The Best Saunas & Baths in Europe

Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Low Countries

Europe has several bathing traditions, and they differ more than a visitor might expect. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland the model is the Therme: warm mineral or brine pools for bathing in swimwear, and beside them a sauna area that is mixed and textile-free, with scheduled Aufguss infusions led by a sauna master. The Netherlands and Belgium have taken the sauna half of that and built whole day resorts around it, with a dozen or more saunas, gardens and restaurants.

Iceland and the Nordic countries

Iceland bathes outdoors in geothermal water. Its lagoons, from the Blue Lagoon to Hvammsvik on Hvalfjörður, are large warm pools set in lava, on the coast or beside a fjord. Further east in the Nordic countries, The Well near Oslo and Yasuragi outside Stockholm are bath houses with hotel rooms, the second one in Japanese style.

Italy and Britain

In Italy the word is terme, and the buildings are often the attraction. QC Terme Salsomaggiore occupies an Art Nouveau palace, and the Bagni Nuovi at Bormio are a pink grand hotel with thermal pools in the garden. On Ischia, the Poseidon gardens are terraces of thermal pools above a beach. In Britain the modern form is the spa garden with outdoor heated pools, as at The Woodland Spa in Lancashire and Manor House in Cheshire, while AIRE in London is a candlelit bath in a basement.

Central and Eastern Europe

Central and Eastern Europe have their own large houses. Infinit Maximus in Brno has a sauna world beside a reservoir. The Roman-themed sauna complex at Czeladź in Poland has an amphitheatre sauna for more than two hundred people. Elamus in Tallinn has about twenty saunas. Spa towns with warm springs continue through Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria, at Rajecké Teplice, Podčetrtek and Banya.

Switzerland

Switzerland adds settings of its own: a thermal bath in the vaults of a former brewery in Zurich, with a pool on the roof, and baths facing the Alps at Hérémence.