How to choose a sauna

A Finnish room is a hot, dry box, usually 80–100°C, with a stove and a ladle. An infrared studio is a warm cabin of panels, closer to 45–65°C, built for a private session. A Korean spa is a whole building: kiln saunas, a cold pool, a jimjilbang floor, and a meal afterward. A banya sits between them, with a parilka, a cold plunge, and oak leaves.

If you only know you want “a sauna,” start with the tradition, not the neighborhood. The wrong room is still a nice afternoon. It is just a different afternoon.

A 4.9 from 40 reviews and a 4.4 from 2,000 reviews are different facts. The second number has survived a Saturday. On this site the default order favors rooms that many people have already used, then rating.

Every listing with hourly popularity gets a quiet window and a busy window. Go at the quiet time for a first visit. Go at the busy time if you want the social version of the same room.

Is there a cold plunge or only a shower? Do you need a membership, or is there a day pass? Are the listed hours one range for the whole day, or a real weekly schedule? We print the hours we have and we do not invent a Monday-through-Sunday grid.

Price stays off the page until the venue or its own site confirms it. A wrong day-pass number is worse than a blank.