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 – as is finding a place to shower and wash your clothes afterwards if your excursion takes you far from your hotel.

“I love to go for runs when I travel, but it’s difficult to always pack my running gear in my luggage,” says Tom Feng, a 34-year-old Hongkonger who has been running as a hobby for years.

“I 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.”

In Japan, there is a unique, and cultural, solution to this problem: “sento running”.

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.

AloJapan.com