British Sauna Week

About this event

British Sauna Week is a coordinated week of open sessions, events and demonstrations across the United Kingdom's public sauna scene, run to make a fast-growing but still scattered culture visible in one place. Britain has no long domestic sauna tradition comparable to Finland's, and what exists has been built recently and from the ground up: mobile barrel saunas on beaches and lakesides, community-owned saunas in towns and cities, and converted horseboxes parked beside cold water. The week brings those operators together so newcomers can try a session at a venue near them rather than travelling to a spa. Programming typically includes aufguss sessions, where a sauna master circulates the heat with a towel and scented water, alongside guided cold-water dipping and talks on safe practice. The framing is social and public rather than luxury: shared heat, conversation and cold water as a habit rather than a treatment. The 2026 week runs from 7 to 13 September.