Last summer, my family of four traveled to Scandinavia, visiting Denmark and Norway, and nearby Iceland.
One of the highlights of the trip was renting a private floating sauna on a Norwegian fjord in the small town of Flam. I wasn’t sure what my two middle-school-aged boys would think of the experience, but in the end, we all enjoyed going back and forth between the frigid water and cozy sauna.
The $300 sauna rental felt like a splurge to us, but one that was worth it.
I was seeking out a unique experience
While reading about what we might want to do while in Norway before our trip, I learned about floating saunas. These saunas sit on floating structures on the fjords, allowing you to jump into the frigid water and then warm up in a sauna. It sounded like a unique Scandinavian experience to have while on the trip. Booking a sauna reservation in Flåm felt like a good option since we would be staying in a nearby town for a couple of nights while exploring the area.
To get to Flåm from Oslo, we took a train and bus (it’s possible to get there via train-only, but a derailment the day we were traveling meant they rerouted us part of the way via bus, which luckily was all arranged for us by the railway line).
Courtesy of Julie Vick.
On our first full day in the area, we took a ferry through the fjords, ate lunch, and then walked over to the floating saunas in Flam to check in for our reserved sauna time.
We opted for a private sauna
I rented the sauna from the appropriately named FjordSauna, which offered both shared and private experiences. Since they required guests to be at least 12 years old for the shared experience, and my kids were 11 and 13 at the time, we chose the private sauna for our family. It turned out to be nice to have it to ourselves, and we could play our own music and had plenty of space to spread out in the roughly 10-by-10-foot sauna room.
The rental was 2,990 NOK (around $297 USD at the time) for a 90-minute rental, and it felt worth it for such a unique experience.
When we arrived, we checked in, and the Sauna Master showed us around and helped me hook up my phone to play music. She showed us the changing room area and the small disposable towels everyone should use to sit on while in the sauna. We also rented bigger towels to use for drying off after swimming. Then she left us, and we changed into swimsuits and set out to explore.
Being in the sauna was like being on a small houseboat
The floating sauna was like a little houseboat, just one that was set on a picturesque blue/green fjord.
Courtesy of Julie Vick,
The indoor area of the structure had a changing area where we could store our things on one end and an enclosed sauna room on the other. The two rooms were separated by a clear door in the middle.
The sauna room looked like other saunas I have been in, with tiered wooden bench seating. But it also had glass windows that looked out onto the water and surrounding mountains, and a clear plastic hatch in the floor that allowed you to dip directly into the fjord (so you could have a simultaneous hot/cold experience!).
The lower level of the sauna had a ladder just outside the changing area, where you could jump (or slowly lower yourself) into the fjord. The second-story roof was covered with a wooden deck that you could jump from into the water (my kids did this multiple times; I mostly opted for the slowly lowering myself into the fjord option).
Courtesy of Julie Vick.
We visited in July, and the temperature outside was pleasant (around 70 degrees Fahrenheit), but it is fun to visit when it is cooler outside, too. The water in the fjord was in the 50s or 60s, and it definitely felt cold — we didn’t stay in very long when we got in.
The rental went quickly
The 90-minute rental almost went by too quickly — we could have stayed longer if it were an option. It was a great opportunity to connect with my family while enjoying a unique travel experience. My husband, kids, and I all agreed that it was a highlight of our trip and something we would definitely do again.
