Public sauna etiquette: a guide for UK first-timers

Before you go in

• Shower. It’s basic hygiene, and it helps you start sweating sooner.
• Take off metal jewellery and watches, which heat up and can burn.
• Bring a towel to sit or lie on, so your sweat goes on the towel, not the wood.
• Drink some water, and skip alcohol. See alcohol and saunas.

Inside the sauna

• Close the door quickly to keep the heat in.
• Pick your bench. Higher benches are hotter. Start low if you’re new.
• Keep it calm. Many venues are quiet or silent; others are sociable. Watch what others do.
• Ask before throwing water on the stones (löyly). Everyone feels the wave of heat, so it’s polite to check. Only use the bucket and ladle provided, and never pour water on an electric heater unless it’s designed for it.
• No phones, both for privacy and because heat damages them.

Between rounds

The usual rhythm is a round of heat, then a cool-down, then rest, repeated two or three times. Many UK clubs are by the sea, a river or a lake, or have a cold plunge or shower. The cold is optional. If you do take a dip, enter slowly and read about cold water shock first.

What about clothes?

In most UK public saunas, swimwear is expected. Some spas and clubs following German or Finnish custom have textile-free sessions, usually clearly signed. Follow the venue’s rules.

When to leave

Whenever you want. Leave straight away if you feel dizzy, sick, have a headache or a pounding heart, and tell a member of staff. Never fall asleep in a sauna, and don’t leave a friend who has been drinking alone in one: in Finland, about half of deaths in saunas involved alcohol.

Is a public sauna hygienic?

Well-run venues clean benches daily and manage water systems to control legionella in showers and plunge pools, as UK health and safety law requires. Sitting on your own towel and showering before and after does the rest.