From a floating sauna in Milwaukee's harbor to wood-fired huts on Lake Superior. These are the places in Wisconsin where anyone can pay to use a real hot-room sauna: community saunas, bathhouses, mobile saunas, private suites and spas that sell day passes. We checked each one ourselves in October 2026.
The count
21 public saunas
4 of them sit on a lake, river, bay or pond you can cool off in. Gyms, hotel saunas for overnight guests and infrared-only studios aren't included. Know one we missed? Tell us.
Checked venue by venue · October 2026
×2South Milwaukee area: Hot Spell Sauna · Heat Haven Sauna Park
3Homestead Saunas · Sharon
4Kenosha Steam Baths · Kenosha
5Aspira Spa at The Osthoff Resort · Elkhart Lake
6WELL Spa + Salon at Grand Geneva · Lake Geneva
×8Madison area: 8 saunas
15Kiln Floating Sauna · Baileys Harbor
16920 Sauna Co. · Green Bay
17Nordic Night Community Sauna · Stevens Point
18Unwind Spa · Woodruff
19Heat Retreat · Altoona
20Valley Falls Lodging & Sauna · Chaseburg
21Awaken For Wellness Social Sauna · Hudson
Lake Michigan does the cold. Most of these plunge straight off a beach or a pier.
South Milwaukee · Wulff Lodge, Grant Park, 215 S. Lake Dr.
Two wood-fired saunas at Wulff Lodge, run with Milwaukee County Parks, six seats each. It moves most winters; in 2025–26 it was at McKinley Marina with a Lake Michigan plunge.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Wauwatosa · Hart Park, 7300 W. Chestnut St.
Three wood-fired cedar barrel saunas in Hart Park, with fire pits and a container bar.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Sharon · 133 Martin St.
Wood-fired saunas seating six to eight on a homestead in Walworth County. Also hosts the Sauna Synergy festival.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Kenosha · 3504 60th St.
A bathhouse built in 1928. Private rooms for up to six (men, women or families) and a men-only common room ($23, no time limit).
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Elkhart Lake · 101 Osthoff Ave.
The day pass covers the dry sauna, indoor and outdoor whirlpools and a meditation room.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Lake Geneva · 7036 Grand Geneva Way
The day pass covers the saunas and steam rooms, hot tubs, an indoor lap pool and the fitness floor.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Our home turf. Full reviews, prices and tips are in every sauna in Madison.
Madison · 315 S Blount St
A Nordic-style bathhouse a block from Lake Monona: two Finnish saunas, a steam room, a tiled plunge pool and a lounge.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Madison · Wingra Park, 824 Knickerbocker St
Two wood-fired cedar saunas on the shore of Lake Wingra, run by the Wingra Boats team.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Madison · Tricky Foods, 121 E Lakeside St (Nov–Dec 2026)
Two six-seat wood-fired trailer saunas that pop up around Dane County, with a guide tending the stove.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Madison · Garver Feed Mill, 3241 Garver Green
An Ayurvedic spa in the restored Garver Feed Mill with community sauna and steam sessions and a tea lounge.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Paoli · Seven Acre Dairy Co., Paoli
A glass-walled wood-fired sauna on a bend of the Sugar River, with the river as the plunge.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Madison · 326 Junction Rd
A private contrast suite with a 185–195°F sauna and a cold plunge for up to three people.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Madison · 8302 Globe Dr
A private cedar Finnish sauna suite for up to five, inside a massage studio.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Madison · 1956 Atwood Ave
A plant-filled private sanctuary with a Finnish sauna big enough to lie down in, for one to five people.
Our full review · Checked October 8, 2026
Baileys Harbor · Gordon Lodge, 1420 Pine Dr.
A floating sauna moored at Gordon Lodge in Door County for the summer. It spent winter 2024–25 at Discovery World in Milwaukee.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Green Bay · Christkindlmarket on Broadway (winter); Door County (summer)
A wood-fired barrel sauna running 50-minute community sessions for up to eight. Hosted private sessions at its Fish Creek site.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Where Wisconsin's Finnish settlers built saunas before houses, starting in the 1890s.
Stevens Point · 1027 Union St.
A wood-fired Finnish sauna that opened in 2023, with check-in at a geodesic dome. Weekend sessions run 90 minutes.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Woodruff · 1106 4th Ave.
An outdoor Nordic sauna in the spa's backyard with a bonfire lounge, showers and lockers. Private sessions $75 per guest.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Altoona · River Prairie Park
A wood-burning mobile sauna parked at River Prairie Park for the cold months, near Eau Claire. Private hour $150.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Chaseburg · S1957 Davidson Ln.
An outdoor wood-fired sauna about 25 minutes south of La Crosse. The plunge is a pond fed by a spring waterfall. Open to non-lodging guests.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
Hudson · 411 Co. Rd UU
An outdoor traditional sauna shared by up to nine guests per session, at a wellness studio that also has infrared rooms.
Website · Checked October 8, 2026
These run on irregular dates, haven't posted a season, or didn't give us enough to be sure there's a traditional sauna open to the public. Worth watching, especially on Lake Superior.
Finnish immigrants settled northern Wisconsin from the 1890s. Between 1900 and 1940, nearly half of the state's Finns lived in Douglas, Iron and Bayfield counties, and on many of those homesteads the sauna went up before the house.1
The tradition survived in private, on farms and lake lots. The public sauna is new again. Many of the community saunas on this map are only a few years old (Nordic Night opened in 2023, Kiln in 2024, Saunaday and Tuli in 2025, Madison Saunas in 2026), and they cluster where people are, around Milwaukee and Madison. On the Lake Superior shore, where the tradition is oldest, we couldn't find a single sauna open on a regular schedule, only pop-ups.
We could confirm 21 as of October 2026: community and mobile saunas, bathhouses, a floating sauna, private suites and spas that sell day passes. Eight are in Dane County and six in the southeast. Gyms, hotel saunas for overnight guests and infrared-only studios aren't counted.
Hot Spell Sauna runs two wood-fired saunas at Wulff Lodge in Grant Park, South Milwaukee ($37 for 75 minutes); its winter 2026–27 location isn't announced yet. Heat Haven runs three wood-fired barrel saunas in Hart Park, Wauwatosa, through the winter. The Hive runs lakefront pop-ups and plans a Bay View club for January 2027.
Kiln's floating sauna sits on the bay at Gordon Lodge in Baileys Harbor until October 18, 2026. In Milwaukee, Hot Spell had a Lake Michigan plunge at McKinley Marina in winter 2025–26 and The Hive runs lakefront pop-ups. Check each for current dates.
Not on a regular schedule that we could find. Superior Saunas has run winter pop-ups in Bayfield with a Lake Superior plunge, and UW-Superior has held free sauna events on Wisconsin Point.
Madison Saunas on Lake Wingra, Tuli in Paoli and Kindled around Dane County; Hot Spell, Heat Haven and Homestead Saunas in the southeast; 920 Sauna Co. in Green Bay and Door County; Nordic Night in Stevens Point; Heat Retreat near Eau Claire; and Valley Falls near La Crosse.
Yes. Kiln is moored at Gordon Lodge in Baileys Harbor, Door County, for the summer season, which ends October 18 in 2026. It spent winter 2024–25 at Discovery World in Milwaukee and now winters in Chicago.
What counts. A traditional hot-room sauna, wood-fired or electric with stones, that anyone can pay to use: community and mobile saunas with regular public sessions, bathhouses, floating saunas, private suites booked by the hour, and spas that sell a day pass including a sauna.
How we checked. Each venue's own website or booking page first, then recent listings and local news, in October 2026. Prices are what each venue publishes. Seasons change, so check before you drive. Spotted a mistake or one we missed? Tell us.