Instagram story viewer> @cultureofbatheing> Posts

Culture of Bathe-ing

@cultureofbatheing

20.9K

followers

659

following

Chronicling and shaping the modern bathing movement through stories + community.
For longtime bathers, and the bathing-curious.
By @thermegroup

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

No, this is not AI ❌

Hakone Kowakudani Onsen Yunessun is a large onsen theme park in Hakone, Japan, combining traditional bathing with playful, themed baths. 🫧 The complex includes indoor and outdoor baths, including a Roman-style bath, wine bath, coffee bath and sake bath, alongside more conventional hot spring pools. Opened in 2001, Yunessun is part of the wider Hakone hot spring resort area and offers a distinctly contemporary take on Japan’s bathing culture ♨️🧖 by @cultureofbatheing

3

1

10 hours ago

I did it! 😭🌿❤️‍🔥 Solo aufguss across the world without my trainers / emotional support team. :)

Thank you you to everyone who has followed along as I trained to become a sauna master, asked questions, offered tips, texted towel tutorial videos, sent encouraging DMs, showed up at my practice aufgusses, hugged me when I got frustrated, and loudly cheered me on. You have no idea how much it’s all meant to me.

One of the most beautiful surprises of sharing my journey over the past few months has been discovering (social media for good!) how many curious souls out there are dreaming of adventures of their own.

If that’s you, I hope you go for it! Follow your curiosity. Listen your heart. Do what lights you up. You never know where it might take you. After all, it brought me all the way to Romania for Sauna Fest with @therme_bucuresti and @cultureofbatheing.

The end / the beginning… 💫🌙 taken in Bucharest, Romania by @cultureofbatheing

3

133

3 days ago

East London doesn’t just have a bathhouse scene, it has a bathhouse history. 🗺🔥 @janewithers.london offers a tour of the new and the old.

This stretch of the city has at least a dozen spots east of Old Street and counting: a Hoxton banya where ripped Russian-speaking banshiki thwack you with leaf whisks, a Dalston hamam tucked behind an unassuming shop front, and New Docklands; East London’s last schvitz, reportedly founded in 1977 by a boxer who got pushed out of Bayswater by gentrification and a swimming-trunks law. “Co-bathers are a cross section of cosmopolitan old London at its best,“ one regular put it - “the bathing equivalent of Pie & Mash.“ 🥧

Then there’s the new wave with Community Sauna Baths which was born in a Hackney Wick yard during Covid and now five sites deep, and ARC Community in Canary Wharf.

Old-school schvitzes and gangster steam rooms next door to rooftop saunas and Manhattan-style bathhouses. London holds all of it at once. 🫧

Try them out with London Sauna Week, which runs from October 15–25, with a Thames Heat Loop connecting eight saunas by foot, Tube and cable car. 🚠

Which East London bathhouse have you tried, or which one’s calling your name? Tell us below 👇

Link in our bio to read more on our Substack! 🔗

Cover illustration by @cesardebargue 🎨 by @cultureofbatheing

3

13

3 days ago

A 47yro American journalist, trainer, mom of 3, sauna master (!!!), and absolute scent / music / movement / heat superfan goes to Sauna Fest at @therme_bucuresti in Romania. 🇷🇴

(How’s THAT for a run-on sentence? 😂)

She smiles and sweats through more than a dozen aufgusses in 24 hours. Meets sauna masters from all over the world. Chats with guests from near and far about what brought them to this magical place. Explores the vibes, heat, and personality of 13 themed saunas with names like Ad Astra and Alhambra. Takes approximately 37 showers. Collects details and stories for a forthcoming @cultureofbatheing (must-follow Substack!) piece. Soaks up every bit of education and inspiration she can. 🌿❄️🎶🎭💦❤️‍🔥😭

Andddd gets ready to lead her very first solo aufguss without her beloved trainers and teammates from @bathhouse by her side. 🥹

Stay tuned for what happens next. Whatever it is, I already feel like I’ve won.♥️ taken in Therme Bucharest by @cultureofbatheing

3

35

4 days ago

Cuadra San Cristóbal, 1966–68 Designed by Luis Barragán in collaboration with Andrés Casillas, Cuadra San Cristóbal is a private equestrian estate in Los Clubes, northeast of Mexico City 🐎 The complex combines a residence, stables, paddocks and pasture across 2.7 hectares, arranged around a vast walled courtyard.

At its centre, a gently sloping basin forms a pool for the horses. Water arrives from a massive wall and spills from a large spout, creating a monumental fountain perpendicular to Barragán’s long pink dividing wall.

The sound of water, rough flagstone paving, rammed earth, grass and intensely coloured surfaces create a carefully staged environment in which the movements of horses and people become part of the architecture. 🌊

Barragán’s design combines the principles of Modernism with memories of the landscapes, ranches and haciendas of rural Mexico 🇲🇽

📸: Armando Salas Portugal by @cultureofbatheing

3

1

9 days ago

By Swedish artist duo Bigert & Bergström (@studiobigertbergstrom ), Lithium Crystal Sauna is a functioning public sauna in WasteLand, a former industrial site in Skellefteå, northern Sweden. Its pink mirrored exterior takes the form of a giant lithium crystal, referencing the material at the centre of contemporary battery technology. 🔮

The sauna 🧖 is also part of an experiment in how those batteries can be used. Through a bidirectional charging system developed with Skellefteå Kraft, the sauna can be powered directly from an electric vehicle battery, sending energy from the car back into the building. The result is a sauna that is, quite literally, powered by the technology it takes its form from. 🔋 by @cultureofbatheing

3

8

12 days ago

3

8

14 days ago

Valtteri Rantala @valtteri_moves grew up with sauna the way most Finns do: as part of everyday life. When he moved to Vancouver in 2016, he found a city with cedar forests, cold Pacific water and mountains on every horizon. In other words, everything a sauna needs. In 2019 he started @thefinnishsauna.ca, bringing wood-fired heat to beaches, riverbanks and backyards across BC.

For @saunatimes.com_’s Vancouver Sauna Circuit, Val shares the spots where he sweats. He picked them to show the city’s range: some in the middle of downtown, some tucked into the forest, one floating on the water.

Between rounds, do as the locals do: sunset swims at English Bay, a post-sauna pint in East Van, and coffee in Mount Pleasant.

Swipe through for his picks, and save this for your next trip west. 🗺️ by @cultureofbatheing

3

27

17 days ago

HOT SPRINGS HOT LIST 🔥 ➡️ Burgdorf Hot Springs is a rustic, historic resort nestled in the mountains of the Payette National Forest in central Idaho.

Photos: The Mandagies by @cultureofbatheing

3

2

18 days ago

11 tips from someone who sweats for a living. 🔥

“I’m a sauna master who works in some of the hottest conditions on Earth. During an aufguss session, my heart rate can rise from 60 beats per minute to as high as 160, making recovery, hydration, and proper heat management essential.” — Cosmin Cîrîc @wellness.ambassador_cosmin.n, Wellness Director @thermegroup

Swipe for his tricks for sweating well, from cooling down and hydrating to caring for your skin after the heat.

Save this for your next session. 🧖

Right now, Cosmin is preparing for Sauna Fest at @therme_bucuresti (Oct 5–25), where aufguss masters from 29 countries will lead 800+ sauna experiences.

The full guide, plus @janewithers’ International Sauna Congress report, is at the link in bio.

✍️ by @cesardebargue by @cultureofbatheing

3

19

19 days ago

@skogensrom is a floating, wood-fired sauna on the Telemark Canal, and this year’s Newcomer of the Year from the Norwegian Sauna Associatio @norges_badstulaug .
It’s run by a husband and wife whose family has farmed this land for generations. Book ahead and they’ll make you lunch.
They don’t call it local food. They call it “untraveled food.” I’m still thinking about that
That’s me with the godfather of sweat, @mikkel.aaland , who grew up and lives five minutes away. Both of us in our sauna glasses from @jins.
You can catch a boat and travel up the Tekemark canal’s historic wooden locks to @dalenhotel
Thanks to @btveitan_public , the sauna owner, and @estigarild for helping organize this as part of the @saunacongress2026. And the great group of Sauna folk they assembled for this trip.
The sauna is designed by the owner’s sister! Furore @furorearkitektur #skogensrom #floatingsauna taken in Lunde, Telemark by @cultureofbatheing

475

22

21 days ago

The One Man Sauna by @modulorbeat transforms the ritual of the sauna into a compact architectural tower. Built on an abandoned factory site in Bochum, a city in western Germany, the 7.5-metre structure is made from stacked precast concrete elements originally used for industrial shafts.

Inside, the experience unfolds vertically: a plunge pool at the base, the sauna at the middle level, and a small relaxation room at the top that opens toward the sky. A simple ladder links the three spaces, turning the act of bathing into a slow upward sequence.

Part sculpture, part architecture, the tower offers a moment of idleness and retreat within the post-industrial landscape.

From our new edition of Social Sauna. 📖 by @cultureofbatheing

3

9

21 days ago