Finnish sauna etiquette: what to expect as a guest

As a guest in a Finnish sauna, you shower before you go in, sit on a seat towel, and follow the place's rule on clothing: many Finns go nude, but a towel or swimsuit is fine, and some public saunas require one while others forbid it. Ask the others before you throw more water on the stones, stay as long as feels good, cool off, and go back in. Nobody expects you to outlast anyone.

Why a guest meets the sauna so often

In Finland the sauna is part of ordinary life, at home and in public. UNESCO added Finnish sauna culture to its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2020, and Yle notes it was the first part of Finnish culture to make the list. There are an estimated 3 million or more saunas in the country; UNESCO's listing gives 3.3 million for 5.5 million inhabitants.

Saunas come in many forms: electric, wood-heated, smoke and infra-red. Families frequently go together, in town and especially at their country holiday homes.

Shower first, and sit on a towel

The first rule is the simplest. Take a quick shower before you go in, even though the sauna itself is for bathing. Helsinki's city guide puts it with an exclamation mark: shower before going into the sauna!

Then bring something to sit on. Visit Jyväskylä says to take a seat towel with you whether you bathe in the nude or in a bathing suit. Some public saunas hand one out: at the Finnish Sauna Society you take the seat cover from the front desk, and at Löyly in Helsinki the price includes a towel, a seat liner, shampoo and shower gel.

Nude, towel or swimsuit: read the sign

This is the question guests worry about most, and the honest answer is that it depends on the door. Visit Finland says Finns might typically go to sauna in the nude even with strangers, but that a swimsuit or a towel is perfectly fine and Finns will understand.

Public saunas have signs saying whether they are for men, women, or mixed. In mixed saunas, swimsuits are usually worn, and at most mixed public saunas in Helsinki you can wear a swimsuit or wrap yourself in a towel.

The places themselves disagree. Löyly, a mixed public sauna in Helsinki, asks that swimming costumes are worn at all times. Kotiharju, built in 1928 and the last public wood-burning sauna in Helsinki, says you may not wear swimming trunks or underwear in the sauna. The Finnish Sauna Society does not allow swimming costumes either, for hygiene reasons, and adds that if your religion means you cannot be naked in front of others, you can wrap yourself in a towel.

Mixed bathing is not new. Helsinki's city guide notes that in the 1800s and early 1900s it was common for men and women to sauna together. Helsinki also used to have over 100 public saunas.

Löyly: ask before you throw water

UNESCO calls löyly the spirit or steam released by casting water onto heated stones.

Who throws it, and when, is where guests hesitate. Helsinki's guide says it is courteous to ask other sauna-goers before you create more löyly, and Visit Jyväskylä agrees. Visit Finland is looser: whenever you feel like another wave of steam, go for it, but be considerate of the people around you. A quick "is more löyly OK?" covers both.

One safety note from the Sauna Society: never lean towards the heater when you throw water, because the steam comes off with considerable force.

How hot, how long, how many rounds

Visit Finland puts a typical sauna at around 70 to 90 °C. If that is too much, it is perfectly acceptable to sit on the lower benches, where it is cooler.

A round can be 5 to 10 minutes, or hours with cooling dips in a lake or the sea in between. Visit Jyväskylä suggests about 10 to 15 minutes, long enough to start sweating. Then you cool off and go back in. According to the Finnish Heritage Agency, this cycle is typically repeated two or three times, occasionally as many as ten. At the end, people wash, rest for a moment and get dressed.

There is no prize for lasting longest. Heat competitions are not allowed in the Sauna Society's saunas, and an older thisisFINLAND guide to manners says the sauna is no place for anyone in a hurry.

Cooling off: lake, snow or ice hole

Between rounds, people go outside. In summer that may mean a swim; in winter, a dip in an ice hole or a roll in the snow. Visit Jyväskylä also mentions a dip through a hole in the ice in winter.

Talk, or church-quiet

Saunas vary here too. Helsinki's guide says many nurturing conversations take place in the sauna, where people feel they can open up. The Sauna Society calls a peaceful atmosphere its most important principle, and Visit Finland notes that many suggest behaving in a sauna as you would in church. As a guest, follow the volume of the room. The Helsinki guide's shortest rule: nothing belongs in the sauna except you.

The vihta, or the vasta

Someone may hand you a bundle of leafy birch twigs. Visit Finland describes it as fresh birch twigs that you gently whip yourself with. Kotiharju has them for sale.

What you call it depends on where you are. A linguistics paper by Vilja Oja notes that the word is vihta in West Finnish dialects and vasta in East Finnish ones.

If you get a smoke sauna

The smoke sauna is the oldest and most traditional type, and for many purists the only true sauna, deep-heated for several hours with sooty smoke.

It takes time to get ready. The Sauna Society tells whoever heats it to allow at least an hour for the embers to go out and the smoke to escape, and to keep it at a low 60 to 80 °C. Löyly in Helsinki has a traditional smoke sauna alongside a wood-burning one, so a visitor can try one without a cottage invitation.

Saying yes to the invitation

If a host heats the sauna for you, it is a matter of pride for them, and that older guide counts only medical reasons as a good excuse to say no. Visit Jyväskylä's advice is shorter: say yes if possible, and have a fun sauna evening.

The day matters too. Saturday is the traditional sauna day, though now any day works, and a sauna on Christmas Eve starts the Christmas celebration; today the sauna is tied to both Christmas and Midsummer. Many Finns learn the customs from their parents as children, and the Heritage Agency puts the habit at roughly once every ten days.

Beer, water, and the heat

Visit Finland says water is the best thing for your thirst, but beer, cider and soft drinks are also commonly enjoyed.

Heat and alcohol do not mix well. Statistics Finland wrote in 2011 that 30 to 40 people a year had died from sauna heat in recent decades, and 80% of them were intoxicated. The same article notes that almost all of them also had heart disease, diabetes or another serious illness. For people with heart disease, the Finnish health service Terveyskylä advises drinking something other than alcohol, and not going from the sauna into an ice hole.

Finns, how does it go at your sauna?

This is a guest's sketch, put together from Finnish tourism boards, the Finnish Sauna Society, the Heritage Agency and public sauna rules. It cannot tell the difference between a lakeside cottage in Konnevesi, an apartment-block sauna in Tampere and a Saturday at Kotiharju, or how your own family does it.

If you are from Finland: what did this miss? Is it vihta or vasta where you grew up? Who throws the löyly at your cottage, and does anyone ask first? Swimsuit, towel, or neither? Corrections and additions are welcome, and good ones will be added to this page, with your permission and credit.