Edited by Brooke Jackson-Glidden and Rebecca Jacobson Published October 30, 2024 in the Winter 2024/2025 issue of Portland Monthly
With the exception of modern thrill-seeking adventurers who use their OBE for outdoor adventures, most of us want to relax and unwind while on vacation. Sweating can help when trying to de-stress. In Oregon and Washington, proponents of contrast therapy have installed floating saunas on tranquil lakes and parked wood-burning trailers near mountain rivers so sweaty visitors can cool off in the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest. While some hotels and resorts install a simple electric sauna next to a hot tub or spa, some places have invested in truly impressive steaming or sweating spaces, from cabins tucked away in the wilderness to lodges filled with steam from thermal springs. Here’s a list of saunas and steam rooms worth checking out, some located in hotels and lodges, others open to out-of-towners looking for a backcountry soak. For places closer to home, our guide to local saunas may be helpful.
Washington County | Price: Included in your stay; Bookings start at $200 per night | Swimsuit? Yes, you must
The electric sauna in the back of this three-bedroom Willamette Valley guesthouse is the next best thing to wine barrel sex. Nico and Mia Ponzi Hamacher transformed their mother’s childhood home (located next to the original Ponzi Vineyard) into a cozy guesthouse surrounded by vineyards and orchards. While attending college in Canada, Nico would sneak out to a barrel sauna hidden in the woods near campus. In honor of his former hangout, he and his family and friends built a fir sauna at Sosta House using materials from Sanctuary Barrel Saunas. The cedar deck includes a cold plunge pool that, in keeping with the theme, was repurposed from a fermentation vat the siblings found behind the winery. Through the sauna’s windows, guests can admire the rolling grape vines, a nearby brook, and the pine trees towering above the property. Chickens clucked behind the fence next door. Like many other amenities at Sosta House, the sauna is self-catering and can be used free of charge at any time during your stay. —Brooke Jackson-Glidden
Trauma therapist Halina Kowalski-Thompson is a big proponent of contrast therapy as a treatment for both physical and mental illness. It was this idea that inspired her to start a sauna business in Central Oregon with her husband, Dorian Thompson, where they built Gather’s first mobile wood-fired sauna in a converted horse trailer. Gather places saunas next to natural bodies of water (most notably the Deschutes River) and hosts public and private sauna sessions interspersed with ice baths. Halina’s treatments incorporate elements of Latvian pirts, a spa tradition that uses medicinal plants, in the form of tea and aromatherapy. At Gather, Halina uses her homemade herbal blenders to apply them to the skin or to diffuse steam throughout the room. The couple collects and digs up plants from around the area to make their own oils, salves and tinctures for use as dietary supplements. Coming soon: a full-service sauna centre in Tumalo, complete with its own herb garden to build your own blender. —BJG
Long Beach, WA | Price: Free for overnight guests; Day passes start at $35 for a 90-minute session | Swimsuit? Yes, you must
In 2024, as the weather warms up, venerable Japanese outdoor brand Snow Peak will open its first U.S. “campground” on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula. It’s both a high-end camping destination and a place for consumers to test out their gear. Families build fires in Snow Peak stainless steel fireplaces and roll up sleeping bags on Snow Peak pressure cots inside Snow Peak tents. In addition to the comfortable camping gear and picturesque wetlands, the campground’s main attraction is an ofuro, a Japanese bathhouse with a cold plunge pool and sauna. The electric sauna is lined with temple-grade juniper and overlooks the spa’s verdant grounds. Steps away is a circulating cold-water bath kept at 115 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as a 105-degree pool with views of the surrounding alder trees. Note that Snow Peak Campfield is a family-friendly destination, so don’t be surprised to see chatty 8-year-olds sitting on the benches (there are adult-only hours from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. daily). —BJG
Breitenbush Hot Springs is Oregon’s legendary clothing-optional hot springs resort, completely isolated from the outside world, with no cell phone service or Wi-Fi. The 153-acre resort, located in the Willamette National Forest east of Salem, is the largest privately owned geothermal hot springs complex in the Pacific Northwest and has been a wilderness wellness resort for nearly a century; long before it was privately owned, Native tribes came here to bathe, trade, and eat. Breitenbush has been a worker-owned cooperative since the late 1970s, and today it feels like both a summer camp and a fairytale resort: Imagine sharing a meal and singing in an idyllic wooded setting. (While the 2020 Labor Day fires destroyed historic buildings and left scorch marks, they couldn’t extinguish the spirit of the place.) The soaking pools, some lined with river rocks and tucked into meadows overlooking the mountains, get most of the attention, but the saunas are the dark horse. The spa is housed in a cedar cabin that sits atop a capped geyser that the resort’s owners say would regularly shoot 30-foot columns of water if left uncovered. A hobbit-sized door provides access to the dimly lit space, filled with steam rising from the floorboards. When the water reaches a certain height, the ocean turns into a wet ocean, with people sweating, sighing, stretching, and sometimes singing. After your dip, you can soak on the deck and in the cold tub, which is filled with ice-cold water from a glacial river. —Rebecca Jacobson
Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon | Price: Included in cabin rates; Rates start at $350 per night, three-night minimum | Swimsuit? No official policy, but visitors generally wear swimsuits.
It doesn’t get more isolated than this lodge, deep in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in northeastern Oregon, accessible only by small plane or an 8.5-mile trail. The lodge-like sauna is tucked into the woods and overlooks the Minham River, whose icy waters invite a refreshing dip. The sauna staff lights a fire at 7 a.m. each morning, warming the cedar benches and paneling. Deep in the woods, a wood-burning hot tub with spring water boils, and the lodge staff tends the fire throughout the day. With just a handful of cabins, lodge rooms, and canvas tents, this remote lodge never hosts more than a few dozen guests, and the food is sourced from local gardens and greenhouses. Fishing, horseback riding, and massages in historic barns disperse visitors, creating a sense of luxurious seclusion. The only other vestige of civilization is the Red Horse Ranch and its historic cabins, located a half-mile upstream, where U.S. Forest Service volunteers tell stories of such diverse guests as Burt Lancaster and Supreme Court Justice William Douglas. —Alison Williams
Bingen, Washington | Price: Free for overnight guests; walk-ups start at $30 per hour | Swimsuit? Yes, required |
Sister to the Society Inn in Old Town, this inn and hotel is housed in an old schoolhouse in the Columbia River Gorge and retains some of its original character (yes, you can play basketball in the gym and lounge in the bleachers). A ring of Scandinavian-style cabins surrounds a public bathhouse that follows the same principles as Knot Springs: visitors can soak in a warm saltwater pool, a heated outdoor pool, a 54-degree cold plunge pool, and a cedar sauna. Guests can also book a range of spa services, including facials, brow waxing, and lip exfoliation. —BJG
Early in the morning, Lake Washington at Carillon Point in Kirkland is so calm you could mistake the water for glass, but that illusion is shattered when sweaty tourists jump in. The seasonal Von Sauna debuted in Washington in January 2024 and is one of the first public floating saunas in the state, according to owner David Jones. The Washington native decided to bring the floating sauna experience to his adopted homeland after numerous trips to Norway. Guests can choose a private sauna or a 75-minute communal sauna by reserving one of 12 spots for a specific period of time. The wood-fired sauna, which reaches temperatures between 170 and 195 degrees Fahrenheit, sits over the water on a small dock and features two floor-to-ceiling windows that provide stunning views of the lake. — Abby Lushay