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A visit to the sauna is no longer just about sweating. In addition to very traditional sauna landscapes, there are now enough spectacular ones that ensure a very special wellness experience.
Towel, hot stones, around 80 degrees heat, infusion bucket: that’s all you really need for relaxation and hardening in the sauna. But many thermal baths and hotels don’t let their guests sweat so simply. They offer spectacular views, costumed sauna masters and special effects. A selection of the most spectacular sauna landscapes in Europe.
9 special sauna landscapes in Europe
1. Timeless design landscape: The 7132 Therme in Vals, Graubünden
The 7132 Therme is particularly popular with minimalists. It was created by award-winning architect Peter Zumthor from more than 60,000 slabs of quartzite. The sauna area, which is unique in Europe, has been a listed building since 1998. The thermal bath is fed from the 30 degree warm St. Petersquelle. Since the architect did not want an “adventure pool”, the entire pool is very reduced.
There are neither slides nor other “fun” devices, nor elements modeled on nature, such as artificial waterfalls. And there is something else that visitors might miss at first glance: clocks. Architect Zumthor explicitly spoke out against this, because the experience should be timeless. However, when the client insisted on a watch, two tiny watches were made. They are at the end of a long pole and are the size of a pocket watch.
2. Under the Northern Lights: Arctic Forest Spa – Metsäkyly, Finland
In the motherland of saunas, the sweat houses are built from old and whole spruce trunks and are called Kelosauna. With a bit of luck, you can sit outside in the steaming whirlpool under the mystically flickering northern lights on the Arctic Circle near the luxurious “Arctic Treehouse Hotel”, with a glass of champagne in your hand instead of the traditional beer. Depending on the season, spa guests cool off after sweating by either jumping into the forest lake or into the ice hole.
3.Laser Show: Bathing Gardens Eibenstock in the Ore Mountains, Saxony
In this facility, the guest sweats in a kind of Russian-Karelian sauna village on the edge of the forest. There are 12 different sweating areas in Eibenstock, including an earth sauna and various “Banjas”. There is also a special highlight with the laser show in the pool area. Guests can spend the night in six shepherd wagons by the natural pond on the 5000 square meter site or in the nearby riding and sports hotel. Admission for adults is 36 euros. More details can be found here .
4.Koi sauna in the Thermen- und Badewelt Sinsheim, Baden-Württemberg
The 166 square meter Japanese-style koi sauna is the highlight of the eighth themed saunas in the thermal and bathing world in Sinsheim near Stuttgart. The Therme Erding near Munich is better known – but only in Sinsheim do guests see fish swimming on one side of the sauna and look across at the landscape. You can cool down under 400 palm trees, which are protected by a roof in bad weather. Here you will find all information about the thermal and bathing world in Sinsheim.
5.Holiday exoticism: Mediterana in Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia
The Mediterana wellness world on Lake Bensberg in Bergisch Gladbach offers saunas as immersion in another world . In the 18,000 square meter complex in Spanish-Moorish and Indian style with thermal bath, all 15 saunas and steam baths are special. For example, there is a Persian gemstone bath, a “Rajasthani house” with Ayurvedic treatments, a candle sauna, a Himalayan salt gallery and an Andalusian sweat bath. The 8-hour stay in the sauna and wellness area costs 36 euros.
6.With waves and a view of the lake: Monte Mare lake sauna at Tegernsee
The “Irmingard” on the Tegernsee, the lake sauna of Monte Mare , offers gentle waves while sweating and a view of the lake and mountains . In the stern of the 17 meter long ship from 1925 there is a sweat cabin with ten percent humidity. You rest in the bow, the jump into the lake cools down. There are four more saunas on the shore, such as the reed sauna, and a steam bath. In the sensory sauna, music accompanies hardening, in the Kelosauna the Wenik infusion – hitting and waving birch twigs – is particularly popular. Incidentally, the lake sauna in the Fontane Therme in Neuruppin is the largest swimming sauna in Germany.
7.Shaman ritual: “Lüsnerhof” in Lüsen, South Tyrol
In this sauna landscape you can take part in a shamanic sauna ritual in the middle of Europe. Because in the “Naturhotel Lüsnerhof” the sweat lodge ritual is carried out once a week, which has been celebrated by indigenous people in South America for 2000 years. But be careful: According to the website , the ritual lasts 2.5 to 3 hours. The Indian sweat lodge at the edge of the forest is connected to the hotel via an idyllic stream path. A stream sauna on the shore offers relaxation. You can cool off in the flowing spring water or have a good time in a wooden infrared gondola and a small brine pool. The hotel has nine more saunas and steam baths, two solid wood bathhouses with brine and steam baths and a large brine grotto for floating in the water. People meet at the natural bathing pond, at the pools or in the tea house to cool down and relax.
8.Environmentally friendly ambience: “Waldklause” in Längenfeld, Ötztal
The ” Naturhotel Waldklause ” is one of the first solid wood hotels that does not require glue or nails. Its 1800 square meter spa and wellness area offers a view of trees and a stream on three floors. In the tree sauna, the Finnish sauna and the steam baths, you can still sweat without entertainment. At the top you can relax in lounger swings and on waterbeds by the fireplace with a view of the treetops. The hotel price includes entry to the 2,000 square meter spa at the Aqua Dome thermal baths next door. Here you float on the roof in a brine bowl and look at imposing three-thousands.
9.In the apple barrel: “AusZeit” in Bad Schallerbach, Upper Austria
The Mostfassl event sauna is the highlight of the 13 saunas at the Eurotherme “AusZeit” near Linz. In the barrel, which has a capacity of 250,000 liters, there are various sauna rituals centered around the cider. Sweating is accompanied by music and film during the infusion. Of course there is also must to drink.
