Scotland's outdoor saunas: from the East Neuk to Shetland, here's where to get your heat therapy

The al-fresco heat treatment trend has grown in recent years

Haar Sauna on St Ninian's Beach Photo: May Graham @photo_art_may

Back in 2021, there were just a couple of pioneering outdoor saunas in Scotland.

Now, we’re nearing a dozen of these coastal retreats, as we get accustomed to the Scandinavian concept and demand increases.

This experience is much more immersive than using a sauna in a spa. After all, you’re surrounded by nature, and are cooled by the waves or, if you’re not a wild swimmer, the breeze. There’s a view of the sea, sky and dunes, and maybe the occasional dog walker.

Elie Seaside Sauna Pic: Suzanne Black

Just take a water bottle, Speedos or cossie, and your own towel. Prepare to sweat.

ELIE SEASIDE SAUNA

Listen to the rustling marram grass as you scramble into this sauna, which is made from heat-treated aspen and has views over Woodhaven Bay to Elie Beach. Its owner, Judith Dunlop, recommends that you do around 10-15 minutes at a time, before splashing in the water, or cooling off outside. Then repeat, to get the full benefit.

“Having a sauna is about disengaging with the material world - de-adulting, in a way - and realising that happiness is about contentment and being grateful for what you’ve got, rather than having lots of stuff and projecting a certain appearance,” says Dunlop, who plans to open a bigger, more community-focused sauna next year. “It’s a great way to socialise that does not involve alcohol, or creating a superficial image. It's much more about self-acceptance and body positivity. It’s very democratic”.

Elie Seaside Sauna Pic: Suzanne Black

Private hire for up to eight guests is £72 per hour, or a community spot is just £12. An additional bonus is that this spot isn’t not far from The Ship Inn, where a post-sauna hot chocolate awaits you.

Elie Harbour, www.elieseasidesauna.com

BRAAN SAUNA AT THE TAYBANK

This rustic-looking sauna is beside the River Tay, but that tempestuous body of water is not for dipping. Instead, you can use their own six-foot-wide cold water plunge tank or icy shower. They also boast a changing area, communal fire pit, outdoor seating and gratis sauna whisks made with local birch. Inside, there’s a pretty vista of Thomas Telford's bridge. Sessions are 90 minutes for £80 private hire (up to eight people) or £10 for a community visit. It’ll be stationed here until the end of March 2024.

Watershed Sauna at Findhorn Pic: Watershed Sauna

Dunkeld, Perthshire, www.thetaybank.co.uk

WATERSHED SAUNA

“The sauna is positioned on the beautiful Findhorn Beach overlooking the Moray Firth. We often have seals and dolphins swimming past, and, during the summer months, folks spotted basking sharks from the big sauna window,” says Elle Adams, who owns this place with Rupert Hutchinson. The duo started the business to suit their outdoorsy lifestyle.

“We initially had the idea to build the sauna as a Scottish winter survival strategy for us and our friends,” says Adams. “We love spending time outdoors, and swimming in the sea, and a sauna felt like a natural addition to our nature connection toolkit. We underestimated how many other people would also be interested, so it has become an unexpected but welcome thriving little community based business”.

Soul Water Sauna

From our selection, their sauna is the most dramatic-looking - painted as black as jet, on a beautiful stretch with pale sands and dunes. They’ve been visited by locals, who come regularly, as well as wild swimmers and holidaymakers. There are private 60 minute sessions for £75, or you can bunk up with a communal slot for £15. According to them, the health perks are myriad.

“There is a huge amount of emerging research about the wide range of wellbeing benefits that saunas can provide,” Adams says. “We ran our own Winter Wellbeing programme for locals last year and have found through that, as well as our own experience, that the sauna can be really supportive for reducing stress and anxiety, and improving sleep, but also for helping improve people’s sense of resilience, and forming a social and nature connection”.

East Beach Carpark, Dunes Road, Findhorn, www.watershedsauna.com

HAAR SAUNA

Shed your Fair Isle sweater for a visit to Scotland’s first touring sauna, which has currently stopped in Shetland. This dark green vehicle is owned by Callum and Hannah Mary, who made it from a converted horsebox, after being inspired by a 2020 trip to a social enterprise sauna in Oslo’s Badstuforening. They’ve already visited Aberdeen beach, the Cairngorms, and the River Tay. Their most recent outpost is proving popular, and they hope to take the sauna to other areas in Shetland.

“Winter saunas are booming in Shetland,” says Callum. “The heat and steam in a sauna can provide a comforting and relaxing escape from the cold weather. Additionally, the contrast between the cold outside and the warmth inside a sauna can be invigorating. We are open most days in the winter holiday, and we are sold out almost every day. So, people are loving the winter sauna experience”.

The couple’s ultimate goal is to open a floating sauna, like the one in Oslo, so watch this space. Currently, an hour’s private session is £75, or you can join a community one for £15.

St Ninian’s Beach, Bigton, Shetland, www.haarsauna.com

Soul Water Sauna

Not all of Scotland’s outdoor saunas are in bucolic settings. There’s also this urban wood-fired one, owned by keen wild swimmer, Kirsty Carver, and tucked round a discrete corner on The Prom in Edinburgh’s Portobello. They offer private hire for up to eight people for £100 per hour, or 90 minutes for £145, or you can have a community sauna session, and share the bench with up to six others for a bargain £13 per hour. They also offer regular sessions in collaboration with mindful movement experts Move to Feel, which involves meditation with music thanks to silent disco headsets, and circulation-boosting whisking and scrubs along with the sauna experience.

Brunstane Road North, www.soulwatersauna.com

WILD SCOTTISH SAUNA

The Fifers are lucky, with two saunas in the East Neuk. This one is at Kingsbarns Beach, and is available to book for group or community sessions, though they also run the occasional event. The next is a Sauna and Sea Dip experience with Robin Wright on Sunday January 14, from 11am until 2.3pm, £25pp, see www.eventbrite.co.uk. It involves a beach workout, guided dip in the sea, a session in the sauna, plus hot drinks and snacks.

Car park, Kingsbarns, www.wildscottishsauna.com