Stoom

Get hot. Get cold. Sit still.

A steam room, a cold plunge and a flat roof, in an old furniture factory on Chester Road. Two hours a slot, fourteen people at a time, nobody talking above a murmur.

See the passes

What this place is

Stoom is a bathhouse on Chester Road in Woodstock, in a warehouse that spent forty years making furniture. We kept the concrete floor, the steel windows and the loading door, and put in a steam room, a plunge pool and a row of hot showers. The steam room seats fourteen and runs at 85 degrees. The plunge is fed off a Table Mountain spring line and sits between 8 and 10 degrees all year round. We do not chill it and we do not heat it. The water arrives that way. Upstairs there is a flat roof with benches on it, which is where most people end up and stay too long. It is not a spa. Nobody will rub your shoulders or sell you a serum. You are paying for the room, the water, and two hours in which nobody can reach you.

How to use the place

Everything below here is instructions. Read it once and you will not have to ask anyone anything on the day.

Weekday mornings are half empty

Tuesday to Friday before 11:00 the day pass is R160 instead of R240, and the hot room seldom has more than six people in it. No booking needed, but send us a line and we will keep a bench for you.

Come on a weekday

What the pass covers

Two full hours

Slots at 09:00, 11:30, 14:00, 16:30 and 19:00. You get the whole two hours and nobody hurries you out at the end of it.

Eucalyptus, not fragrance

The steam is scented with eucalyptus oil pressed in Grabouw. That is the only thing that ever goes into the water.

Fourteen at a time

Every slot is capped, so there is always a seat free in the hot room and space on the roof afterwards.

Locker, towels, robe

All three are in the price. Bring a costume — the steam room, the plunge and the roof are mixed.

The circuit

  1. Heat. Fifteen to twenty minutes in the steam room, or until you stop thinking about anything much. Sit on the bottom bench the first time — the top one is about ten degrees hotter and it is not a competition.
  2. Plunge. Straight into the cold with no rinse in between. Ninety seconds is plenty. Breathe out slowly for the first twenty of them and the panic goes away on its own.
  3. Rest. Ten minutes on a bench under a blanket, or on the roof if the southeaster is down. This is the part everybody wants to skip and it is the part that actually does the work.
  4. Go again. Three rounds is the usual, four if you have the time. Drink water between each one — there is a tap and a stack of cups by the showers.

Who is on shift

Nomsa Dlamini
Nomsa DlaminiFront desk

Lights the boiler at half past six and knows to the seat how full the 11:30 slot is.

Riaan Vosloo
Riaan VoslooSteam attendant

Runs the eucalyptus rounds and will tell you when to get out, kindly, before you find out the hard way.

Thandeka Mgcina
Thandeka MgcinaPlunge and rest room

Lifeguarded at Muizenberg for nine years. Watches the cold water and hands out the blankets.

Yusuf Adams
Yusuf AdamsWater and plant

Tests the plunge twice a day and rebuilt the circulation pump himself in 2023.

I came for my back and I stayed for the twenty minutes on the roof afterwards, which is the only stretch of the week when nobody can get hold of me.
Lerato Mokoena, Salt River

Before you come

Do I have to book?

Not always. Weekday mornings and early afternoons usually have room and walk-ins are welcome until the hot room is full. Friday evenings and Saturdays are generally gone by Wednesday, so book those. Booking costs nothing and we hold your bench for fifteen minutes past the hour.

What do I wear?

A costume. The steam room, the plunge and the roof are all mixed, so nothing goes without one. Two towels, a robe and a locker are in the price. Bring slops if you would rather not walk on bare concrete.

Is the cold plunge safe if I have blood pressure or heart trouble?

Ask your doctor first, then tell whoever is on the desk when you arrive. A good number of our regulars skip the plunge altogether and do heat and rest only, which is still worth the pass. Nobody stands there checking whether you got in.

Can I bring my children?

Sixteen and over, and under eighteen only with a parent in the building. It is a quiet room and the plunge is properly cold rather than fun cold.

One morning, filmed once

Six minutes from the boiler being lit to the first plunge of the day. Shot by Sinead Fourie on a Tuesday in June, the only morning we have let a camera inside.

Passes

One price for every slot, every day we are open. No joining fee, no contract, no upselling at the desk.

Day pass

R240
  • Two hours in any slot
  • Two towels, robe and locker
  • R160 weekdays before 11:00
Book a slot

Ten-visit card

R1 950 for ten
  • Works out at R195 a visit
  • Never expires
  • Lend it to whoever you like
Buy a card

Monthly

R690 a month
  • Come as often as you want
  • First call on Friday evenings
  • Stop any month, no notice
Go monthly

Annual

R6 900 a year
  • Two months free against monthly
  • Two guest passes every month
  • The roof to yourself once a year
Go annual

Come and sweat

112 Chester Road, Woodstock. Slots at 09:00, 11:30, 14:00, 16:30 and 19:00, Tuesday to Sunday — closed Mondays for the deep clean. Walk-ins are welcome until the room is full. Phone 021 447 9260 if it is for today.