Africa
In Africa, on the whole, saunas are kept at a much lower temperature than in Europe.
Asia
In Iran, most gyms, hotels and almost all public swimming pools have indoor saunas. It is very common for swimming pools to have two saunas which are known in Persian as; dry sauna; steam sauna, with the dry type customarily boasting a higher temperature. A cold water pool (and/or more recently a cold jacuzzi) is almost always accompanied and towels are usually provided. Adding therapeutic or relaxing essential oils to the rocks is far from uncommon. In Iran, unlike Finland, sitting in sauna is mostly seen as part of the spa/club culture, rather than a bathing ritual. It is most usually perceived as a means for relaxation or detoxification (through perspiration). Having a sauna room on a private property is considered a luxury rather than a necessity. Public saunas are segregated and nudity is prohibited.
In Japan, many saunas exist at sports centers and public bathhouses (sentō). The saunas are almost always gender separated, often required by law, and nudity is a required part of proper sauna etiquette. While right after World War II, public bathhouses were commonplace in Japan, the number of customers have dwindled as more people were able to afford houses and apartments equipped with their own private baths as the nation became wealthier. As a result many sentōs have added more features such as saunas in order to survive.
In Korea, saunas are essentially public bathhouses. Various names are used to describe them, such as the smaller mogyoktang, outdoor oncheon, and the elaborate jjimjilbang. The word 'sauna' is used a lot for its 'English appeal', however it does not strictly refer to the original Scandinavian steam rooms that have become popular throughout the world. The konglish word sauna usually refers to bathhouses with Jacuzzis, hot tubs, showers, steam rooms, and related facilities.
Australia and Canada
In Australia and Canada, saunas are found mainly in hotels, swimming pools, and health clubs and if used by both men and women, nudity is forbidden. In gyms or health clubs with separate male and female change rooms, nudity is permitted, however members are usually asked to shower before using the sauna and to sit on a towel.
Dutch-Speaking Europe
The Netherlands and Flanders have a similar attitude to saunas as Germany, as almost all public saunas offer only mixed-gender nudity-compulsory facilities.[citation needed] A lot of these saunas do offer occasional women-only or bathing suit days or mornings for people who are less comfortable with mixed-gender nudity. Using a towel to completely cover the bench you're lying on is also compulsory, as is showering between a sauna and entering any of the pools (cold water pool, swimming pool or whirlpool) for hygienic purposes. Saunas are typically found on (day) resorts, featuring a dozen or more different types of saunas, steam pools, hot tubs, swimming pools and restaurants. Beauty treatments and different types of massages can usually be booked as well.
In French-speaking Switzerland, customs are less rigid. Often, patrons have their choice of bathing nude or clothed. Other facilities offer nude single-sex saunas, nude mixed-gender saunas, and clothed mixed-gender saunas on the same premises.
France, the United Kingdom, and Mediterranean Europe
In France, the United Kingdom, and much of southern Europe, single-gender saunas are the most common type. Nudity is expected in the segregated saunas but usually forbidden in the mixed saunas. This is a source of confusion when residents of these nations visit Germany and Austria or vice-versa. Sauna sessions tend to be shorter and cold showers are shunned by most. In the United Kingdom, where public saunas are becoming increasingly fashionable, the practice of alternating between the sauna and the jacuzzi in short seatings (considered a faux pas in Northern Europe) has emerged. Foreign visitors should also be aware that some small establishments advertised as 'saunas' are in fact brothels and it is rare to have a legitimate sauna with no other health spa or gym facilities in the UK.
Saunas in northeastern Italian regions Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, as in Slovenia and Croatia, have setups similar to those in Germany and Austria, and are perhaps a bit more relaxed about enforcing rules: mixed-gender saunas and patrons have their choice of bathing nude or clothed.[citation needed]
In Portugal, the steam baths were commonly used by the Castrejos people, prior to the arrival of the Romans in the western part of the Iberian peninsula. The historian Estrabão (Portuguese Wikipedia) spoke of Lusitans traditions that consisted of having steam bath sessions followed by cold water baths. Pedra Formosa is the original name given to the central piece of the steam bath in pre-Roman times.
German-Speaking Countries
In Germany and Austria, where most public swimming pool complexes have sauna areas, nudity is the generally accepted rule, as is the covering of benches with towels. These rules are strictly enforced in some public saunas. Separate single-sex saunas for both genders are rare, most places offer women-only and mixed-gender saunas, or organise women-only days for the sauna once a week. Loud conversation is not usual as the sauna is seen as a place of healing rather than socialising. Contrary to Russia and Scandinavian countries, pouring water on hot stones to increase humidity (Aufguss, lit: "Onpouring") is not normally done by the sauna visitors themselves - larger sauna areas have a person in charge (the Saunameister) for that, either an employee of the sauna complex or a volunteer. Aufguss sessions can take up to 10 minutes, and take place according to a schedule. During an Aufguss session the Saunameister uses a large towel to circulate the hot air through the sauna, intensifying sweating and the perception of heat. Once the Aufguss session has started it is not considered good manners to enter the sauna, as opening the door would cause loss of heat (Sauna guests are expected to enter the sauna just in time before the Aufguss. Leaving the session is allowed, but grudgingly tolerated). Aufguss sessions are usually announced by a schedule on the sauna door. An Aufguss session in progress might be indicated by a light or sign hung above the sauna entrance. Cold showers or baths shortly after a sauna, as well as exposure to fresh air in a special balcony, garden or open-air room (Frischluftraum) are considered a must.
In German-speaking Switzerland, customs are generally the same as in Germany and Austria, although you tend to see more families (parents with their children) and young people. Also in respect to socialising in the sauna the Swiss tend more to be like the Scadinavians or Russians. Also in German-speaking countries, there are many facilities for washing after using the sauna, with 'dunking pools' (pools of very cold water in which a person dips themselves after using the sauna), showers. In some saunas and steam rooms, scented salts are given out which can be rubbed into the skin for extra aroma and cleaning effects.
Hungary
Hungarians see the sauna a part of a wider spa culture. Here too, attitudes are liberal, mixed-gender people are together and they wear swimsuits. Single-sex saunas are rare, as well as those which tolerate nudity. Some Hungarian saunas have the so-called "snow rooms" that look like a little cages with snow and icicles, where visitors can cool down for a couple of minutes after the each sauna session.
The Nordics, the North Baltic States, Russia and Eastern Europe
As the home of the sauna, Finnish sauna culture is well established, there are built-in-saunas in almost every house in Finland.[15] Although cultures in all corners of the world have imported and adapted the sauna, many of the traditional customs have not survived the journey. Today, public perception of saunas, sauna "etiquette" and sauna customs vary hugely from country to country. In many countries sauna going is a recent fashion and attitudes towards saunas are changing, while in others traditions have survived over generations.
In Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia sauna-going plays a central social role. These countries boast the hottest saunas and the tradition of massaging fellow sauna-goers with leafy, wet birch bunches ('vasta' or 'vihta' in Finnish, 'viht' in Estonian, 'slota' in Latvian, 'vanta' in Lithuanian, 'веник' (venik) in Russian). The fast movements of the massage have created a common misconception that it is somewhat of a beating, however, the correct method of giving this kind of massage is to curb the hot air without actually touching the skin.
In Sweden and Norway saunas are found in many places, and are known as 'bastu' (from 'badstuga' = bath house). In Sweden, saunas are common in almost every public swimming pool and gym. The Public saunas are generally single-sex and it's often optional to use swimwear. When men and women use the sauna together in Sweden swimwear might be used but all-nude is the most occurring.
In Russia, public saunas are strictly single-sex, while in Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, both types occur. During wintertime, Finns often run outdoors for either ice swimming or, in the absence of lake, just to roll around in the snow naked and then go back inside. This is popular in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia as well.
In ex-USSR there are three different types of saunas. The first one, previously very popular especially during the Soviet Era, is the public sauna or the banya, (also known as the Russian banya), as it is referred to among the locals is similar in context to public bath houses in Russia and in all ex-Soviet nations. The banya is a large setting with many different rooms. There is at least one dry sauna (Finnish style), one cold pool of water, a relaxion area, another sauna where fellow-sauna goers beat other fellow-sauna goers with the leafy birch, a shower area, a small cafeteria with a TV and drinks, and a large common area that leads to the other areas. In this large area, there are marble bed-like structures where people lie down and receive a massage either by another sauna-member or by a designated masseur. In the resting area, there are also other bed-like structures made of marbe or stone attached to the ground where people lie down to rest between different rounds of sauna or at the very end of their banya session. There is also a large public locker area where one keeps one's clothes as well as two other more private locker areas with individual doors that can lock these two separate locker rooms.
The second type of sauna is the normal Finnish dry sauna one can find in any gym throughout the world or a hotel. It could be in the locker room or mixed (i.e. male and female together). Attitudes towards nudity are very liberal and people are less self-conscious about their nude bodies.
The third type of sauna is one that is rented by a group of friends. It is similar to the public banya bath house type, except that it is usually more modern and luxurious, and is often rented by groups of friends by the hour for the use of partying and socializing. Here it can be single-sex or mixed-sex.
North America and Central America
In Mexico and Central America, particularly in the highlands of central and southern Mexico and Guatemala, a version of the sauna indigenous to the Americas, called temazcal, is quite popular. It is the Mexican, Central American version of the sweatlodge used by indigenous people in the US and Canada, though the temazcal is usually made of clay or stone rather than wood. A characteristic of the temascal is that it can have religious connotations, as in the North American sweatlodge and represents the womb, the elements, and a microcosm of the earth, although in less traditional communities its main purpose is simply for washing oneself. Some unique characteristics of the temazcal is that it is often used by traditional midwives for helping childbirth, and traditional healers often treat their patients in the temazcal (mainly through herbalism, by putting various types of medicinal plants on the heat source for treating specific ailments).
Archeological sites in Greenland and Newfoundland have uncovered structures very similar to traditional Scandinavian farm saunas. Some with bathing platforms and "enormous quantities of badly scorched stones".
In the United States, the earliest saunas were Swedish bastus in the colony New Sweden around the Delaware River. The Swedish Governor at the time had a bathhouse on Tinicum Island.[16] Today sauna culture enjoys its greatest popularity in the Lake Superior Region, specifically the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, especially the Keweenaw Peninsula, and parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, which are home to large populations of Swedish and particularly Finnish Americans. Duluth, Minnesota, at its peak, had as many as 14 public saunas.[16] Indeed, among Finnish farms in Great Lakes "sauna country", the cultural geographer Matti Kaups, found that 90% had sauna structures-more even than the farms in Finland. Elsewhere, sauna facilities are normally provided at health clubs and at hotels, but there is no tradition or ritual to their use, and many people fail to appreciate their benefits. To avoid liability, many saunas operate at only moderate temperatures and do not allow pouring water on the rocks. A wider range of sauna etiquette is usually acceptable in the United States compared to other countries, with the exception that most mixed-sex saunas usually require some clothing such as a bathing suit to be worn. These are uncommon, however, as most saunas are either small private rooms or in the changing rooms of health clubs or gyms. There are few restrictions and their use is casual; bathers may enter and exit the sauna as they please, be it nude, with a towel, dripping wet in swimsuits or even in workout clothes (the latter being very unusual). Like many aspects of US culture, there are few prescribed conventions and the bather should remain astute to "read" the specific family or community's expectations. Besides the Finnish Americans, the older generation of Korean-Americans still uses the saunas as it is available to them. Sauna societies are beginning to emerge in colleges across America, with the first one being formed at Gustavus Adolphus College.
The Sweat lodge, used by many native North Americans as a form of ritual cleansing, is a notable example of an indigenous tradition with many similarities to the Finnish Sauna, Russian Banya or Swedish Bastu. Often sage is used as a ritual aromatic in the ceremonies. Unlike many other sauna traditions, and most forcefully in the case of the Inipi, the sweat lodge ceremony has been robustly defended as an exclusively native expression of spirituality rather than a recreational activity.
In California, a variety of saunas can be found in urban centers, usually at spas or hot tub facilities. Usually these businesses rent medium or large sized rooms by the hour which contain a hot tub, an unenclosed shower, and/or a wet or dry sauna. Very often massage and other body and skin treatments are available at the same facilities, either by themselves or in the customer's private room. Businesses located in red-light districts often have prostitutes soliciting customers nearby.
In Massachusetts, Finnish immigrants established the Uljas Koitto ("Noble Endeavor") Temperance Society in 1892 to discourage the use of alcohol and illicit drugs and inform about Finnish Culture. In 1926, the society opened up a traditional Finnish sauna in Pembroke, MA.
The Korean-American communities in United States that have settled in urban cities such as Los Angeles county still use the sauna on a weekly basis. These businesses are common in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. Saunas in Koreatown are built much like their predecessors in Korea, although on a smaller scale. Some saunas offer rooms that have special facilities, i.e. salt rooms, jade rooms, clay fomentation room, charcoal rooms, and various steam rooms.
In Washington, The Diplomatic Finnish Sauna Society of D.C. maintains a sauna on the grounds of the Finnish Embassy.
