Globally there are only a few examples of how enjoying a soak in natural hot springs has become a facet of everyday life, becoming a part of it a nation's culture. Japan springs to mind, while Iceland seems to be heading in the same direction what with the many more luxurious bathing establishments opening or on the verge of opening. Though the ease of access (for locals) might not be taken into consideration. So maybe not there yet ...
In recent years, especially in northern Europe where the absence of freely available hot waters or hot waters easily accessible subsurface, enjoying a natural swim has taken a flight. Outdoor swimming. Wild swimming. Winter swimming. Especially cities are looking at ways to encourage swimming.
Other similar to hot-spring-culture encouragement are the existence of smaller public saunas. Continental Europe though has seen a decline in these facilities as larger more luxurious sauna based complexes have elbowed the smaller sites out of the market. Thus giving the sauna visit something more elitist.
However the low threshold saunas are coming back.
In Ireland we've seen a couple of initiatives of rental saunas, England has followed suit; I'm also familiar with companies in less traditional sauna cultured countries such as Germany, Denmark and Switzerland which offer the same: small scale mobile saunas, adjacent to natural (cool) waters, sometimes complemented by a small hot tub. You rent them privately. Or they organise it for the public to use. Or they compliment festivals.
The Guardian very recently (Jun. 18) had an article on what could Britains next rave:
'In the last two years, “at least 50 ‘new wave’ UK saunas are either already up and running or being built, with many more in various stages of planning”, says the British Sauna Society founder Mika Meskanen. This summer’s festivals are setting up wellness areas with saunas, while author Caitlin Moran called the sauna “the new pub”.
A very Brits oriented article, but it's clear that many of these new saunas are low-cost community based.
Norway's answer offers a new twist. Often very sleekly designed sauna's, that are either moored to a jetty or which can be boated out onto a bay. It's apparently all the rage.
Travelwritersmagazine (Mar. 10, 2021):
'One of the hottest trends in Norway in recent years, architecturally savvy floating saunas offer an unbeatable combination of a hot sauna experience and a more than refreshing dip in a chilly Norwegian lake or fjord'.
Alternate
Now coincidentally I was in Norway not too long ago.
So what would we be talking about? In the town of Kragerø (south Norway) we took the opportunity to enjoy one of these.
The remaining photos of this blog are of this visit.
I had stumbled across a photo on Instagram of their account which links to their website (Kragerobadstuforening) where besides info there's also an explanation of how to book an hour of sauna fun. Unfortunately in Norwegian, but with translation opportunities it's all quite understandable.
About the organisation:
'Kragerø sauna association is a non-profit association that was established to facilitate local quality bathing for everyone in the entire municipality throughout the year. You become a member by visiting us, and everyone is warmly welcome to contribute and think according to desire and ability. Profits must be returned to the above starting point'.
We booked for a later slot at 9 pm.
Just head online, book and pay. And then turn up at the allotted time.
The website ensures there are no more than 12 soakers per hour, so never too busy.
As it was mid-June light or lack of this is a non-issue.
Located midway up a jetty adjacent to the Gunnarsholmen islet (with small beach), we could already see others jumping from the float into Norway's clear waters.
We walked the jetty to the sauna.
There's no explanation, but there's a small 2 persons changing area, a shower (cold) and roughly three quarters of the float is taken up by the sauna, finely blazing. There were two other soakers on the verge of terminating their sauna session. They were taking a boat up the coast for delivery in Oslo and were sheltering while the coastal wind would dissipate, day after tomorrow. What else to do but take a good sauna?
We were soon joined by someone else, who had just found out how sauna bathing was helping her health.
Temperature inside was great and I was surprised that the fjord seawater was a nice 17C degrees.
A great way to pass by an hour or so, with alternating cold sea plunges then back to reheating and sweating.
Trendy
The sauna in Kragero is by no means an abnormality. Now for your Norwegian topography lessons:
- Kristainsand was inviting offers for similar initiatives (Apr. 4). Translated:
'Now we can get sauna rafts in three places in the municipality. One in the city center, one in Høllen and one east of Otra'.
- Tonsberg (Tonsbergfjordspa; a for profit operation from an Oslo based group) had boatable saunas, they were trying to add hot tubs to their tubs but their permission seemed to be opposed by locals fearing party like atmosphere. Their Facebook page (May 13):
'Unfortunately, we were not given the benefit of the doubt by a group of Kaldnes residents and now they have made it their mission to stop us getting permits for the area - which results in the entire city of Tønsberg not having available the awesome, healthy, fun and sustainable activities that we provide'.
- Melsomvik: not floating, but mobile (source, community funded).
- Skien-Porsgrunn: a company (Saunaboats) offering floating saunas.
- Longyearbyen on Svalbard, a floating sauna owned by the port authorities.
- Drammen has a couple of operators. Elvebadstua and KOK Oslo based as well).
- Jevnaker, just north of Oslo has a company (Flytfjord sauna) running a single floating sauna.
- Stavanger: a company (Dampsauna) with mobile and floating saunas for private rent
- Sandefjord: association still acquiring the floating sauna.
- Flåm: Fjordsauna
- Moss, another town, another floating sauna. See lead photo.
- The inner city of Oslo harbour is jam packed with floating saunas. Harbourfront redevelopment has encouraged swimming possibilities, so it's no wonder that these also very popular for tourists saunas. These possibilities are very youth oriented. The visitoslo website notes 2 floating saunas as well as the quayside SALT sauna / art / drinking hole. I think I saw at least two other operators downtown.
- Bergen. Heitsauna has two floating sauna's in the city's center. The company also has sauna's at Akrafjord, Haugesund and Sørfjord.
Cheating
So, we've established that this sauna thing is catching on (in Norway) and might just be a similar-to-soaking culture, one heading for the Europe's mainstream even?
But then on a side note: what did surprise me is that where you would expect an absence of clothing to be a non-starter, the impression seems to be opposite.
What's up here Norway?
Is this because these sauna's are often located in built-up areas? Is it because younger persons / Norwegians are taking a different direction in life? Is social media to be blamed? Is it solely for tourists?
Over at Norway's largest sauna complex, The Well Spa, they believe that promoting what they say continental sauna culture is a good business set-up:
'The Well is built on continental bathing traditions with natural nudity. Natural nudity means being naked there and when it is natural, and many find peace and enjoy the freedom in just this way - to swim naked'.
I spent a day there enjoying all what's on offer (no, no it was research for this blog!), but felt very confused by how they try to promote their ideas.
Nakedness is essential in the saunas:
'The Well sets the highest standards for hygiene and health, and therefore in saunas and steam baths are not allowed with swimwear'.
And optional while swimming. But not on Tuesdays, when it's all optional.
Effectively it meant that on Tuesdays you're really standing out if you choose the establishments preferred policies. And you're barred from swimming and saunaing outdoors. So much for good intentions.
It doesn't seem to a good copy of continental (?) sauna culture where enforced naked enjoyment is once more enjoying more popularity (it seems the clothed days are leading to more maintenance / management issues) and the clarity provided means everybody knows what to expect.
I'm not the only one with a case of confusion. On reddit:
'After some wonderful days in Oslo, the missus and I are spending two days at a spa (The Well). With Finnish sauna culture in mind, we expected everyone to be very liberal about their nudity here, even more so than in the Benelux and Germany where going naked is pretty much obligatory in all the spas / wellness centers.We knew from the website nudity was optional but were very surprised to see we were in the vast minority, with like 90 percent of people wearing bathing suits and thus very much drawing attention to our nudity as something odd and non standard, which is exactly what you don't want when you're naked. Even in the saunas everyone was wearing little towels around their bits'.
I thought this other experience by ghetran (Feb. 19, 2017) shouldn't be withheld:
'Easier said then done, of course, ’cause at 12 o’clock am we’re the only people without a bathing suit! haha! It feels so awkward we almost go back and buy one [not allowed to bring one's own, only company endorsed swimming suits allowed], but then we’re like, oh, come on, you need to take it off at the sauna and in the shower anyway. Except some people don’t, not even there, even though it’s written on walls and so on. So we feel slightly cheated.Gordana: “I’ve been in Norway for 20 years, so I’m used to showering naked before entering the pool and besides one needs to be naked at the sauna, so I don’t mind that much.” Me: “And I’ve been here for 17 years and I avoid swimming pools and saunas for exactly the same reason, although, between me and you, it’s mostly because I don’t want to see everybody else’s untrimmed bushes and tiny weenies.” We laugh so hard we make waves in the pool, waves that roll over us and crush onto our naked boobs'.
So even Norway's sauna Walhalla fails to provide proof of the pudding.
Update Nov. 2022: I'd like to apply a figure to The Wells experience.
Overall it's very luxiourious, very neatly finished. Other pluses were the Banya experience, the big indoor pool.
On the negatives were beside the unclear clothing optionalities the non-use of outdoor pool and sauna as these were in a clothes obligation zone, the confusing onsen situation (was eventually closed). An 8, or 8+ even?
Fear
But what do others say concerning Norwegian sauna culture?
Fodors has a 10 step guide concerning Oslo's urban saunas (Oct. 5, 2019) and google prefers you read this as part of the research:
'Many saunas have a strict “no swimsuit” rule to limit bacteria brought in by wet bathing suits; guests are asked to use clean towels to cover up instead. Check the protocols of the particular sauna before going—and check in with your own nudity comfort level'.
Hmmm, of the above noted floating saunas, not one had such a strict rule. To the contrary: most assume / presume you going to be in a bathing suit, only the Oslofjordspa is more or less clear:
'CAN I BE NAKED OR GO IN THE SAUNA IN MY UNDERWEAR?Afraid not! Awim [Swim?] wear is required at all times both inside and outside of the saunas.
I also tried looking up non-English info, because whereas the Norwegians might understand their own culture, others might need an explanation.
Skigebiedengids in Dutch, turn on google translate for the gist:
'Naakt of met zwembroek in de sauna in NoorwegenNoorwegen behoort tot de wat preutsere landen als het gaat om bloot. Net als in de andere Scandinavische wintersportlanden zijn er over het algemeen geen gemengde openbare sauna’s. Mannen en vrouwen gaan apart naar de wellness. Alleen in privé-sauna’s kun je gemengd naar de sauna. Maar hotelsauna’s zijn meestal gescheiden en dan nog houden de meeste Noren hun zwembroek in de sauna aan'.
When sauna mixed, Norwegians like to hide behind their swimming trunks (or more).
Der Zeit (23 Dec. 2020) reveals more of the same:
'Neben dänischen gehen auch französische, britische und norwegische Saunabesucher dagegen meist mit Badesachen in eine gemischte Sauna'.
So let's presume that the Norwegian craze of floating saunas everywhere catches on (northern Europe wise), would we suggest that each culture might adapt to their own? Or will we stick to the safe, all the easier to show off social media wise?
Possible answers below?
