The 20 best saunas in the United States

1892 parilka, two owners · New York

An East Village institution since 1892, run by two owners on alternate weeks, so the rules and the mood depend on whose week it is. The parilka is Russian radiant heat, with a redwood Finnish sauna, Turkish steam and an ice plunge beside it. Walk-in only, gritty and communal, with oak-leaf platza and borscht in the cafe.

Banya · Finnish · Steam · Ice · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Bathhouse Row, working since 1912 · Hot Springs

The Buckstaff has worked Bathhouse Row since 1912, and the ritual has never been modernised into a spa menu. You move through a private whirlpool tub of thermal spring water, a sitz bath, a steam cabinet and hot towel packs. Baths are walk-in only, men on the first floor and women on the second.

Steam · $$ · Drop-in

Granite stones heated overnight · Chicago

A 1906 Russian banya in Wicker Park, anchored by the Red Square hot room. Stones in its granite chamber are heated overnight and doused the next day for steam. A Finnish sauna, eucalyptus steam, a plunge pool and platza treatments fill out the circuit, with a restaurant and bar at the end of it.

Banya · Finnish · Steam · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Eight pools, daily aufguss · Brooklyn

The original 2019 Bathhouse, and the biggest of its New York sites. It holds eight thermal pools and one of the largest stadium-seating saunas in the city, and aufguss runs every day under low light. Our curator scored it 5/5 and would put it on any weekend itinerary.

“What a gem!” · Josje

Finnish · Steam · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Four traditions on three storeys · San Francisco

A three-storey banya on the Bayview waterfront that folds a Russian parilka, a Turkish hammam, a German sauna and Roman bathing into one circuit. Venik platza runs alongside, and a rooftop deck looks out over the bay. With a restaurant and bar too, it is as much a night out as a bath.

Banya · Finnish · Steam · $$$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Floating barge on Lake Superior · Duluth

A wood-fired Finnish cabin built onto a barge at Pier B, with windows over Lake Superior and ladder access going straight down into it. Sessions are private, 90 minutes long and taken by small groups. The cold plunge is the lake itself, which needs no improving.

Finnish · Floating · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Deconstructed bathhouse on the Bay · Richmond

Good Hot calls itself a deconstructed bathhouse: five private wood-fired saunas strung along the Point San Pablo coastline, each given to a single group. The cold half of the cycle is San Francisco Bay. The project subsidises low-income QTBIPOC visitors with discounted sessions and Uber reimbursement.

Finnish · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Steam past 220°F, dinner upstairs · Cleveland

A Russian-Turkish bathhouse that has run in Cleveland since the 1920s, where admission buys the steam downstairs and dinner upstairs. The steam room is heated past 220°F, with a cold plunge pool, showers and a patio beside it. Most days are men only, with women-only and co-ed days on a rotation.

Banya · Steam · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Ladder into 44°F Lake Superior · Eagle Harbor

A lakeside Finnish sauna on the Keweenaw Peninsula with a wood-fired stove and a ladder going straight into Lake Superior, where the water sits around 44°F. Private 75-minute sessions for small groups, a small dressing room, changing outdoors. There is very little between the bench and the lake.

Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Korean bath over an artesian well · Los Angeles

Formerly Beverly Hot Springs, this Korean bathhouse on North Oxford Avenue sits over a natural artesian well. The warm mineral water fills a stone grotto pool, with a cold plunge, eucalyptus steam and a dry sauna beside it. Men and women bathe separately, and nudity is optional.

Finnish · Steam · $$$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Swim out through a waterfall · Chicago

A restored 1902 factory in River West, lit by candles. The circuit runs through warm, hot and cold pools, a salt float bath, aromatherapy steam and a dry sauna. To reach the Palestra, a warm outdoor pool, you swim out through a waterfall.

Finnish · Steam · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Amethyst, red clay and ice rooms · Centreville

A Korean jjimjilbang on Braddock Road in Centreville. In the house uniform, everyone shares a hall of seven poultice rooms, from amethyst and red clay to charcoal, salt and ice. The single-sex bathing areas add dry and humid saunas, hot and cold baths and a jet-massage bade pool.

Jjimjilbang · Finnish · Steam · Ice · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Cool down in the snow · Minneapolis

Two wood-fired saunas parked at Cedar Lake Point Beach in Minneapolis. The cool-down is the winter air, the snow or the lake, depending how committed you are. Seats sell singly, and both saunas together take a group of ten.

Finnish · $$ · Session-booked

Houston's wood-fired Bul-Ga-Ma kilns · Houston

A jjimjilbang on Highway 6 in west Houston, billed as the first spa in the country with wood-fired Bul-Ga-Ma kilns. Guests in uniform share the co-ed floor of themed heat rooms, and the clothing-optional bathing halls are kept separate. Body scrubs, sleeping lounges and a Korean food court fill out the day.

Jjimjilbang · Finnish · Steam · Infrared · Ice · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

9,200 feet up, just off I-70 · Silver Plume

A wood-fired sauna and cold plunge on a cedar deck in Silver Plume, 9,200 feet up and just off I-70. You check in at a lounge and café across the street. Beyond the shared sessions, the calendar runs to full moon nights and sauna raves.

Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in

Cedar barrel, Puget Sound plunge · Seattle

A wood-fired cedar barrel that sets up on the shore at Alki Beach Park in West Seattle, with the plunge taken in Puget Sound. It seats a dozen or so. The exact spot on the beach follows the operator's parks permit, so look up where it has landed before you walk down.

Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Dovetailed log sauna on a pond · Montville

Three wood-fired saunas on freshwater ponds in Montville, Maine, each with its own way into the water. Two are called Burrow and Perch, and the third is a dovetailed Estonian-style log sauna. Book one privately, or take a seat at a public or silent session.

Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Floating cedar on the Columbia · Portland

A floating cedar sauna moored at Elevated Tides Marina on the Columbia River in north Portland. Between rounds you lounge on the deck, and the cold plunge goes straight off it into the river. Sessions are shared with other guests, or a group of up to ten books it privately.

Floating · Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Outdoors above the French Broad · Asheville

An outdoor wood-fired sauna site in Woodfin, just north of Asheville, overlooking the French Broad River. Cedar saunas, cold plunge tubs, a fire pit and lounge tents keep the whole thing out of doors. Drop in to a community session, or book a sauna or the whole site.

Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked

Birch veniks on the Broadwalk · Hollywood

A Russian banya on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, steps from the Atlantic. There is a hot banya room with birch veniks, plus a dry sauna, eucalyptus steam and an ozonated cold plunge. Walk in for a public session, or book it privately for anything from one guest to a large group.

Banya · Finnish · Steam · $$$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in