Sign the Charter
A grassroots global movement

Public and community sauna, kept as a common good

Ten shared principles for public sauna that is safe, accessible, culturally stewarded, and rooted in the common good. Read and sign the Public Sauna-Bathing Charter.

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Sauna culture in Finland, inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
13
Signatories
10
Principles
8
Countries
2026
Introduced at World Sauna Forum
Bathers walking the boardwalk between sauna and water, seen through birch
The Charter

Ten shared principles

Sauna-bathing is growing fast around the world. The Charter helps it grow well, with ten shared principles that keep equality, care, and community at the heart of public sauna.

Read the full Charter
Practice: Foundational values
01Access for All 02Shared Heat, Shared Space 03Honour Tradition
Keeping: Run for public good
04Public Good Before Private Gain 05A Sense of Place 06Community First
Tending: Ongoing care
07Tended With Care 08Reciprocity with the Natural World
Stewardship: Shared futures
09Wellbeing That Circulates 10Recognised and Resourced

What does signing involve? Read the FAQs

Why now

Choices made today will shape public sauna for decades

Decisions are being made now

Cities, funders, and tourism organisations are starting to decide what public sauna is, what it should deliver, and how it should be run. Shared principles help those decisions rest on real practice and evidence.

Sauna traditions deserve respect

Sauna has been carried by families and communities for generations. As it spreads to new places, the Charter asks that those traditions be understood, honoured, and shared with care.

Good practice should be easy to see

As more saunas open, communities and decision-makers need a clear way to recognise places that are safe, well run, and respectful of sauna culture. The Charter gives them a common reference.

The evidence

The benefits run deep

Sauna supports body, mind, and community. That is why how public sauna grows matters, and why the Charter asks for care in the way it is built and run.

  • Physical health. Regular sauna use is linked to lower cardiovascular mortality, and the benefit grows the more often people go.1
  • Mental health and wellbeing. In a large study in northern Sweden, sauna bathers reported better mental health, more energy, and less pain, with mental health scores rising the more often they bathed.2
  • Rest and connection. Regular bathers describe sauna as a place to recover mentally and to be with others, alongside the physical benefits.3
  • Belonging. Frequent sauna use is linked to greater health and wellbeing, and part of that benefit comes from a stronger sense of belonging.4
  • Local value. Cities already invest in pools and rinks for health and community. Well-run public saunas offer the same kind of value, close to home and open to all. Case studies coming soon.

Sources: (1) Laukkanen et al., BMC Medicine, 2018. (2) Engström, Hägglund et al., International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 2024. (3) Engström, Wiell, Hägglund & Lennkvist, International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 2026. (4) Newson, McGrath et al., Social Science & Medicine, 2026.

Who we are

Grassroots by design, guided by experience

Sauna for All has grown from the ground up, guided by stewards who run public saunas, study sauna culture, and build community, alongside the advisors, operators, and bathers who shape it with them.

Meet the founding stewards → Support the movement →
Founding stewards and network members among the initial signatories of the Charter

Stay close on the bench

Follow the Charter as it grows, learn from operators and researchers, and get invitations to online meet-ups. You’ll also hear first when we open new rounds for signatories.

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