Along the waterfront in Seattle, a city of wood-fired saunas is quietly taking shape.
The pop-up “sauna city” features saunas from across the region alongside temporary campfires, cold plunges, food and beverage, and live music. It is all part of the first-ever Seattle Sauna Festival, taking place from Nov. 1 to 2.
Billed as the Pacific Northwest’s first large-scale gathering dedicated to sauna culture, the festival will be held—fittingly—at the National Nordic Museum. The museum is Seattle’s hub for Nordic history, art, and heritage, and honors the cultural traditions of the region’s many Nordic immigrants for whom saunas are traditionally a ritual and a refuge (Helsinki was home to the first airport runway sauna, after all).
Each of the saunas at the festival feature their own design and heating style. The antidote to all that heat is the festival’s ice baths, which are prepped for cold water immersion.
The hot-cold therapy will take place to the sounds of live music, including acoustic sets, live DJs, and cultural performances. And to keep festival goers fueled, the event will offer Nordic eats, including smoked fish, hearty soups, and baked goods.
North Shore Sauna
The festival runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on both Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. To attend, tickets must be purchased in advance for a timed session online. Tickets start at $65 for general admission, which includes a 60 minute session with full access to all the festival’s saunas, cold plunges, and gathering spaces. VIP tickets are also available for $165, which come complete with a 90 minute session, plus a snack box, drink, and merchandise.
The festival will have dressing rooms and small lockers available, but attendees must bring their own lock. Organizers suggest festival-goers arrive at the National Nordic Museum freshly showered with a bathing suit and towel for inside the saunas along with a robe and flip-flops to wear outside of the saunas. Attendees should also bring a water bottle.
The Seattle Sauna Festival may be the region’s first, but there are sauna festivals across North America, including in Washington, D.C., Traverse City, Michigan, and Toronto. A robust sauna culture also exists outside festivals, like in New York City, where you can find “sauna parties” complete with breath work, live music, and dancing for up to 90 people.
Even without a spa or festival, sauna-lovers can get their own Nordic-inspired sauna from Amazon to enjoy the benefits of heat without having to leave the comfort of their home.
