Sauna in your home country

saunafkk

Foren Guru

Posts: 1,931

Location: Weltall

Activity points: 9655

21

Tuesday, August 5th 2008, 2:24am

... or Germany!

Even better here, I've heard that sauna in Finland is strictly separated by gender!

In Germany it's mostly mixed!

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trace

Unregistered

22

Wednesday, August 20th 2008, 4:58pm

Finland

As a general rule of thump (99%) the public saunas i Finland are separate. There are a few spas with mixed saunas, but that is as far as I know only the sauna, not the swimming area.

In private (peoples own saunas) going mixed is quite normal. We bade mixed with our friends. My sister again would probably die before she went to a mixed sauna...

The reason for there not being more (well almost any) mixed saunas is probably that the sauna is so common in Finland. With that I mean that there is a sauna in every summercottage and house in the country. In the cities it is not uncommon with a sauna in each flat and at least there is a sauna in the building. If it is a building sauna the occupants have their "saunatime" schedukled for each or every second week. Usualy there is also a "lenkkisauna"-time (you are supposed to go for a run or have a workout before that.) which is separate by the sexes.

I think the sauna has become a "private" thing. Something family and friends might go to together.

Along the same lines nude beaches are rare in Finland. But swimming nude is not. You just do it in your own "back yard", not on a public beach...

I guess Finns in a way are very prude about nudity, but on the other hand it is very natural...

Finns don't necessarily assume foreigners would go to a mixed sauna, so if you are invited to a sauna they might asume it is better to go (women and men) separately. As a general rule of thumb people from the city are a bit more prude.

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "trace" (Aug 20th 2008, 5:06pm)

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saunafkk

Foren Guru

Posts: 1,931

Location: Weltall

Activity points: 9655

23

Thursday, August 21st 2008, 12:17am

Thanks, trace, for a detailled report from Finland!

Somehow seems like Finnish people can get quite natural and comfortable with nakedness when the surroundings are strictly defined (but then again it's a matter of definition how "natural" it is...), but public saunas and nude swimming areas are not likely to meet - what a pity!

But anyway, seems like you know how to enjoy...

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banksybanks

Unregistered

24

Friday, January 30th 2009, 7:30pm

I've never come across a sauna in the UK where you can go without clothes. It's strange; you go to the gym, do a workout, and people go & sit in the sauna in the same shorts! Yuk. I lived in Holland for a few years, and there you do a workout, take a shower and go in naked. It's so much cleaner as you sit on a towel, and it benefits your skin more if you're not wearing shorts full of bacteria. And if you're not very open minded, you can still wrap the towel around you!

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mbuk

Unregistered

25

Tuesday, March 10th 2009, 7:07pm

no many saunas here in north uk

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jimmyed1981

Unregistered

26

Tuesday, May 12th 2009, 12:09pm

There are naturist sauna sessions at the Selby lesuire centre 2 times a week

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NAktiv

Location: USA

Monday, May 18th 2009, 7:05am

I am going to a "real" sauna one day. It may be when I get to Germany or Finland that I finally find one.

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NAktiv

Location: usa

Wednesday, May 20th 2009, 4:19am

I've heard there are some "turkish baths" in New York City and used to be quite common but only a few are still in operation. There are sauna's in gyms here and there and can be used nude but only if they are separated men use one , women use another.