Starlit views and cozy lounging—14 creative Finnish saunas

At Nina and Kari’s summer cottage, the sauna benches are cleverly built so you can enjoy the gentle steam and beautiful sea views while almost lying down. Take a peek at the cottage idyll with its stunning pool house [in Finnish].

This new traditional sauna [in Finnish] built by a lake has many beautiful details. Verses from the Finnish national epic Kalevala have been carved into the side of the steps with a milling tool.

There’s plenty of room for bathers here! Erkki and Eija built this impressive sauna themselves, and it has an interior height of 2.5 meters. Take a look at the magnificent sauna built from aspen logs [in Finnish].

At family Ojala’s sauna cottage [in Finnish] the eye is drawn to the impressive, textured logs. Jari can not only wield a broad axe, but also has the rare skill of carving decorative patterns onto the log surfaces.

This lakeside sauna built from Karelian logs [in Finnish] radiates a warm atmosphere. During renovation, the hot water tank under the benches was replaced with a new one and neatly concealed.

In Erkki and Eija’s sauna, [in Finnish] towels are hung creatively on forked branches.

Johanna and Juha’s home is an old barn [in Finnish], so it’s no surprise that their sauna was built in an old feed silo. The tar-scented, round sauna has room for even a larger group. From the benches under the glass window, you can admire the starry sky and northern lights.

Malla and Hannu renovated an old henhouse into an atmospheric sauna cottage. The eye-catchers of the sauna are the birch trunks felled from their own garden. In the corners, self-made lamps emit a gentle glow. Even water flows through a pipe embedded in a birch trunk.

This sauna made of pine snags is one of a kind. Not least because the logs are arranged vertically. In the round sauna [in Finnish] designed by Leif Frelander, glass has been fitted between each split log, creating a magically bright atmosphere inside.

What a shape! In Anu and Olli’s log sauna [in Finnish], tradition meets modern architecture. The large, round entrance is the special feature of the sauna. Architect Lauri Louekari created the design for the very modern-looking sauna that still pays homage to tradition.

The idea for the sauna cottage came when Pirjo’s godfather told her about pine snags he had carved, and asked if she would have any use for a frame of an outbuilding. The beautiful birch fence is the sauna cottage’s eye-catcher and makes the terrace feel sheltered.

This barn sauna [in Finnish] got a cozy, sheltered cooling-off terrace beside it. The terrace boards were cut from trees felled on the property.

What could be more pleasant than swaying in a swing between sauna sessions, like on this lakeside sauna’s [in Finnish]terrace swing.

This sauna of an old crofter’s cottage [in Finnish] has an outdoor shower built along its wall for a refreshing cool-down.