Have you noticed saunas popping up everywhere?
What has been part of Nordic everyday life forever suddenly seems to be everywhere — and we are completely on board.
But guess where we found this one?
Blue skies. Sunshine. Sparkling, crystal-clear water. A timber sauna sitting right beside the sea.
Sweden? Finland? Norway?
Nope.
Scotland.
And while the sunshine was doing a very good job of pretending otherwise, the water temperature gave the game away.
10°C.
Ahhh yes. Definitely Scotland.
We love a cold-water swim, but 10°C is properly cold. The kind of cold that makes you gasp and has you wondering exactly how long you need to stay in before you can legitimately call it a swim.
Luckily, there was a sauna waiting. Wild Scottish Sauna
We started spotting them beside beaches and little coastal villages — timber cabins sitting right near the water, sometimes tucked behind the dunes, sometimes with huge windows looking straight out to sea.
The concept is beautifully simple.
Get hot. Get in the freezing sea. Get out. Get hot again. Repeat.
One of our favourite stops was Kingsbarns, on the Fife coast.
The sky was brilliant blue, the sea was glittering and from the beach it looked so inviting that, for a brief moment, you could convince yourself you were somewhere much warmer.
Then you got in.
That first hit of 10°C water is something else.
I convinced a friend to join, and we both fixated ton how beautiful it was rather than the fact that our faces had gone slightly numb.
And the water was so clear.
That beautiful, glassy Scottish water where you could see straight beneath you. Cold, crisp and completely invigorating.
You definitely felt alive.
Then began the dash.
Water to sauna. Sauna to water. And back again.
The first plunge was chilly. Very chilly.
We didn't last long before we were racing back up the beach and piling into the heat of the sauna.
Wet hair. Red cheeks. Steam rising.
But once we'd properly warmed up, the thought of getting back into that 10°C water didn't seem quite so ridiculous.
So back down we went.
Another plunge.
Back to the sauna.
Then another.
And with every trip, we found we could stay in the water just that little bit longer.
The warmth from the sauna seemed to stay with you. You'd run down the beach feeling almost too hot, hit that freezing water and suddenly the cold felt incredible.
Cold. Hot. Cold. Hot.
There is something slightly addictive about it.
The shock of the sea.
The dash back up the beach.
The intense heat of the sauna.
Then sitting there looking out at the ocean you've just been in, warming up until someone inevitably says:
"Should we go again?"
Of course we should.
Back down the beach.
Back into that ridiculously clear water.
And somehow, each time, staying in a little longer.
Wild swimming as the English call it. We loved it.
It's the places it takes you.
And those moments when you look around and think:
How lucky are we to be here?
Scotland gave us plenty of those.
Sunny blue skies.
Tiny coastal villages.
Crystal-clear water.
Wild saunas perched beside the sea.
And that mad dash up and down the beach between the two.
Try it locally
And the good news? You don't need a ticket to Scotland to give the whole swim-sauna-swim thing a go.
The sauna craze has well and truly arrived in Sydney too, with sauna experiences popping up around all.
Try Cedar Salt at Manly and Barangaroo or The Sauna Project at Vaucluse and Palm Beach.
So grab your swimsuit, grab a swim buddy and give it a try.
Sea. Sauna. Sea again.
Although we're guessing the water might be a little warmer than 10°C.
You Never Regret a Swim.
Especially when there's a sauna afterwards.