The 10 best saunas in Europe

Helsinki's most striking public sauna. A timber-lattice building on the Hernesaari waterfront where a smoke sauna and a wood-heated one sit side by side, both opening onto the Baltic. It earns the hype.

A lakeside resort on the Scharmützelsee with nine saunas, including a theatre staged for show-Aufguss. It has hosted the Aufguss World Championships more than once. An hour from Berlin, and German sauna culture at full volume.

Wood-fired floating saunas on the Oslofjord, one of them beneath the Opera House. The plunge is the fjord off the back step. A cruising variant casts off and glides the inner harbour between rounds.

An open-air bathhouse on a pier into the Öresund off Malmö, running since 1898. There are several saunas including a wood-fired one, a ladder straight into the sea, and a long Aufguss tradition. Time it for sunset.

A working farm in the Haanja hills keeping the UNESCO-listed Estonian smoke-sauna tradition. The ritual runs at least three hours: chimneyless heat, birch whisking, and a pond to cool in. The ceremony, not a sweat.

An outdoor wood-fired sauna and hot-tub garden on Copenhagen's Refshaleøen waterfront. Stoke the fire yourself, cool off in the tubs or the harbour, and book a hot-tub boat to sail the city. Industrial and slightly anarchic.

A community sauna right on the beach at Scheveningen, facing west into the North Sea. The sunset slots sell out first. Sauna, sea plunge, sand, repeat: the most dramatic setting in the Dutch Kuuma network.

An oceanside sauna on Spiddal Pier on the Wild Atlantic Way. Its panoramic window looks across Galway Bay to the Aran Islands. Remote enough to feel like a destination, close enough to Galway to be practical.

A wood-fired sauna boat you pilot yourself across Lake Zürich, no licence needed. You warm behind panoramic glass before plunging into the lake, the Alps on the horizon. Three to four hours, and your own bay.