Sauna etiquette

This is the question almost everyone has walking into a sauna for the first time, and the honest answer is: it depends on where you are. In most American gyms, spas and hotel saunas, the norm is a swimsuit plus a towel to sit on — nobody expects bare skin, and a towel under you is both hygienic and expected regardless of what you’re wearing. In many traditional Finnish or European saunas, by contrast, the norm flips: people sit without a swimsuit, wrapped in or sitting on their own towel, and swimwear is sometimes considered less hygienic than bare, freshly-showered skin. Neither approach is universally correct — the local norm is.

When you don’t know the local norm, a few habits work almost everywhere. Bring your own towel and sit or lie on it rather than directly on the bench — this is close to a universal rule, both out of courtesy to the next person and because it is simply more comfortable than bare wood. If you’re unsure what level of coverage is expected, watch what regulars are doing when you walk in, or ask the front desk. There is no shame in asking; it is a far smaller faux pas than guessing wrong.

One rule that is close to universal: whatever you wear or don’t wear, you should be clean. Swimsuits that have been in a pool with chlorine, sunscreen, or salt water should get a rinse first, since those residues can smell strong once heated and linger for the next person who sits down.

Home saunas are their own case, and the good news is the etiquette question mostly disappears once it’s just you, your household, or invited guests. Plenty of people who own a home sauna sit without a swimsuit at all, since there’s no ambiguity about who else might walk in. If friends or extended family use it too, a quick, casual conversation about the house norm avoids any awkward guessing the first time someone new steps in.

If there is one etiquette rule that holds across essentially every sauna culture worldwide, it’s this: shower before you go in. A quick rinse removes sweat, deodorant, lotion, sunscreen and the general residue of a workout or a day outdoors, all of which intensify and can smell unpleasant once heated in a small, enclosed room. It also simply respects the people who will sit on the same bench after you.

Deodorant and strong fragrances are worth a second thought too. Heat amplifies scent, and a fragrance that is subtle at room temperature can become overpowering in a hot, enclosed space — not pleasant for anyone sharing the room with you. If you shower right before your session, you likely don’t need much added product at all.

The other half of hygiene is about what you bring in and leave behind. Wipe down the bench where you sat if the sauna has a spray bottle or towel for that purpose, and take any bottles, trash or personal items with you when you leave. A shared sauna stays pleasant because everyone quietly does their small part to keep it that way.

Hair and feet are two small spots people forget. Long hair is generally kept up or tied back rather than trailing on a bench or wet with sweat against shared wood, and bare feet should be reasonably clean before stepping in, especially if you’ve come straight from a pool deck, a locker room floor, or outside. None of this is strict — it’s the same basic courtesy you’d extend to any shared surface, just applied to a room where everyone is sitting closer together than usual.

A sauna is, for most people, a quiet retreat — one of the few remaining places designed around doing very little. A little conversation at a low volume is generally fine, especially in a busy gym sauna where a social atmosphere is normal, but loud talking, laughing, or anything that carries outside the room tends to break the mood for everyone else and is the single most commonly cited etiquette complaint. Read the room: a quiet, half-empty sauna calls for more restraint than a lively, packed one.

Phones deserve their own mention, because the etiquette question and the practical question point the same direction: leave it outside. Heat and humidity are hard on most devices, so a phone in a sauna risks the phone itself, and phone calls, video, speakerphone audio or photography of other people are close to universally unwelcome in a shared sauna. If you need to be reachable, step out to check rather than bringing the device in.

Personal space matters in a small room too. Don’t spread out gear across more bench than you need, don’t lie down fully if the room is crowded and others need to sit, and be mindful about where your feet point relative to other people. None of this is written on a sign anywhere — it’s just the kind of consideration that makes a shared hot room comfortable for everyone rather than only for whoever got there first.

If you’re waiting for a spot in a busy sauna, hovering by the door or repeatedly opening it to check how full the room is tends to be more disruptive than simply asking or waiting quietly nearby. A brief, polite “how much longer, roughly?” is generally welcomed far more than a door left ajar while heat escapes and everyone inside feels the draft.

In a traditional or Finnish-style sauna, ladling water over the hot rocks to create a burst of steam — called löyly— is part of the ritual, and in some settings it’s something anyone in the room is welcome to do. In a lot of American gym and spa saunas, though, pouring water is either not permitted at all or reserved for staff, often because the heater is electric and not designed for it, or because of how it affects the room for everyone. Look for signage, or simply ask before you pour.

Even where it is allowed, pouring water is a shared-room decision, not a solo one. A sudden wave of steam raises the felt heat for everyone in the room, not just the person doing the pouring, and can catch people off guard. The considerate approach is to check with whoever else is in there — a quick “mind if I add some steam?” goes a long way — and to pour a modest amount rather than flooding the rocks. If you want the deeper mechanics of how humidity changes a session, our sauna humidity and löyly guide covers it in full, and our guide to pouring water on sauna rocks goes deeper on the how.

Adding scented oils or essences to the water for löyly is its own etiquette wrinkle in a shared sauna. Some facilities allow it and even provide a house scent; others don’t allow outside additives at all, partly because strong fragrance affects everyone in the room and not everyone shares the same taste in scent. As with plain water, check first rather than assuming everyone will welcome it.

Bench level is its own small piece of etiquette. Heat rises, so the upper benches in a multi-tier sauna run noticeably hotter than the lower ones. If you know you run hot, or you plan a long session, taking a lower spot leaves the higher bench free for someone who specifically wants that intensity — and it’s a considerate habit rather than a rule anyone enforces.

Doors are worth a mention too: open and close them briskly rather than lingering, since every open door lets heat escape and makes the next few minutes cooler for everyone already inside. If the sauna is busy and you’re leaving early, a quick, quiet exit beats a slow, chatty one.

Finally, if the sauna is at or near capacity, it’s reasonable to keep your own session a bit shorter than you might otherwise, simply so more people get a turn. None of this is enforced by anyone — it’s just the quiet math of a shared, limited space, and it’s exactly the kind of consideration that makes a stranger’s sauna feel as comfortable as your own.

None of these customs are meant to make a sauna feel like a minefield of rules. In practice, almost all of it reduces to one instinct: notice the people around you, and adjust accordingly. Once that becomes habit, the specifics stop feeling like rules to memorize and start feeling like simple good manners, which is really all sauna etiquette has ever been.