We're a small group of people with one thing in common: we all lived in Finland for a while and came to love the sauna culture there. Back in Germany, we had to realise that what's called a “Finnish sauna” here often has surprisingly little to do with what we knew from Finland.
This site grew out of that.
In Finland, sauna isn't a wellness experience. It's everyday life. It's a place where you meet, stay silent, talk, drink a beer, jump into the water and go back in. They're everywhere – in flats, in summer cottages, by the lake, in the back yard. So self-evident that hardly anyone makes a fuss about it.
We all experienced that matter-of-factness – and missed it once we were back in Germany. We visited saunas called “Finnish” and wondered what exactly was supposed to be Finnish about an Aufguss with a light show, a soundtrack and a fixed choreography. At some point we started talking about it with each other – and realised we were all making the same observation.
This project came out of that.
It's not about putting German saunas down. There are great saunas in Germany, and there are people who love exactly those staged Aufguss shows – that's perfectly fine.
What bothers us is the label: if something is called “Finnish”, there should be something Finnish in it. Otherwise the word means nothing. And anyone looking for a real Finnish sauna experience has almost no chance of finding it in Germany – because “Finnish” as a term has been watered down until it no longer means anything.
We want to set a clear standard. Not to judge who runs a “proper” sauna and who doesn't – but to give orientation. Anyone who wants to know whether a sauna is really Finnish should be able to look it up here.
Our criteria aren't plucked from thin air. They're what we experienced in Finland ourselves, plus what Finnish sauna friends keep confirming to us. They're strict, but they're fair.
We're not the sauna police. We don't want to tell anyone how to sauna. If the Aufguss show with tropical scent is fun for you – go, have fun. Just don't call it a Finnish sauna.
We don't make any money with this site. There's no advertising, no paid reviews, no partnerships with sauna operators. We do this because it matters to us.
Found a sauna we should take a look at? Want to point out a mistake? Are you a sauna operator who'd like to talk to us? Write to us: [E-Mail-Adresse]