There’s heated debate about when exactly sauna was invented, but it’s thought the practice has been around for at least 4,000 years. The original set-up was little more than a pit in the ground warmed by fire. And now, just a few millennia later, these sophisticated saunas in London have perfected the genre (after, you know, a little influence from Finland). Dip into a Victorian bath-houses or take it easy in a five-star luxury spa… there can’t be many better places in London for a hot date.
SweatLounge | Chiswick
SweatLounge is the only exclusive infrared sauna studio in the country – and just to shed a little light on what that actually means, it’s basically a sleek, high-tech alternative to traditional saunas that helps your body to detox and destress, while leaving you feeling like a human rather than a freshly-boiled lobster. Not such a terrible idea, to be honest. The space is equipped with a private, one-person pod or larger IR Cabins with room for up to two people. Inside each pod, you’re bathed in gentle, yet powerful heat. Instead of superheating the air around you, infrared saunas use the power of light to warm you from the inside out, meaning you get the same toxin-flushing, circulation-boosting benefits of a regular sauna, but at a more manageable temperature. Now that’s a glow up.
Details: 48 Chiswick High Rd., Chiswick, W4 1SZ
Netil Corner’s Rooftop Saunas | London Fields
Netil House’s quartet of hand-crafted aspen wood cabins come with a better view than your typical sauna – not least because they’re only available for private hire, so you won’t be facing a crowd of sweaty strangers. It’s their position on top of a rooftop in Hackney which makes them so unique, with each cabin boasting almost floor-to-ceiling views of the London skyline. You can book sessions of 30, 60 or 90 minutes – we’d recommend taking as long as you can, since each cabin also comes with your own personal cool-down space, where you can enjoy those views next to a cosy fire pit along with a glass of a wine.
Details: Netil Corner, 2 Bocking Street, London, E8 4RU
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Sauna & Plunge | Shoreditch
When Shoreditch does saunas, it doesn’t do ‘muddy shed in a field somewhere’. It does sleek, open-plan converted spaces decked out in chic Scandi minimalism, with infrared & electric saunas that can zip up to 100°C (yes, apparently that is a temperature you can withstand) and eco-friendly 3D-printed ice baths mere feet away for you to cool off in. The masochistic combo of hot and cold is something not just millions of healthy Fins swear by, but scientists too, and there’s a lovely café space and yoga/breathwork studio for you to wind down in.
Details: 124 Tabernacle Street, London EC2A 4SA
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Banya No.1 | Hoxton
Find traditional saunas too – ugh – relaxing? Then sip a couple of vodkas before entering one of the only authentic banya – Russian saunas – in London. It’s possible to book a basic package that includes a slow broiling in the steam room followed by a swift cooling off in an icy plunge pool. But that would mean missing out on parenie. The Siberian treatment involves a vigorous rub-down using tree branches and foliage and is believed to improve circulation and relieve muscular tension. Fully invigorated, you’ll be glad to recover in the ‘rest and relaxation area’ with helpings of crayfish, beetroot soup, gherkins and, of course, Russian Standard vodka.
Details: 17 Micawber Street, Hoxton, N1 7TB
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Community Sauna Baths | Hackney, Stratford, Bermondsey, Peckham
The friendly folk behind the Community Sauna Baths are on a mission to bring the benefits of sauna to every neighbourhood in the UK. If that sounds like a noble endeavour, you can selflessly get behind the project at their growing number of London saunas & plunge pools. At their flagship, the old Eastway public baths in Hackney Wick, you’ll find six communal saunas holding up to 18 people, and a private sauna available for up to six. Of course, in a true sauna experience, you can’t have hot without cold – that’s achieved in a novel way here by dunking yourself in an old whiskey barrel filled with icy water.
Details: The Baths, 80 Eastway, Hackney Wick, E9 5JH | Stratford Sauna, Penny Brookes Street, London E20 1BL | Innervisions Alchemy, Ilderton Wharf, Rollins Street, SE15 1EP | Glengall Wharf Garden, 64 Glengall Road, SE15 6NF (temporarily closed)
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Sauna Social Club | Peckham
If your friends don’t ‘get’ sauna yet and you need to carve yourself an entire new social group, this is where to do it. SSC is a newly-opened sauna & chill space that’s just cut the ribbon in a spacious Peckham railway arch. There’s a fairly sizeable sauna here in the main space, which you can book for a brisk 50 minute reset or a more leisurely 1h45 session complete with breath work, meditation & yoga with a trained practitioner. But there’s a big focus on the social aspect, too: after cooling off in their outdoor ice baths you can relax for as long as you like in the soothingly lit lounge, which has facemasks to indulge in, an alcohol-free bar, and DJs on Friday & Saturday nights.
Details: Railway Arch 842 Brayards Road, Peckham SE15 2AG
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Sweheat | Royal Docks
Dunck the travelling sauna has had quite the journey, travelling from a stable in Nottinghamshire to Bristol, Glastonbury, and the Hackney Community Sauna before pitching up here in the docklands. There’s a strong sense of community here, with regular ‘sauna for dudes’ nights where guys can hash out whatever’s on their mind; upbeat full moon sauna ceremonies; breathwork sessions; menopause groups; and German sauna sessions – led by an Aufgussmeister, they involve a special soundtrack, elaborate towel choreography, and “beautifully concocted infused ice balls.”
Details: Western Beach, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Dock Road, London, E16 1AH
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Finnish Church | Rotherhithe
Given the reverence with which sauna is treated in its homeland, it’s only right and proper that the only Finnish church in London has a sauna in the basement. Public single-sex sessions are held on various evenings, or you can book out the whole place yourself (maximum eight people). It’s an experience for the purists, with just a changing room, the sauna itself and showers – though you can always snaffle a cinnamon bun from the church café on your way out.
Details: Finnish Church, 33 Albion St, Rotherhithe, SE16 7HZ
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Porchester Spa | Bayswater
There are no sound-bowl therapies or oxygen facials at the Porchester Spa – a visit here is more about enjoying the no-nonsense charm of the 1929 bath-house. A set designer wouldn’t have to do too much here before the film crew for the latest Agatha Christie rolled in – the Art Deco lights and green and white tiles remain, alongside some of the original signage (“refreshments available at moderate prices” – how quaint!). The sauna is just one of many facilities on offer, including Turkish hot rooms, steam rooms and a lovely plunge pool. If you want to add a dash of extravagance, there are treatments such as scrubs and massages available.
Details: Queensway, Bayswater, W2 5HS
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St Pancras Spa | King’s Cross
It’s a little difficult to spend any time in the sauna at the St Pancras Spa – you’ll have a job persuading yourself to stay out of its pool for long enough. With restored decorative tiling, arched doorways and tall windows, this small subterranean spa is set in the original kitchens of the Victorian-era Midland Grand Hotel (now the St Pancras Renaissance), and counts as one of London’s prettiest places to unwind. As well as the sauna and pool, there are six treatment rooms, a gym and steam room at your disposal. Once you’re fully soaked and scrubbed, it’s worth wandering through the rest of the stunning hotel to take a picture on the Spice Girls staircase, and rehydrate with a cocktail at Gothic Bar.
Details: St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Euston Road, King’s Cross, NW1 2AR
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Parliament Hill Lido | Hampstead
Sitting at the base of Hampstead Heath, the art deco Parliament Hill Lido is one of the loveliest places for an outdoor swim in the city. And for an extra £3.50 you can tack on an hour’s session in the new sauna, which is housed in a shipping container. It’s only open in the colder months (end of September – May), and even then just in the morning – but it has to be one of the best-value spots for a little sauna action in London.
Details: Parliament Hill Fields, Gordon House Road, London NW5 1LT
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Espa Life at The Corinthia | Westminster
‘Villain’s lair’ is very much the vibe at ESPA Life, the in-house spa at the Corinthia Hotel. It’s a place of high drama, with rooms clad in polished black or white marble and lit by flickering firelight. The sauna is a thing of beauty; a sunken ‘amphitheatre’ surrounded by glass walls, so you can peer out at your fellow spa-goers as they pad about around you. It’s easily one of the most luxurious saunas in London, and once you’re done in there, there are four floors of spa to explore. There are whole host of treatments available, too, from facials and hot-stone massages to acupuncture and sound therapy.
Details: Whitehall Place, Whitehall, SW1A 2BD
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Still London | Dalston
The infrared sauna in the basement of this Dalston beauty salon is all about you. Privately hireable for just one person at a time, it’s the most relaxing form of solitary confinement. You can turn up the dial for near, mid and far infrared rays to soak up their various benefits before slipping into a birch-scented shower with rejuvenating green clay soap.
Details: 450 Kingsland Road, Dalston, E8 4AE
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So there we have it. There are actually a surprising number of saunas in London, given our general propensity to avoid having to make any kind of small talk with a group of strangers. But settle in to one of these fine places, and reap the benefits of improved heart health, reduced risk of dementia, and quantifiable stress relief. And now, fittingly, our guide must…
…Finnish.
In need of some more self-care? Check out our guide to the best yoga classes in London…
