Community Sauna Baths
Real Sauna. Radical Access.
Editor’s Take
Hackney Wick has the best setting. Peckham draws the liveliest crowd. Check the aufguss schedule and book those sessions specifically — they are the heart of the experience. Dress warmly for outdoor areas between rounds.
About
Community Sauna Baths is arguably the most important wellness project in the UK right now. Operating as a Community Interest Company — meaning profits go back into the mission, not shareholders — it runs outdoor wood-fired saunas and cold plunges across five London sites: Camberwell, Hackney Wick, Peckham, Stratford, and Walthamstow. Each location is deliberately placed in a community that traditional wellness brands overlook. The experience is stripped back to the essentials: proper wood-fired heat, genuinely cold plunges, open sky above, and the company of your neighbours. Regular aufguss ceremonies bring the crowd together — a sauna master pours essential oils over the coals, works the towel, and orchestrates a communal heat experience that turns strangers into something closer to friends. The settings vary from canal-side in Hackney Wick to park-adjacent in Walthamstow, each with its own character. The NHS social prescribing partnership is what elevates this from a nice idea to a genuine public health intervention. GPs can refer patients to Community Sauna Baths as part of their treatment for loneliness, anxiety, and depression — acknowledging what Nordic countries have known for centuries: communal heat and cold is medicine. At a time when London is plagued by isolation and wellness is increasingly the preserve of the wealthy, Community Sauna Baths is a radical, necessary corrective.
Treatments & Services
Signature: Aufguss ceremony with essential oils
Highlights
- ✓5 locations across London
- ✓Community Interest Company — not-for-profit
- ✓Outdoor wood-fired saunas
- ✓NHS social prescribing partner
- ✓Aufguss ceremonies and community events
Best For
Everyone — that is literally the point. Locals, NHS referral patients, sauna newcomers, experienced bathers, and anyone who believes wellness should not require a postcode lottery
Contact & Info
Address
Camberwell, Hackney Wick, Peckham, Stratford, Walthamstow
Website
www.communitysaunabaths.comHours
Varies by location — check website for each site
Languages
English
Similar Venues
1Rebel Reset
1Rebel's sauna and cold plunge concept across 5+ London locations — 45-minute structured contrast therapy sessions designed to integrate seamlessly with their boutique fitness offering.
Book now →
Ironmonger Row Baths
A 1930s Art Deco public bathhouse in Clerkenwell offering Turkish baths with salt and juniper saunas, steam rooms, an ice room, cold plunge, a swimming pool, and squash — all at council-run prices that shame every luxury spa in London.
Book now →
Porchester Spa
London's oldest spa, operating since 1929 in a Grade II-listed Art Deco gem in Bayswater. Turkish hot rooms, cold plunge, two swimming pools, and a cafe — an enduring monument to the idea that thermal bathing belongs to everyone.
Book now →
ARC
The UK's first communal contrast therapy club, ARC brings Nordic-inspired sauna culture to Canary Wharf with a 65-person sauna, ice baths, guided Aufguss ceremonies, and a social atmosphere unlike anything else in London.