One way to get around and familiarise yourself with a new city when travelling is to explore it on foot. If you are a runner, you get to cover more ground.
Fitting a long-distance run into a tight travel itinerary, however, can be a challenge โ as is finding a place to shower and wash your clothes afterwards if your excursion takes you far from your hotel.
โI love to go for runs when I travel, but itโs difficult to always pack my running gear in my luggage,โ says Tom Feng, a 34-year-old Hongkonger who has been running as a hobby for years.
โI usually only get to run near my hotel, so it feels quite limited, even though I always try to book hotels near popular local running spots.โ
In Japan, there is a unique, and cultural, solution to this problem: โsento runningโ.
Sento are traditional public bathhouses in Japan, and they have a history dating back centuries. These bathhouses usually consist of communal hot and cold soaking tubs, a sauna and a washing area.