The 10 best saunas in the world
Last reviewed October 2026
In Tampere a wood-heated stove has warmed the same public room since 1906. In the hills of Old Võromaa, a farm keeps the smoke-sauna ritual that UNESCO lists. In Shibuya, löyly masters work nine rooms to a timetable.
#1 · Rajaportin Sauna
Tradition beats Helsinki's design pieces · Tampere
Helsinki has the architect-designed waterfront saunas, but Finland's slot still goes to Tampere. Rajaportin's dark, low-ceilinged room has barely changed in more than a century of public bathing. Every newer room on this list is a variation on what happens here.
Smoke · € · Drop-in
#2 · Mooska Smoke Sauna
Heritage-listed heat, three hours minimum · Haanja
Finland's pick keeps the old room, and Estonia's keeps the old craft. Mooska has no drop-in shift, only a ceremony of three hours or more led by master Eda Veeroja. Heating the chimneyless sauna takes a whole day, a patience no other venue here 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 Malmö's Ribban is the benchmark. It has worked since 1898, which makes it the oldest pick here. Bathing is open-air and split by gender, with several saunas, one of them wood-fired, and a long aufguss tradition.
Finnish · Steam · under 275 kr · Cold plunge · Drop-in
#4 · Bathhouse — Williamsburg
New York's flagship bathhouse · Brooklyn
America's slot goes to a newcomer: the 2019 original of Bathhouse, still the biggest of its New York sites. Eight thermal pools, a stadium-seating sauna, steam rooms and a hammam sit under low light, and aufguss runs daily. Our curator gave it five out of five, because in true New York fashion everything is done right.
“What a gem!” · Josje
Finnish · Steam · $$ · Cold plunge · Drop-in
#5 · Community Sauna Baths — Hackney Wick
The community movement at full strength · London
Brooklyn's pick has eight thermal pools, while London's is a non-profit that still earned full marks from one of our curators. Hackney Wick is the community sauna movement at its most complete: seven wood-fired saunas in a converted canalside bathhouse. The temperatures range widely and the prices stay low.
“Since they first opened, they’ve made a bunch of changes, added quite a lot of new saunas.” · James
Finnish · £ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#6 · SATAMA Sauna Resort & Spa
Where aufguss became a sport · Wendisch Rietz
Germany's sauna culture is the aufguss, the choreographed infusion, and SATAMA has hosted its world championship more than once. Of its nine rooms, the theatre sauna is staged for the show. Most thermes lead with pools, but this one is built around the sauna, and the Scharmützelsee does the cooling.
Finnish · €€ · Drop-in
#7 · Saunas — Shibuya
Nine rooms from the author of Sa-do · Tokyo
Where Tampere keeps one dark room, Japan's pick runs nine. Tanaka Katsuki, the author of Sa-do, produced them near Shibuya station, with a deep cold plunge for the space between rounds. There is aufguss all day, and a workspace for guests settling in for longer.
Finnish · ¥ · Cold plunge · Drop-in
#8 · The Secret Sauna — Cardrona
High-country barrel, creek-fed plunge · Cardrona
New Zealand's pick is a wood-fired cedar barrel on a working high-country farm in the Cardrona Valley. A troop-carrier drives you up from the car park on Waiorau Nordic Road. Creek-fed plunge pools break up the heat, in shared sessions or private bookings for up to twelve.
Finnish · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#9 · Kuuma
A wood-fired sauna that sails · Barretta
Australia's pick is a wood-fired sauna on a boat, leaving Margate Marina twenty minutes south of Hobart. Ninety-minute cruises on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel take up to eight people, who step off into the cold water between rounds. Sunrise and golden-hour departures run alongside three-hour private charters.
Floating · Finnish · $$$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
#10 · Tality Wellness — Shipyards
Kombucha on tap, scents for the stones · North Vancouver
Canada's pick is the modern contrast studio done properly, on North Vancouver's Shipyards waterfront. A large electric room seats twenty-plus, and four cold plunges sit at two temperatures. Both of our curators scored it five out of five, for the big heaters, the scents you choose for the stones and the kombucha on tap.
“Loved this place.” · James
Finnish · $$ · Cold plunge · Session-booked
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