Where to go
Bathhouses in Australia: 6 houses we visited
A field guide to six bathhouses in Australia, with visits in Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, Sydney and Byron Bay, our own photographs, and what is worth noticing at each one.
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Journal
Notes and stories about bathing culture.
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The wet sauna myth: sauna, steam room and hammam
What is often called a wet sauna is a steam room. Understand how it differs from a Finnish sauna, why löyly matters and why hammam means something else.
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Types of sauna: dry, steam, wood-fired and infrared
Compare electric, wood-fired, steam, infrared and smoke saunas. Learn what changes in the bathing experience and the build, and why a dry sauna can have steam.
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Bathing culture in Medellín: the new sauna and contrast scene
In El Poblado and Laureles, Medellín has assembled a recent map of Finnish sauna, cold plunge, rooftop spa and recovery. A guide to choosing where to go in the city of eternal spring.
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Sauna: what it is for, the types, the benefits and how to use one
What a sauna actually is, the difference between dry and steam, what the research says about benefits and risks, and how a first session works for beginners.
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Spa Colmegna: the 1895 bathhouse hidden in Buenos Aires
Sauna, steam, a marble cold pool and 130 years of history in central Buenos Aires. What Spa Colmegna is, how the circuit works and what to confirm before you go.
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Cold plunge and contrast therapy: benefits, risks and evidence
Sauna, cold plunge and rest make up contrast therapy. Here is what the research shows about benefits and recovery, what is marketing, and which risks call for caution.
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Bathhouse, spa, recovery and hot springs: what changes between bathing spaces
Almost every place with a sauna and an ice tub calls itself a bathhouse. The difference is not quality: it is program. What the place sells, and how long you stay in it.
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Bathing culture in New York: the bathhouse map in 2026
The city that nearly lost its bathhouses in the 1980s now anchors the new American wave: a historic schvitz, social bathhouses and neighbourhood clubs. A map for deciding where to go.
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How much a bathhouse costs to build: where the budget starts
There is no such thing as the price of a bathhouse. There is a set of decisions that push the budget up or down. This is the map of those decisions, in the order they have to be made, so you can build your own number from real quotes.
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