LIFESTYLE

Forget sad little spa steam rooms tucked behind hotel gyms, Brighton's going full Finnish bathhouse for the last weekend of May. Yes, the city’s seafront is being transformed into a sprawling pop-up sauna village for the very first Brighton Sauna Festival – a three-day beach takeover featuring over 20 mobile saunas, sea dips, rituals, DJs and enough steam to fog up the entire Sussex coastline. Hosted by the British Sauna Society and taking place on the pebbles by Beach Box Spa (which grew out of the city's first beach sauna way back in 2018) at Banjo Groyne, this UK first is embracing Brighton’s (and the UK's) growing obsession with hot-cold wellness culture. There are numerous health benefits, saunas popping up all over town, and people already regularly dipping in the sea, so adding a full festival into the mix was only a matter of time. Across the weekend (Fri 29th – Sun 31st May), festivalgoers can hop between more than 20 different saunas from operators from across the UK, from converted horseboxes and trucks to massive communal sweat boxes and smaller ritual-led spaces. There’ll also be guided sauna ceremonies including Aufguss performances (German for infusion, this is a multi-sensory experience led by a sauna master), whisking rituals, breathwork, meditation and movement sessions, alongside cold plunges and, of course, the sea itself. Because this is Brighton, after all, not Surrey. Whether you’re already fully converted to the hot-cold wellness life or have never voluntarily walked into a sauna in your life, the festival’s designed to work for curious newbies and serious steam-heads alike. All the sessions are themed around different moods and times of day. There's 'Rise', all serene and meditative at just before 8am, 'Drift' is more social, while the evening 'Glow' and 'Sunset' slots promise more of a beach-party atmosphere with live DJ sets curated by Bestival founder Rob da Bank and friends. And if all this sounds very Scandinavian wellness influencer-coded, there’s actually a proper Brighton connection here. The British Sauna Society describes Brighton and the Sussex coast as the "birthplace of UK beachside sauna culture", with the local sauna scene helping kick off the wider boom in coastal sauna experiences around the country. Tickets are sold in two-hour sessions (£37.50), giving people time to bounce between saunas, rituals and sea dips at their own pace. Booking is via the Lowlu app only. Given Brighton currently feels like one enormous outdoor sauna, you’d think we’d be avoiding additional heat. And yet the idea of sweating it out (some more) in a wooden sauna before hurling ourselves into the sea sounds oddly perfect right now. Fri 29th – Sun 31st May 2026; 7.45am – 10pm; Banjo Groyne, Madeira Drive; £37.50 per sessionbritishsaunasociety.org.uk

LIFESTYLE

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