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The sauna cabin: from lakeside log hut to garden
Before basement saunas and spas, the sauna was a building of its own: a wooden hut, often by the water, with a changing room.
Updated: September 2026 · independent guide, sources linked
Planning a sauna cabin? Size, wall thickness, changing room and costs in our guide.
Sauna cabin guide →At a glance
| Origin | Finland and Scandinavia |
|---|---|
| Construction | traditionally log or plank construction |
| Rooms | sauna room, often with changing or relaxation room |
| Heating | smoke, wood-fired or electric heater |
| Location | traditionally by a lake or river – for cooling off |
A house for the sauna
In Finland the sauna was traditionally a building of its own. According to tradition, it was the first building put up on a new farm. It was the room with hot water, considered especially clean, and children were born there.
Many sauna huts stand by the water: after sweating you cool off in the lake. The photo above shows such a hut in Sweden, where the sauna is called bastu.
History at a glance
- Early timesPits in a slope, then log huts with a stone stove – the smoke sauna.
- Farm traditionThe sauna as a separate building on the farm – often the first to be built.
- 1936There is a sauna in the Olympic Village of the Berlin Games.
- TodaySauna cabins with glass fronts, changing room and relaxation area as a retreat in the garden.
Related traditions
Other cultures also have a building just for sweating: the Eastern European banya with steam room, washing room and changing room, the drystone sweathouses of Ireland and the qargi community house of the Yup'ik and Inuit.
A sauna cabin in your garden
A sauna cabin offers more space than a barrel sauna, but needs a solid foundation and almost always a building permit. Sizes, wall thicknesses and prices are in our sauna cabin guide, extra costs under cost.
For a sauna in the garden, each canton handles the building permit differently, for example Valais, Solothurn and Thurgau. All 26 cantons: Building permit.
Planning a sauna cabin? Size, wall thickness, changing room and costs in our guide.
Sauna cabin guide →More sauna types: Finnish sauna · Smoke sauna · Wood-fired sauna · Electric sauna · Barrel sauna · Infrared sauna · Bio sauna · Steam room · Kelo sauna · Kota sauna · Mobile sauna
Sweat baths of other cultures: Banya (Eastern Europe) · Roman baths · Hammam · Sweat lodge (North America) · Temazcal (Mesoamerica) · Qargi (Yup'ik & Inuit) · Steppe nomads (Scythians) · Hanjeungmak (Korea) · Mushiburo (Japan) · Sweathouses (Ireland)
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