What to Wear to a Sauna and What to Bring

Most people hesitate before a first sauna for a reason that has very little to do with the heat. They worry about turning up and getting it wrong in front of a room of strangers who clearly know what they are doing. It is a small, specific kind of nervousness, and it goes away the moment someone tells you how the thing works. So here is everything you would want to know beforehand. Two minutes of reading, then you can stop thinking about it.

What to Wear

A swimsuit. Whatever you would wear to a pool is fine, and since there is a cold plunge involved, pick something you do not mind getting completely soaked.

In Finland, public saunas are often nude, which is where a lot of the worry around this comes from. That is not how most Canadian saunas operate and it is not how ours works, so you can put that one down.

A few things are worth leaving in your bag. Jewellery gets properly hot, particularly anything metal sitting against your skin. Makeup will not survive the first round and tends to clog pores in the heat anyway. Contact lenses are manageable, but dry heat makes them uncomfortable, so wear glasses or go without if you can. Gym clothes made from technical fabric are engineered to keep you dry, which is the opposite of the point.

What to Bring

Two towels is the main thing, and the detail most first-timers miss. One is for sitting on inside the sauna, with your feet on it too. The other is for drying off after the plunge. Bring one and you will spend your second round sitting on a wet towel, which is a small misery you can easily avoid.

Water, more than you think you need. Sandals, if you would rather not walk around barefoot. A warm layer for afterwards, because you will be standing on a deck in Canada with wet hair. That is genuinely the whole list.

Our Toronto location has cold showers on site. In Ottawa there are no showers, since the sauna floats on the river and the river does that job, so bring an extra towel if you want one.

The Etiquette, Briefly

Rinse off before you go in. A quick cold shower or a dip is enough, and it keeps the benches decent for the person after you.

Close the door behind you quickly. Every time it hangs open the room loses heat that takes a while to build back, and the regulars will notice even if they are too polite to say anything.

Read the room on conversation. Some sessions are chatty and some are quiet, and both are correct. Match whatever you walk into rather than deciding for everyone.

Leave your phone outside. The heat is bad for it, and it changes the feel of the room for everybody else.

Do not pour water on the stones unless you know that is allowed. In some saunas anyone can, in others the host handles it, and asking takes a second. Our FAQ covers the rest of the small stuff.

What it Actually Feels Like

The first couple of minutes are unremarkable. You sit down, it is warm, you wonder what the fuss is about. Then the heat finds you properly and you start sweating in a way that feels like your entire body made the decision at once.

Around the six or seven minute mark, most people have a moment where they seriously consider leaving. That moment usually passes on its own if you sit with it. If it does not, leave, and go back in when you are ready.

The cold plunge is the part everyone dreads and then talks about for the rest of the week. The first few seconds are loud inside your head, your breathing goes shallow, and your body makes it clear it did not consent to this. Then, fairly quickly, everything settles and you feel extremely awake.

Then you sit on the deck and do nothing for five minutes. That is the part nobody anticipates loving, and it is the part most people come back for.

What if You Would Rather Skip the Cold Plunge?

Then skip it. Plenty of people spend a first session entirely in the heat, step outside to cool off in the air instead of the water, and try the plunge on their second or third visit.

Sitting on the deck between rounds does much of the same work anyway, just more slowly. Your body cools, your heart rate comes down, and you get the drop in tension people describe after a session. The plunge speeds that up and makes it more dramatic. It stays optional.

How Long to Set Aside

Ninety minutes covers it comfortably. Changing, three rounds of heat and cold, proper rest in between, and time to dry off and get dressed without hurrying.

A session on its own is $45, and new guests can do three for $99, which is a sensible way to find out whether this is your thing before committing to a pack.

Where We Are

Ottawa is a floating sauna on the Ottawa River, with an enclosed plunge off the deck and open water access if you want it. It opens in October.

Toronto sits on the harbourfront at 275 Queen’s Quay West, with a cold plunge tub on the deck and cold showers on site. That one opens in November.

You will know whether it suits you by the end of the first round. Most people do, and the ones who are unsure tend to change their minds once they have felt what the rest afterwards is like.