About Thermae

What is Thermae?

Thermae comes from the Latin word for public thermal baths. The Romans built them everywhere — in every city they settled, from Bath to Beirut — as centres of community, health and social life. The thermae weren't just places to get clean. They were where you met your neighbours, struck deals, debated philosophy, and simply exhaled at the end of a long day.

We named our directory Thermae because that spirit of communal warmth, wellness and connection is exactly what saunas, cold plunges and seaweed baths represent today. The names have changed. The cultures are different. But the impulse — to gather around heat, to sweat together, to plunge into cold water and feel genuinely alive — that hasn't changed at all.

Our Mission

Thermae is Europe's dedicated directory of saunas, cold plunges, seaweed baths and contrast therapy venues. We believe everyone deserves access to the transformative benefits of heat and cold therapy — not just those who know where to look.

We cover the UK, Ireland and Nordics — from community wood-fired saunas on Irish beaches to iconic Nordic bathhouses in Helsinki and Reykjavik. We list every type of venue: the tiny barrel sauna tucked behind a Donegal headland, the grand Art Deco baths in East London, the rooftop Finnish sauna with views across the city. If heat and cold therapy is on offer, we want to list it.

Every listing on Thermae includes real information: prices, opening hours, what to expect, how to get there, and whether you'll need your own towel. We check our data regularly and we're always adding new venues. If we've missed one, tell us.

The Health Benefits

The science behind sauna and cold therapy has never been stronger. Here's what the research says about each type of experience available on Thermae.

The Sauna Boom

Something has shifted. A decade ago, finding a real sauna in most British or Irish cities was nearly impossible — the only options were tired hotel spa rooms with electric heaters set too low. Today, the landscape is almost unrecognisable.

Part of it is Wim Hof. The Dutch athlete turned breathwork and cold exposure into a global movement, showing millions of people that deliberate cold was not punishment but transformation. Part of it is Dr Andrew Huberman, whose Stanford neuroscience podcast broke down the dopamine and norepinephrine effects of cold water with such clarity that ice baths became almost compulsory for anyone interested in performance or mental health.

But the deeper driver is something older: the pandemic. Two years of isolation made people desperate for genuine communal experience. The sauna offered exactly that — a place where phones were left outside, where you sat close to strangers in comfortable silence, where the shared experience of heat created an effortless sense of connection. Community sauna movements emerged in London, Dublin, and across coastal Ireland, not despite the discomfort but because of it.

In 2026, the UK and Ireland have some of the finest sauna culture in the world. Not because we have ancient traditions to draw on — though Ireland's seaweed bath history goes back centuries — but because we've embraced it entirely on our own terms. The barrel saunas on Irish beaches, the rooftop Finnish saunas in East London, the community-run contrast therapy venues in Hackney and Peckham — these feel genuinely ours now. We wouldn't have them any other way.

Get in Touch

We love hearing from sauna enthusiasts, venue owners, wellness writers and anyone who has a venue we might have missed. Thermae is a labour of love, and every email is read and replied to.