I was strolling the beautiful streets of Mexico City this past marathon weekend when a stranger, now friend, stopped me mid-stride to come take a peek inside her new and very chill recovery space. (That might not sound like an emphatic endorsement, but "very chill" is probably the highest compliment I give... read on.) I immediately ran back to my spot to grab a bathing suit and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon sauna'ing, cold-plunging, and generally soaking in the truly immaculate vibes of Kurhaus.
As is the case with running brands, there's been an explosion of these types of spaces in recent years—each one offering something slightly different from the other. What I found with Kurhaus is a level of intimacy and boutique-ness that felt deeply special and relaxing. There's something for everyone out there and Kurhaus is definitely for me.
I sat down with founders Anja & Lorena, two German ex-pats taking a big swing at their dreams in CDMX, to pick their brains and share their story (interview below). They've also been kind enough to extend Bandit Members with 15% off all visits. As if you needed another reason to take that trip to Mexico City...
Anja & Lorena —first things first, please introduce yourself! Who are you? Where are you? What’s new?
We’re Anja and Lorena, co-founders of KURHAUS in Mexico City, a space for sauna, cold plunge and rest inspired by German sauna tradition. We are both from Germany, we’ve made Mexico our home for the past 7 and 4 years.
What’s new? Quite literally, everything. We’re full-time founders now.
Our background is in international TV production, producing documentaries and reportages across Latin America and the US. It was a fast-paced life driven by constant movement, high output, and very little time for actual restoration.
KURHAUS is the first business we’ve ever built. Leaving our jobs and the security that came with them to start something completely from scratch was a pretty big leap. Neither of us had a background in business, finance, architecture or hospitality, and we had never founded a company, renovated a house or run a business before. We had to learn everything along the way, from construction and permits to finances and operations.
We found an abandoned house in Roma Norte, CDMX and decided to turn it into a space dedicated to sauna, cold plunge and, most importantly, recovery. We opened KURHAUS at the end of May this year, and while stepping into complete uncertainty has been challenging, it’s also one of the most exciting things we’ve ever done.
You’re both from Germany originally… What brought you and kept you in Mexico City?
Honestly, we both moved here with the exact same plan: stay for a year, have an adventure, work, explore as much of Latin America as possible, and then head back to Germany.
We both moved to Mexico City to work in TV production, which is also how we met in the first place. But very quickly, that one-year timeline dissolved. We both independently realized we weren’t leaving.
It’s impossible not to fall for this city. The energy, the warmth of the people, the incredible culture, and the sheer depth of the country completely captured us. What started as a temporary assignment turned into a place we proudly call home and ultimately, the place where we chose to build KURHAUS.
So, what inspired you to open Kurhaus? Is this something you’ve always wanted to do? How has the art of recovery been a part of your life leading into this moment? You speak about Kurhaus in the context of enhancing performance rather than as a reward to recover. What personal experiences shaped that thinking?
Neither of us grew up planning to open a wellness space, but recovery has been deeply woven into our lives long before KURHAUS existed, just through two very different lenses.
For Anja, sauna culture was simply a way of life. Where other families spent Sunday mornings at church, hers spent them at the local sauna. It was never a luxury or a rare treat, but a weekly ritual to reset the nervous system, reflect on the week behind, and ground yourself for the week ahead.
For Lorena, playing soccer at a semi-professional level as a teenager introduced recovery early on as a performance tool. Great coaches taught her that adaptation doesn't happen during the effort, it happens during the rest. She later studied sports science, which deepened that understanding on a physiological level and proved how essential deliberate rest is for long-term progress and resilience.
When we met in the fast-paced world of production, we noticed a massive cultural disconnect. In high-output environments, recovery is usually framed as a reward, something you only earn after burning out. We wanted to challenge that mindset.
KURHAUS was born from combining those two personal foundations: the sacred, communal ritual of European sauna tradition and a functional, scientific approach to human performance. We built it not as an escape from real life, but as an essential practice to support how you live, move, and perform within it.
When I visited, I was struck by how beautifully cavernous the entryway architecture is. Then the space expands as you make your way through and into the backyard. The interplay between light and natural materials is so, so well done. Tell us about your process designing Kurhaus… (What was important? What did/didn’t you want and why? How long did it all take? What’s one major learning if you did it all over again tomorrow?)
Of course, we always wanted a beautiful space. But the design started with a question that was actually quite simple: how should this place feel? Not just how should it look.
We wanted the architecture to reflect the same philosophy as the experience itself. With our German background we naturally gravitate towards clarity, reduction and things that are honest and direct. We wanted KURHAUS to feel minimal and calm, but never sterile, ambitious, but never loud.
The principle underneath all of it was radical simplicity. We live in a time where wellness has quietly become just another task. Chronic stress met with the latest biohacking, emails answered under a red light mask. Optimized bodies, but exhausted nervous systems. We wanted the opposite. So we stripped everything back to the tools that have always worked: heat, cold, nature, time. The purpose of this space is to take a break. So everything is designed to slow you down, get out of your head into your body.
The heart of it all was always the garden. From day one we knew we wanted nature in the middle of the city. Because that's where recovery actually happens, not in a room full of gadgets, but under a tree, in real light, with your feet on the ground. Everything else is built around that idea. The cavernous entrance, the way the space opens up as you move through it and out into the backyard, that whole journey is designed to slowly pull you out of the city and into something calmer, greener, more alive.
One major learning? Just start. Take the first step. You will never feel ready. Just do it. You will learn along the way.
What do you think is one of the most common misconceptions people have about sauna/cold plunge experiences? Something non-obvious…
One of the biggest misconceptions is that sauna and cold plunge are the goal. They're not. They're the stimulus. It's a bit like running: your body doesn't get stronger while you train. The run is the stimulus, the adaptation happens afterward, in recovery. Yet we tend to put all our attention on the workout and treat recovery as an afterthought.
The same is true here. Heat and cold challenge your body on purpose, they set your system in motion. But the real value lies in what comes next: the pause. The moment your body settles, regulates, and finds its rhythm again.
That's why we build everything around that pause. Sauna and cold plunge create the frame. The rest that follows is what makes the difference. The pause is the point.
What’s your best mental trick for getting in (and staying in) the cold plunge?
The sauna is for the body. The cold plunge is for the mind. You're not getting in to prove you can suffer; you're getting in to train something. The second you hit the water your instinct is to gasp, tense up, panic. So you do the opposite: you slow your breath down on purpose. Long exhale. And the wild part is the body follows the breath. Calm the breathing and the mind calms, and the cold stops running the show. You do. That's the real lesson in there. It reminds you how much strength you already have, that you can meet something intense and stay steady inside it. No trick, no countdown, no hyping yourself up. Just keep breathing.
If someone comes in after a long run / grueling workout / deep into their training block, how would you recommend they approach their first session?
Honestly, if someone rolls in straight off a long run, our first question probably isn't about the sauna at all, it would be: "have you eaten and had something to drink yet?" You all know this better than we do, but that's still the real first step: fluids, electrolytes, carbs and protein. The sauna and cold plunge don't replace any of that, they come after it.
The thing is, right after a long run your core temperature is already up, your heart rate's still high, and you've lost a lot of fluid. Sauna and cold plunge are both stress on the body too, so stacking them straight on top while you're depleted and dehydrated tends to feel like more strain than recovery, and it can leave you lightheaded rather than reset. Same goes for a hard workout, not just the long run.
So depending on how emptied out you are, we'd usually say: refuel, rehydrate, give it a bit, and then come in and do it as an actual pause. And if it was a really brutal one, honestly the next day is often better, so the session lands as recovery instead of just one more thing piled on top.
And really, the smarter move isn't just coming in after the long run at all, it would be making it part of the routine across the whole training block. Because the part we find most interesting for runners is that the real payoff isn't in any single session, it's in doing it regularly. Sauna consistently through a training block and the body starts adapting to the heat: more plasma volume, you sweat earlier and cool more efficiently, lower heart rate and core temp at the same effort. To be clear, it's not about the sauna right before a run, that would probably leave you a bit pre-cooked. It's the habit over weeks.
Speed round:
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Sauna then cold plunge or cold plunge then sauna? Sauna then cold plunge.
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Sauna OR cold plunge (you can only choose 1)? Sauna. It is in our DNA and the benefits are just too good to ignore.
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Favorite detail in the space people might overlook? We grow fruit in the garden, so feel free to snack when you find one
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Who lasts longer in the cold: Anja or Lorena? Neither of us loves it. But we're both pretty stubborn. So once it becomes a competition, we'd rather let our toes freeze off than be the first to quit.
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Most ridiculous moment so far? We share an entrance wall with Bar Mauro, which is rated the best bar in Mexico, and honestly the mix-ups never stop. A group in heels shows up at our reception expecting a negroni and gets asked if they brought a swimsuit. Meanwhile someone in a robe and slides wanders into the best bar in the country looking for the cold plunge. At this point it's just part of the experience.
