The complete guide to wild saunas in Scotland (2026)

What began with a couple of horseboxes on beaches, wild saunas have become a proper movement in Scotland.

Today, you’ll find over 80 beautifully crafted, wood-fired saunas dotted across loch shores, beaches, and harbours, each offering hot-cold immersion surrounded by breathtaking scenery. From the beaches of the East Neuk of Fife, to urban saunas at Granton and Portobello, to riverside saunas in the Cairngorms, here is my guide to all the outdoor and wild saunas in Scotland.

This guide was last checked in September 2026 – so if you know of one I have missed, or spot something out of date, get in touch.

You might also like my guide to the best places to go wild swimming in Scotland

The five best wild saunas in Scotland

One of each kind, spread across the country.

• Othala Sauna, Lower Diabaig – possibly the most beautiful setting of the lot, at the end of a single-track road looking over the loch to Skye.
• Nowhere Sauna, by Crieff – hidden in the trees with a cold bath, plunge pools and a river-fed bucket shower to choose between.
• HotBox Sauna, Loch Tay – with a slide so you can dunk yourself straight into the loch.
• Haar Sauna, St Ninian’s, Shetland – the most dramatic, out on the biggest sand tombolo in Britain with sea on both sides.
• Sauna at the Kings, Cullen – a beach sauna, up on the golden sands between the Three Kings rock stacks.

Wild saunas near Edinburgh

Soul Water Sauna has two sauna on the coast – the original at the end of a residential street on Portobello promenade, and a second on Granton promenade beside The Pitt food market, where you can go from the heat to street food in about ninety seconds.

Away from the sea there are three more within the city. Puffin Sauna is a horsebox in a working market garden in the middle of Leith, at the community croft run by Earth in Common, with plunge barrels instead of a beach.

Spear Sauna looks over the surf cove at Lost Shore in Ratho, and is the one to book if you want a surf lesson first and the heat afterwards.

Pentland View sits at the foot of the hills behind a grassy embankment, out of sight until you are nearly on top of it, and is much the quietest of the five.

Just over the boundary in Midlothian, Soul Water’s Wandering Bear sauna has found a permanent home among the ancient oaks beside the River Esk in Dalkeith Country Park, with a fire pit to sit round between rounds.

Wild saunas in East Lothian

Escape Sauna, which has two cabins on the dunes at Quarrel Sands beside Drift Coffeehouse, a few miles east of North Berwick and half a mile from Tantallon Castle. Escape to the Bay is wood-fired and Bass is electric, and both look out across the firth to the Bass Rock. Go for coffee and cake at Drift afterwards.

Hot & Bothy behind Archerfield Walled Garden at Dirleton is more of a sauna village than a single cabin, with two wood-fired saunas and a fire pit to gather round, and its yurt sauna is the only one of its kind open to the public in the UK.

BYRE at Balgone is on a 1,500-acre working farm two miles from North Berwick, looking over open countryside with the estate’s Highland cows grazing nearby.

Hot Fox is inside Foxlake Adventures near Dunbar, in woodland on the edge of the John Muir Way, where the cold plunge is straight into the lake and there is cable wakeboarding on site if you want to make a full day of it.

Wild saunas in Fife and the East Neuk

No stretch of coast in Scotland has more saunas on it than this one, and four of the seven belong to Wild Scottish Sauna who have saunas at Shell Bay, Elie, Kingsbarns, West Sands and Eden Springs fishery.

Elie Seaside Sauna sits on the harbour with a huge window over the water. Cellardyke Seaside Sauna is beside the tidal pool at the east end of the village. Largo Castaway on the edge of Largo Bay is the most characterful: multi-coloured changing huts and a picture window framing North Berwick Law and the Bass Rock on a clear day. It is named after Lower Largo’s own Alexander Selkirk, the real Robinson Crusoe.

Wild saunas in the Scottish Borders

Salting Station on the harbour at St Abbs is the only sauna anywhere on the Borders coast, and it is one of the best thought-through in the country: rock pools to dip in, freshwater showers, water and fruit laid on, and a picture window looking at the sea and the cliffs. St Abbs itself is one of the loveliest corners of Berwickshire, so it is worth building a day around.

Inland, Cedar Hus travels between farm locations around Melrose and out to private events. The Wild Wellness Sauna at Airhouses near Lauder has a sauna and plunge pool in the Lammermuir foothills.

Wild saunas in Ayrshire and on the Clyde

The Wee Wild Sauna at Prestwick is the only one on the Ayrshire coast, close enough to the beach for a sea dip at high tide and with cold water tubs and a cold shower for when the tide is out. Further up the firth, Clyde Coast Saunas sits in the grounds of Kelburn Estate above Fairlie, with clear water to dip in and views across to Cumbrae and Arran.

Wild saunas in Glasgow

Eastwood Forest Sauna at Newton Mearns, on the southern edge of the city, is the closest to the centre and the only properly forested sauna in Scotland, set in alpine woodland with plunge pools, a wee cafe alongside and yoga and meditation sessions as well.

The Wild Heat Sauna is the most urban, a wood-stove sauna on Peel Street in Partick with sherry barrels for the cold plunge and a view over the cricket field.

Wild saunas in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs

The Wild Sauna Company is on the shore of the Lake of Menteith, the only body of water in Scotland called a lake rather than a loch, with the Lake of Menteith Hotel next door for lunch by the fire afterwards.

Hot Tottie has taken over the old lifeboat house on Luss beach, where the river meets Loch Lomond. Eir Sauna is on the shore at Arrochar looking up Loch Long – a great way to finish to a day on the Cobbler.

Wild saunas in Perthshire

Nowhere Sauna outside Crieff is hidden in the trees beside a large pond, with herbal waters poured on the coals and several ways to get cold. HotBox at Taymouth Marina floats on Loch Tay, so you step off the deck straight into the water, and it is the only sauna in the country that moves with the water rather than on a trailer.

WildEmber Bothy Sauna is tucked among the trees on the north shore at the Scottish Crannog Centre with the seven Munros of the Lawers ridge rising behind it. Thaw Sauna sits on the shore of Loch Earn at St Fillans.

Braan Sauna is on the bank of the Tay at The Taybank in Dunkeld, with a cold plunge tank, a firepit, and music and food in a bar that has been a folk institution for years.

Ballintaggart Farm near Aberfeldy has an eight-person handmade sauna with sweeping views over the Tay valley. Wild Scottish Sauna have a freshwater site by the loch at Kinross.

Wild saunas in Dundee and Angus

Bees Sauna is a tent sauna on the grass beside Broughty Ferry Castle, overlooking the Firth of Tay. Seaway Sauna is a wood-burning sauna in a pine cabin on the beach with a secure staircase down and a plunge straight into the North Sea. Wild Scottish Sauna have a site beside the water at the Forbes of Kingennie country resort.

Wild saunas in Aberdeenshire and Moray

Sauna at the Kings at Cullen sits in an elevated spot on the golden sands between the Three Kings rock stacks, with the North Sea as the plunge pool. Fyrhus is nestled in the dunes at Hopeman East Beach.

Orka at Burghead is just few steps from clear water with buckets of cold for anyone not fancying the swim. Watershed at Findhorn East is built inside a vintage horsebox around a stove sourced from Finland; they run sauna bingo, and spotting all nine wildlife species on the card wins you a private hour.

Down the Aberdeenshire coast, Barbos is a horsebox on the Aberdeen Esplanade just along from the old fishing village of Footdee (Fittie to locals) where on a wild day the waves throw themselves at the shore while you sit in the steam and eucalyptus.

Stonehaven Paddleboarding has one of the better-equipped setups on the east coast, right by the beach at the harbour with safe sea swimming, a whisky-barrel freshwater plunge, a wood-fired hot bath and proper changing rooms.

Fraileach is at Port Erroll Harbour in Cruden Bay, with harbour views and sea swimming if you want it. Teth (Scots for heat) is at Collieston. The Sauna Hoose is a mobile barrel on the award-winning sand at Fraserburgh, so check where it is before driving up.

Wild Braemar sits where the River Connie and the River Ey meet in the Cairngorms, a hand-built aspen and cedar sauna with waterfall views and dark, peaty river plunges. Stravaig Saunas is on a hillside above the Dee at Crathie with Lochnagar in the distance.

The Little Sauna is a community sauna beside the River Don at Keig, down a track in rural Aberdeenshire, with wild river dipping on the doorstep and both social and private sessions, one of very few inland community saunas in the north east.

Wild saunas in the Highlands

A third of Scotland’s wild saunas are in the Highlands with several saunas on the North Coast 500 and a few are mobile, so confirm where they are before you set off.

The Cairngorms

Sauna Cairngorms is on the shore of freshwater Loch Alvie three miles south-west of Aviemore. The Sauna at Loch Insh is part of the outdoor centre in the Spey valley, so you can paddle or ski first and sit in the heat afterwards.

Smugglers Sauna is a converted horsebox on the shore of Loch an Eilein. Check before you go, as Rothiemurchus currently have it listed as temporarily out of use.

Skye

Suilanu Sauna is handcrafted, on a croft at Broadford, and sits beneath a view of Bla Bheinn. Staffin Sea Sauna is a Scandinavian-style sea-view sauna at the community-owned harbour on the north-east coast, in the shadow of the Quiraing, with Corran Coffee roasting a few doors along.

The west coast and Lochaber

Othala Sauna at Lower Diabaig, at the end of a spectacular single-track road looking across the loch to Skye, with Gille Brighde next door for food afterwards.

Applecross Sauna is right at the water’s edge at the Boatshed over the Bealach na Bà. Fire & Steam have two sites around Gairloch, one in the grounds of Shieldaig Lodge overlooking the bay and a second at Sands campsite with a slipway down to the sea and views over Longa out to Skye, Harris and the Torridon hills.

Knoydart Sauna is the hardest to reach of all eighty-three, on the beach at Inverie with no road in, take the the boat from Mallaig or a long walk over the hills. Arisaig Sauna is on a croft near Acharacle with views over Loch Shiel and a short ramp down to the water.

Wilderness Sauna at Woodlands Glencoe is glass-fronted and looks straight over Loch Leven to the Glencoe hills. Great Glen Sauna is a converted horsebox beside the Caledonian Canal at the historic Bridge of Oich, right on the Great Glen Way.

The far north and Assynt

The Loyly Co is on the campsite at Clachtoll in Assynt, looking over the bay to Split Rock. Seaview Sauna sits on Dunnet Bay near Thurso, where AJ gives you whisky-barrel cold plunges, a bathtub and a shower to choose between, cows in the next field and orange quarters at the end; regulars say the ninety minutes is exactly right.

Clach Mara is a mobile sauna working the Caithness coast. Cromarty Community Sauna moves around the town on the shores of the Cromarty Firth, about as close to the shoreline as it is possible to park, and every penny of profit goes back into local projects. Both of those move, so check first.

Wild saunas in Argyll and on Arran

Stonesthrow is just above the shoreline at Whiting Bay with direct sea access and views across the water. Green Goddess at Blackwaterfoot on the west coast is almost certainly the most characterful sauna in Scotland: a converted 1960s Bedford army truck, built from reclaimed materials and fitted with a Finnish stove, parked beside the beach.

On the mainland, Coorie In is tucked among the trees beside the beach at Tralee Bay Holiday Park twenty minutes north of Oban. West Coast Wellness is the only sauna on Loch Fyne, part of a farm-based operation that also runs yoga, hill walking and wild swimming. Two take real commitment.

Island Sauna Shack is on the old pier at Salen on Mull, looking across the Sound towards Tobermory. Bothan Jura is right at the shore on Corran Sands with the Paps of Jura behind.

Wild saunas in the Outer Hebrides

Saltbox Sauna is a spacious sauna box on King Edward Wharf in Stornoway with sea dips off the harbour. Horgabost is close to one of the most photographed stretches of sand in Britain, where ten or fifteen minutes in the heat is followed by the Atlantic.

Hebridean Spa is more polished than anything else on this list has a sauna, hot tub, plunge pool, outdoor bar, fire pit and treatment rooms. Wee Barra Sauna at Dunard in Castlebay is a small owner-built sauna with a whisky-barrel cold dip, felt hats and essential oils, and the only one on Barra.

Wild saunas in Orkney and Shetland

Haar Sauna on the tombolo at St Ninian’s in Shetland has the most dramatic setting in the country and is the most northerly sauna in Britain: the largest sand tombolo in the isles, with sea breaking on both sides of the bar you walk out along to reach it. When the weather makes that a bad idea, Haar’s second site is in Lerwick itself, wood-fired with cold plunge pools, a cold shower, big windows and a community-session feel.

Orkney has two, both mobile. Sauna Wanna is usually on the pier at Stromness with direct sea access, the harbour and the ferries in front of you and the Atlantic beyond, which is about as authentic an hour as you can arrange on the islands. Orkney Hot Tubs rotates between Inganess beach and at the Ness slipway in Stromness.

Wild saunas in Dumfries and Galloway

Wild Dook Sauna is usually at Mossyard Beach but also found beside the loch at Moffat Distillery. Sauna at the Sea is a converted horsebox on the shore at Torrs Farm outside Kirkcudbright. Second Sands can be found in Port William on Luce Bay, where you can cool off on the deck or run down to the beach, and it is the only sauna in the Machars.

What to expect the first time

A wild sauna is hotter and a good deal more sociable than a gym one. You sit on a towel, someone ladles water onto the stones every few minutes, and after ten or fifteen minutes you go out and get cold, in the sea, a loch, a river, a barrel, or just the air. Then you go back in. Three rounds is normal, and most sessions run an hour. Sessions are shared unless you have booked private hire.

What to bring

Two towels, one to sit on and one to dry with, a swimsuit, flip-flops or water shoes, a bottle of water and something warm and loose to put on afterwards. Quite a few sauna have no changing area at all, so it is usually easiest to arrive sauna-ready.

What it costs and how to book

Most public sessions run between £15 and £25 a head for sixty to ninety minutes, and community or social sessions can drop to around £11. Private hire for a group is usually £80 to £150.

Book ahead: most hold six to ten people and weekend slots go quickly, though some take bookings up to half an hour before a session starts, so it is always worth checking for late space. Several of these are one-person operations, hours change with the season, and the mobile ones move between locations week to week.

Taking the cold water seriously

Cold water shock is real, sea conditions change quickly, and sauna hosts do not provide lifeguard cover. Walk in gradually rather than jumping, keep it short, never swim out of your depth or on your own, and have dry clothes and something hot ready for afterwards. I

f you have a heart condition, high blood pressure or are pregnant, take medical advice before you combine heat and cold water. You do not have to get in at all, most places have a bucket, a cold shower or a plunge tub as a gentler alternative to the North Sea.

Wild saunas in Scotland: your questions answered

Before you go

Opening hours change with the season and many of these are one-person operations, so check before you travel. Several move between locations, sometimes week to week, so confirm where a sauna actually is on the day. And take the cold water seriously: go in gradually, keep it short, and have dry clothes and something hot ready for afterwards.

Kate, Love from Scotland x

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