From the public saunas of Finland to those created as art installations in Sweden, from the Russian banja, where you beat yourself with birch twigs, to the infrared micro-saunas of Manhattan, to the Val Pusteria to try the Aufguss sauna: we have selected eight unmissable destinations to get to know the sauna in all its nuances. Great ideas for a relaxing holiday dedicated to combating stress.
A Finnish sauna in the middle of nature ©Ryhor Bruyeu/Getty Images
1. Helsinki: the Finnish sauna
There are more than three million saunas in Finland, that is, one for every two people (you could almost say they are one of the things to see on a trip to Finland). No wonder, since for its inhabitants taking a sauna is a daily routine, almost like taking a shower. In Helsinki, saunas can be found just about everywhere, even inside Burger King and Hartwall Arena (the ice hockey arena), even in the city library and inside the Parliament. With a bit of luck you might stumble across a travelling phone box converted into a sauna, which when not in the city is sure to be at some festival around Finland.
In the Finnish capital you really will be spoilt for choice between public and private saunas, here we highlight one of the veteran and most capacious: the Finnish Sauna Society, founded in 1937. It is located on the oceanfront and has six wood-burning saunas and four savu saunas (the typical Swedish smoke sauna). Don't feel obliged to observe a religious silence: Finns in the sauna chat and socialise, completely naked and perfectly comfortable. Adapt.
2. Moscow: the Russian banja
The Russian sauna is special. It is called banja and has been done since the Middle Ages: nothing like the dry sauna of northern European countries, much more like a Turkish bath.
The ritual must be scrupulously observed:
- First you undress and take a shower;
- Then you enter the steam chamber(parilka), where you have to sit on a bench and sweat;
- When the body is well warmed up, one can whip oneself with birch twigs soaked in hot water to activate the circulation and tone the muscles.
When the heat becomes intolerable, you can go outside, take a reaction shower (or throw yourself into the snow), replenish your fluids with a cup of tea and start again.
In the heart of Moscow is one of the most monumental banjas in all of Russia: opened in 1808, Sanduny is remarkable for how lavish it is, all stucco and marble columns. You enter by gender, in sessions reserved only for males or females.
The trendy Barcode district in Oslo ©DigitalMammoth/Shutterstock
3. Oslo: Ardna and Barrel
In the Norwegian capital is SALT, a lovely artificial village dedicated to sauna enthusiasts, who also enjoy a respectable cultural programme with live concerts and contemporary art installations. Everything inside the sauna!
It happens inside Ardna, one of the largest saunas in the world, which accommodates up to a hundred people inside along with DJs, artists, poets who come to play music or read books while you slowly simmer at a temperature of 60-80 °C. For tourists, there is also the MiniSPA version, a bite-sized sauna for those who want to try a condensed experience. In this sauna, you enter in a swimming costume and slippers, bringing your own towel from home or renting it on site for a few crowns.
Another unmissable sauna in the village is the Barrel Sauna, built in an old 7,000-litre sherry barrel converted for the purpose. Tiny but powerful: being very compact, the temperature can rise to 120 °C.
4. Den Bosch: one of the world's largest saunas
Den Bosch, or 's-Hertogenbosch, is the town in the Netherlands where painter Jeroen Van Aeken (known as Hieronymus Bosch) was born, but it is also famous for one of the largest salt saunas in the world, built inside the Devarana resort.
- The walls are entirely covered with Himalayan pink salt blocks some 250 million years old.
- Inside, the temperature is room temperature as biosauna dictates, between 18 and 24°C with 40-60% humidity, so you can enter it fully clothed because you don't sweat, you just breathe.
- The salt biosauna acts according to the principles of halotherapy: twenty minutes inside is enough to have respiratory benefits equivalent to a couple of days spent at the sea.
The Northern Lights in Kiruna ©Dave Moorhouse/Getty Images
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5. Kiruna: the Solar Egg sauna
When in winter in the Swedish taiga the thermometer reads -40°C, it is pleasant to enter the warmth of a golden egg parked in Luossabacken, a hillock in the city of Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden. It is called Solar Egg and it is a public sauna designed in 2017 by Swedish studio Bigert & Bergström.
It is a huge ovoid sauna, covered with gilded steel panels, with poplar wood benches inside and a pine floor endemic to the area, and a stone and iron stove in the centre. More than a sauna, it is an artistic installation: its creators see it as a meeting room where guests can discuss environmental sustainability while enjoying the warmth.
6. New York: the infrared sauna
Sauna purists snub it, but the infrared sauna is becoming a trend across the Atlantic, where there is no real tradition and the very idea of a sauna is reduced to a wooden cubicle that can't be missed in any gym. So we might as well try this new variant that ensures great sweating due to the action of infrared rays instead of air temperature, promising glowing skin and immediate psychophysical well-being, as well as burning calories without exercise.
Those who have tried it call it a euphoric experience, and it is plausible, since the rise in body temperature promotes the release of oxytocin, the feel-good hormone. Nothing a traditional sauna can't do, but for those who can't stand the intense heat, it can be a viable alternative. New Yorkers go to HigherDose, in three locations in Manhattan: in the Equinox luxury gym, in the spa of the Howard Hotel and in the basement of the Bowery Hotel.
Manhattan under snow, New York City ©EarthScape ImageGraphy/Shutterstock
7. Bruneck: the Aufguss sauna
The Pustertal valley is the mecca for Aufguss sauna enthusiasts, a practice that is spreading from Finland all over the world and consists of throwing steam onto the sauna brazier. The Aufgussmeister, or sauna master, is the one who performs the jets, placing balls of ice flavoured with essential oils on the embers and directing the steam towards the guests by waving a towel.
A dance that follows a precise technique to move the hot air and cooler air inside the sauna, which is sometimes accompanied by relaxing music (this is the case in the classic Aufguss) or more rhythmic as in the modern Aufguss, up to mini-musicals in the Aufguss show. The performance lasts about 15 minutes and requires great physical endurance on the part of the guests: the body temperature can rise up to 39°C, but on leaving the sauna, after acclimatising, the Kneipp ritual with cold water follows, which brings the temperature back to normal. It is very good for the circulation and helps the body to thermoregulate better, as well as expelling toxins.
If you are curious about this practice, one of the best places to try it is Cron4 in Brunico, a temple of Aufguss where international championships and courses to become a sauna master are held.
8. Harads: the Arctic sauna
About fifty kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, on the waters of the Lule River, Arctic Bath, an incredible sauna floating on the icy waters of the Lule River, is about to open. An architectural project by the same studio that created the Treehotel in Harads, a design gem in Swedish Lapland, where you can already stay while waiting for one of the world's most magical saunas to be ready.
It will be surrounded by six rooms furnished in minimal Scandinavian style with a fireplace to warm up and will have a 4°C reaction bath, where you can dive in after the sauna, as Scandinavian tradition dictates. The facility will also be an excellent vantage point for watching the Northern Lights.