The 10 best saunas in the world
Last reviewed September 2026
Sauna began as a Finnish habit and has become a global one. The rhythm has not changed: heat, cold water, rest, repeat. What has changed is where it happens.
#1 · Rajaportin Sauna
Tradition beats Helsinki's design pieces · Tampere
Helsinki has the architect-designed waterfront saunas; Finland's slot still goes to Tampere. Against every newer room on this list, Rajaportin offers a wood-heated stove and a dark, low-ceilinged room. Neither has fundamentally changed in over a century of public bathing since 1906, and for anyone who cares about tradition it is the pilgrimage.
Smoke · € · Drop-in
#2 · Mooska Smoke Sauna
Heritage-listed heat, three hours minimum · Haanja
Finland's pick keeps the old room; Estonia's keeps the old craft, and UNESCO lists it. Mooska sells no ticketed shift, only a ceremony of at least three hours led by master Eda Veeroja, booked by arrangement. The chimneyless sauna is heated slowly over a day, a patience no drop-in venue on this list can match.
Smoke · €€€ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#3 · Ribersborgs Kallbadhus
Sweden's sea bathhouse, the oldest pick here · Malmö
The kallbadhus, a bathhouse built out over the sea, is Sweden's gift to world sauna, and Ribban is the benchmark. Working since 1898, it is older than any other pick here, with several saunas, one wood-fired, and a long Aufguss tradition. Bathing is gender-separated and open-air, and the slot to aim for is sunset over the strait.
Finnish · Steam · under 275 kr · Cold plunge · Drop-in
#4 · Bathhouse Williamsburg
New York's flagship bathhouse · Brooklyn
The original 2019 Bathhouse and the biggest of its New York locations. Eight thermal pools, one of the largest stadium-seating saunas in the city, steam rooms, a hammam and a restaurant, with daily aufguss rituals under low light. Our curator rated it five out of five: in true New York fashion, everything is done right.
“What a gem!” · Josje
Finnish · Steam · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in
#5 · Community Sauna Baths — Hackney Wick
Non-profit, and level with Brooklyn · London
Brooklyn's pick has eight thermal pools and a restaurant; London's is a non-profit, and our curators rate them level. Seven wood-fired saunas fill a converted bathhouse at Hackney Wick, with a real range of temperatures and low prices. Britain's scene is community-run, and nowhere is it more complete than here, canalside near the Olympic Park.
“Since they first opened, they’ve made a bunch of changes, added quite a lot of new saunas.” · James
Finnish · £ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#6 · SATAMA Sauna Resort & Spa
Where Aufguss became a sport · Wendisch Rietz
Germany's sauna culture is the Aufguss, the choreographed infusion, and this is the venue that hosts its world championship. The Aufguss World Championships have run here more than once, in a theatre sauna staged for the show among nine rooms. Where Germany's thermes lead with pools, SATAMA is built around the sauna, with the Scharmützelsee for cooling.
Finnish · €€ · Drop-in
#7 · Bains des Pâquis
Public baths on Geneva's harbour jetty · Geneva
A public bathhouse on a jetty in Geneva's harbour, looking out to the jet d'eau and Mont Blanc. The winter wellness space holds two mixed saunas, two hammams and a Turkish bath, with steps straight into the lake. Silence is the house rule indoors, with the rest room and salon kept for quiet between rounds.
Finnish · Steam · under CHF25 · Drop-in
#8 · The Secret Sauna Cardrona
High-country barrel, creek-fed plunge · Cardrona
A wood-fired cedar barrel sauna on a working high-country farm in the Cardrona Valley. A troop-carrier runs up from the car park on Waiorau Nordic Road, and rounds of heat are broken by creek-fed plunge pools. Sessions are shared, for one or two hours, or booked privately for up to twelve.
Finnish · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#9 · Kuuma - Nature Sauna
A wood-fired sauna that sails · Barretta
A wood-fired sauna on a boat that leaves Margate Marina, twenty minutes south of Hobart. Ninety-minute cruises on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel take up to eight people, who share the heat and step off into the cold water between rounds. Sunrise and golden-hour departures run alongside three-hour private charters.
Floating · Finnish · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#10 · Tality Wellness — Shipyards
Rated five out of five, twice · North Vancouver
A purpose-built contrast space on North Vancouver's Shipyards waterfront. A large electric sauna seats twenty-plus, with four cold plunges at two temperatures and a heated lounge, cycled at your own pace. Two firsthand visits both scored it five out of five, for the big heaters, the scents you choose for the stones and the kombucha on tap.
“Loved this place.” · James
Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
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