The Wood-Fired Sauna: Instructions and the Stüga Method
Table of Contents
In the Nordic countries, you don’t learn about the sauna from a textbook. You learn by experiencing it, as the knowledge is passed down from one generation to the next. Here are the essentials of that knowledge, distilled into a few simple rules.
How to Have a Great Sauna Session: A Practical Guide
A traditional sauna isn't something you can just wing, but it's not just for the initiated either. A few simple rules are all it takes to get the most out of it.
Before entering. Take a quick shower—cold or lukewarm—to prepare your skin. Remove all metal jewelry, which can become dangerously hot. Stay well-hydrated: drink one or two large glasses of water before entering, and drink regularly during your session. Avoid using the sauna right after a heavy meal; wait at least two hours.
The temperature rise. Start on the bottom bench, where the temperature is mildest (between 55 and 65 °C). The upper benches can reach 80 to 100 °C in a well-heated wood-fired sauna. For your first session, stay on the bottom bench until your body acclimates. Breathe slowly and deeply; the hot air may take you by surprise at first.
Löyly, the soul of the sauna. Pouring water onto the hot stones of the stove causes the humidity and perceived heat to rise sharply. It’s an experience in itself. Start with small amounts—one ladleful is enough—and observe how your body reacts (and that of your neighbors ;-). In the Finnish tradition, you can add a few drops of eucalyptus or birch essential oil to the water to scent the steam.
Duration. A session generally lasts between 10 and 20 minutes. Leave as soon as you feel excessively tired, experience palpitations, or feel like you’re suffocating. The sauna isn’t an endurance contest; the goal is relaxation, not performance.
The hot-cold contrast. This is where the magic really happens. After the heat, expose your body to cool air, cold water (a bucket of cool water, a dip in a lake), or snow (rubbing yourself down with snow, a dip in powder snow). This thermal contrast intensely stimulates circulation, releases endorphins, and provides that feeling of lightness characteristic of the Nordic sauna. Start gradually if you’re not used to it: begin with cool air, then lukewarm water, and then cold water as you progress through your sessions.
Recovery. Between each session, take a 10- to 15-minute break outdoors or in a cooler room. Drink water or herbal tea. Repeat the cycle two to three times, depending on how you feel and your energy level.
Frequency. Finnish studies show maximum benefits starting at two to three sessions per week. But even a single session produces measurable effects. The key is consistency over the long term, not the intensity of a single session.
Back to basics, just a stone's throw from Mont Blanc
Everything that Finnish tradition has taken millennia to build, everything that Nordic science has gradually documented, is accessible here, in the Glaisy clearing.
At the Stüga campsite, the communal sauna welcomes climbers, hikers, and families for a spontaneous, shared experience—whether after a workout or simply to enjoy the warmth together. In each ecolodge, a private wood-fired sauna awaits guests, to be heated at their own pace and enjoyed in their own way, in the privacy of a contemporary lodge overlooking the Tarentaise Valley.
The wood crackles. The stone stores the heat. Outside, larch trees and silence. Inside, everything the body was longing for without even knowing it.
That’s exactly what Stüga is all about.
The wood-fired sauna doesn’t need a long explanation. You just have to experience it at least once, and then you’ll understand everything. Especially here at Stüga, in this natural setting reminiscent of the Far North.
I want to try out a private sauna and book a night at a high-altitude ecolodge
