I felt like I was reborn.
They also have a very nice restaurant on the top floor with delicious food and beer.
If there is a downside, it’s the price. The enters nice fee clat $ 37, and the food was another $ 20. It’s reasonable but definitely not cheap. However, I really do believe that it’s worth the price.

Newsflash: any awesome place can really suck when it’s overly crowded. The banya is truly awesome, but on the small side. Weekends are crowded everywhere in SF. So ignore all of the haters, avoid the crowds, and come here on a weekday. I came at noon on a Friday, and didn’t see one peen! Which was good, because I wasn’t in the mood.
I highly recommend the Deluxe Banya Pass:
1.) Platza, where they beat you with wet branches and steam in the sauna, 2.) Hammam body wash, where they scrub off that yucky layer of dead skin with scrubby gloves and olive oil soap, 3.) And a 30 minute massage of your choice.
The restaurant is sufficient for a light meal, and boozy or non-​boozy beverage of your choice.
Although parts of the banya are clothing optional, bring your bathing suit to enjoy all areas of the bathhouse.

I can’t. I dunno why things seem to suck so much in the bay area, but this is not a great bathhouse. Basically, it was SUPER crowded. My friend and I arrived about 5 PM on a Sunday and there was a short line to get processed and get in. The locker room is extremely cramped and there are no benches for you to put your stuff on, so you’re basically fighting for the three stools so you can get your stuff, get changed, and NOT drop your dry clothes on the floor. There is very little orientation and seriously almost walked into the men’s room but we figured it out. It’s small. There’s the one clothing required area, with a cool pool, a hot pool, sauna and steam room. The clothing optional area has maybe two pools. And there are tons of nekkid men. Surprisingly, it’s very unsexy. I got into one pool, shoulder to shoulder, as it was so cramped, and some guy decides there’s still room for him and sits on the stairs across from me, opening and closing his legs. Dear god, seriously? Suddenly, the ceiling, despite it being 15 feet high, becomes extremely interesting.
I find the facilities kinda lacking and there isn’t much variety. There is one steam room, one sauna, and four small pools, two if you don’t want to go to the nekkid area. That’s it! And with the density, it feels even smaller. Clientele was surprisingly very young. Late twenties and thirties. Food bar was limited. Because the locker room was so cramped and the showers are nothing special, I just found the whole experience rather whatever. It wasn’t that relaxing and I might have had a better time filling my tub and lighting a candle at home.
I feel no need to go back.
And yes, to respond to the owner, yes I have been to several Korean bath houses. And no, it’s not the cleanest I’ve been in. And fine, if the focus is the sauna and steam room then maybe they should be bigger or more than one? I was literally touching EVERYONE wherever I went. Sweaty shoulder to sweaty shoulder I tell you. I am not looking for a «spa» environment but crowded-​sweaty-​steam-​bath, definitely not. It’s okay. Don’t take offense. If you say you’re the best of the bay are, then right on. I just feel bad for the bay area.

I’m glad this place exists, but it’s not for me. I didn’t realize that the nudity was co-​ed. I’m no prude, but as a gay dude it was a bit off-​putting that there were so many male/​female couples being very touchy-​feely, kissing, and intimate here. Definitely felt out-​of-​place, and not unwelcome, but just… that this was a place designed for someone WAY different than me.
Also, I went barefoot because I find that I’m clumsier/​more slip-​prone in slippers than barefoot, and was scolded by an employee as though I were an elementary kid without a hall pass, instead of a grown-​ass man who paid $ 35 or so to get in the place.
Strongly prefer Imperial Spa or Kabuki in San Francisco. But two stars instead of one because when I left after 10 minutes, they refunded my entry fee, realizing I was super uncomfortable with all of the PDA as well as the treatment by their spa staff inside the wet rooms.

I LOVE THIS PLACE! 95% of the time it is on point and the 5% that it is not, just tell the front desk what is wrong and they get on it quick! Thus there is NEVER any issues. $ 30 is your entry into the amazing place and covers you for 3 hours of popping in and out of hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms and roof tops over looking SF. There is a clothing required and optional side, and everyone is always very respectful. It is co-​ed but you will never feel weird here at all.
Even better, there is a bar with food and when you spend money there you get an extra hour in the Banya. The food and drinks are good and reasonably priced. The staff is lovely and more more I go the more comfortable I am.