I’ll admit it. I’m a prude when it comes to being naked! That might be fine in Canada where I’m from, but in Germany where I now live? It’s a little bit odd!
My (now ex) German partner at the time first introduced me to the naked German sauna when I was visiting him from Canada.
Swimsuits are not allowed for hygienic reasons – don’t ask me to explain that one! I swore it would be my last visit to a German sauna. And it was.
For a couple of years at least. I realized that the German sauna culture was one that I had to familiarise myself with before attempting another visit.
When we were invited on a skiing trip that would inevitably involve seeing 15 of his male friends and their wife’s naked bodies, I bailed. I mean, hello, how awkward would that be?
Not so much for him, as it turns out. Do you want your guy friends to see me naked? I asked him in disbelief. He just shrugged his shoulders. Why not? It’s just nature. It was one of the many shocks I experienced while with a German man.
It took me two years to recover from my initial sauna experience before I decided to give it another try. And yes, I fully admit I’m a prude.
Related Reading: Wellness Hotels in Germany to Check into for Ultimate Relaxation
Best Spa Hotels in Germany (with Saunas)
Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa – Baden-Baden
Elegant 150-year-old spa hotel with modern wellness luxuries – unwind in style at the gateway to Germany’s Black Forest.
Hotel Traube Tonbach – Baiersbronn-Tonbach
Fairytale Black Forest retreat with an inventive spa – from steaming hay wraps to an ice fountain – ensuring a truly memorable wellness journey.
Parkhotel Jordanbad – Biberach an der Riß
Great-value spa getaway where a private hotel stay meets a huge thermal bath complex – perfect for wellness on a budget without skimping on fun.
Le Méridien Stuttgart – Stuttgart
Urban convenience with relaxation built-in – enjoy a central Stuttgart location plus a heated pool and sauna to recharge from your travels.
Schloss Elmau – Krün, Bavarian Alps
Ultimate alpine spa retreat – soak in an outdoor panorama pool, sweat in a mountainside sauna, then cool off in pure glacier air at this truly world-class wellness haven.
Hotel Victory Therme Erding – Near Munich
Family-friendly wellness on a grand scale – where else can you rocket down water slides, then unwind in a tropically heated sauna world, all under one roof?
Sonnenalp Resort – Ofterschwang, Allgäu
A Bavarian alpine oasis with American hospitality ties – enjoy golf in the summer or skiing in winter, then rejuvenate in myriad saunas and heated pools with postcard mountain vistas.
Steigenberger Hotel Der Sonnenhof – Bad Wörishofen
Holistic wellness in the footsteps of Sebastian Kneipp – alternate hot, cold, salt, and steam therapies, then melt away stress in a mountain-view infinity pool.
Aspria Berlin Ku’damm – Berlin
Berlin’s secret wellness retreat – sunbathe on the private rooftop terrace or try a hot/cold Kneipp circuit after cycling around the city sights.
The Fontenay – Hamburg
Rooftop wellness with a view – soak in an infinity pool or sweat in a sky-high sauna while gazing over Hamburg’s twinkling skyline and lake.
Best Western Plus Kurhotel an der Obermaintherme – Bad Staffelstein
Germany’s ultimate sauna playground – hop between nearly 20 unique saunas (try the rustic biergarten sauna!) and soak in thermal salt pools, all conveniently accessible from your comfy hotel room in the Franconian countryside.
Hotel Europäischer Hof – Heidelberg
Old-world European luxury meets modern wellness – sweat in a skyline sauna, then sip a drink on the spa terrace while watching the sun set over Heidelberg’s castle and river.
Vital Hotel Frankfurt (Rhein-Main-Therme) – Hofheim
Affordable wellness minutes from Frankfurt – enjoy a full-blown thermal spa resort (think wave pools and 100°F saunas) and American-style comfort, all within easy reach of the city and U.S. bases.
Althoff Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg – Near Cologne
Royal treatment in a German castle – alternate between steamy saunas and a cooling dip beneath an indoor “sky” of stars, then reward yourself with a view of Cologne Cathedral in the distance.
Weissenhaus Grand Village Resort & Spa – Baltic Sea
Luxury by the Baltic Sea – think sauna infusions with ocean air, castle-like surroundings, and strolls on a white sand beach at this intimate coastal hideaway.
AQUA DOME – Ötztal, Tyrol (Austria)
Floating outdoor pools with glacier views and panoramic saunas — a surreal Alpine spa experience you’ll never forget.
I’ll be honest. I’m still not a big fan of saunas in general and tend to feel faint after a few minutes.
But I have discovered some tips that can help the German sauna experience a bit easier for shy girls like myself if you aren’t lucky enough to have a sauna at home like this one for two people.
I’ve even come to find the “textile-free” areas of spas…gasp….not totally horrible. Albeit it is not totally comfortable either.
There is no doubt that regularly visiting a sauna has many health benefits, including lowering blood pressure and alleviating muscle pains.
I’m still much more of a fan of wellness hotels that offer saunas and in addition, lounging areas, indoor and outdoor pools, and beauty treatments.
Check out these wellness hotels in the Bavarian Alps on Booking.com.
Or, if you can’t overcome your shyness, or just love saunas, then consider a DIY sauna outdoor so that you’ll be able to enjoy it anytime you want!
6 Essential Tips for Visiting a German Sauna
Tip #1: Choose a Sauna Far From Home
Or at least a couple of hundred kilometres. That way, you’re far less likely to run into anyone you know.
Europe’s largest thermal bathing complex, Therme Erding is located near Munich, where I lived. I do not doubt that it’s spectacular. And I know that there are areas where you can wear clothes, but most of the areas require you to be naked.
My American friend and her husband were there in one of the naked areas and who did they run into? Her husband’s boss and his wife! It was understandably awkward for her. She said even her German husband didn’t know how to react!
By going farther away, you’re less likely to run into people that you know. And while I won’t go to a sauna at home, I usually choose a wellness hotel within a 2-hour drive. Otherwise, getting stuck in traffic disintegrates the relaxation effect.
Tip #2: Visit the Sauna at Off-Peak Hours
Go at off hours when it’s less likely to be busy. You can ask the spa if you’re not sure.
If you’re staying at a hotel near a ski hill, you can probably bet that the sauna is going to be busy in the evening when the skiers are relaxing their sore muscles. But perhaps it’s not so busy in the afternoon or first thing in the morning.
By going at off-peak hours, you also reduce your chances of sitting skin-skin beside a sweaty stranger in a sauna – which for me, is the complete opposite of relaxation!
Related Reading: What It’s Really Like to Stay in a Castle Hotel in Germany
Tip #3: Take Some Time for Personal Grooming
The naked sauna is not a sexual experience. Yes everyone looks at everyone else, but it’s not sexual. You don’t have to have the body of a model.
You’ll see all shapes and sizes and some jiggly bits. But the one thing that most people are? Well-groomed, especially the ladies.
I was surprised to see that almost every woman, regardless of her age, paid attention to her grooming situation. And let’s just leave it at that.
Tip 4: Go When the Sauna Has a Women Only Day
Some of the larger saunas have sections exclusively for women. The smaller ones will likely have a day of the week or one day of the month where only women are allowed.
This is a gentle introduction to your first German sauna if you’re not ready for a mixed sauna.
Related Reading: 15 Most Romantic Hotels in Europe
Tip 5: Don’t Go the German Sauna With Friends of the Opposite Sex
Much to my chagrin, many of my friends have seen my then-partner naked! Let me explain.
After playing badminton, he often goes to the sauna before grabbing a bite to eat. A few of the ladies in our badminton group go as well, so voila, everyone becomes more intimately familiar with each other.
Needless to say, that’s waaaaaay too much familiarity for me. Instead, I head straight to the restaurant and order a glass of wine.
It’s become a running joke now where every week he asks me whether I’ll be joining him in the sauna, knowing full well that I won’t.
Check out these wellness hotels in the Bavarian Alps on Booking.com
Related Reading: 15 Best Hotels with Saunas in Germany for a Luxurious Wellness Escape
Tip 6: All Saunas Are Not Equal
Related Reading: Wellness Hotels in Germany to Check into for Ultimate Relaxation
Some, like the one at my badminton club, are small. So, if there are more than 3 or 4 people, there’s a good chance you’ll be in contact with another sweaty body!
Others are pure heaven. My favourite of all time is the Aqua Dome located in the Ötzal region of Austria.
The spa area is HUGE! You could spend several days exploring it. While there are clothing-required areas, like the incredible levitating pools, the majority of the areas require nudity.
This is not as much of a problem as you might think. Many of the rooms are dimly lit (as shown in the two above photos). And the saunas are large enough that everyone has his/her space.
Or if you’ve decided that you’re not that shy after all, you could swim lengths – in the naked pool :).
Check out this book for more insights into German Culture: German Men Sit Down To Pee And Other Insights Into German Culture
Also, check out these wellness hotels in Germany, which in addition to having sauna areas, also have wellness areas.
On the topic of “The hair down there.” In the locker room at my health club you can largely know a womans’ age group by her grooming or non-grooming down there.
The women that are in their 60’s and up don’t appear to do any grooming down there. The women in my age group, 40’s and 50’s trim but don’t shave or wax it all off.
The girls and women ranging from 13 to their late 30’s usually shave or wax almost all of it off. I’m certainly never staring at anyone else in the locker room, but there’s no way of not noticing those things to some extent.
@Lauren – Very interesting observation, thanks for sharing.
I have never had any discomfort with being nude in female only locker rooms. Most of the women that are members at my health club, myself included, are very casual and open with nudity in the locker room. It’s an open shower-room, no stalls, no curtains. Most ladies don’t bother covering up between the showers and lockers.
I’ve always preferred it that way. I think that the communal nudity of the ladies locker room is quite liberating!
On several occasions I have been nude in the locker room in the presence of other women who I know well, among them my (Female, obviously) boss, one of my daughters grade-school teachers, and my daughter-in-law. And they too were nude at the time. The nudity was never an issue in those cases.
However, I would absolutely freak out if I were to be in a locker room or sauna with naked men. I would be very embarrassed being naked in front of any men other than my husband or a doctor during an exam. And I would be even more traumatized by seeing naked men other than my husband! I absolutely could not deal with that!
I hope you don’t mind an update since contacting you in October, but to some degree your blog helped us. My BF John, plus his mate & GF were holidaying in our home country, Australia in taking the mixed group nude plunge, yes with a few coy giggles at first but with no regrets! It wasn’t like the big open European saunas you describe but was a smaller venue, it was on a “couples night” and it was “clothing optional”. We four got there early, initially having it to ourselves. We all started in bathers, but John after a while in the hot pool announced he was going to make use of the clothing optional opportunity as he put his swimwear onto the side of the pool and I followed suit (both still hidden to the shoulders under the water). Getting out to go to the sauna was the real “intake of breath” moment, but when the other two entered the sauna a bit later it was quite a relief to see they’d also now gone fully nude. Only two other couples joined during the evening, of which everyone was happily naked except one woman kept her bottoms on. The experience was absolutely brilliant, inspiring us to spend another day “skinny dipping” on a quiet but fairly open beach before flying back to Melbourne. We’d become closer as a group of friends along the way too. With thanks, Sara (& John) x
@Sara – Thanks so much for sharing your experience. So glad that you enjoyed it. Kudos to you for taking the plunge.
What do you mean by personal grooming situation .. if it’s what I think it is, and depending on the extent, I might feel more confident visiting a salon first?
Sara
@Sara – referring to the hair “down there”. You definitely want to give it some attention. The “natural wild look” is not so popular in German saunas.
I remember going to a Turkish Bath when I was in my early 20s. I was so nervous, but then I realized I should just get over myself and appreciate the new experience. Easy to do when you are thousands of miles from home 🙂
I have to admit I’ve never done a naked sauna. I’ve been to a bath in Hungary where everyone wore clothes. I’ve been to a nude beach in Portugal and fully participated (it did take me two hours though). Would I do a German sauna sans clothes? Sure. Only thing is I’m not a big fan of saunas.
For me, it’s not a nudity thing. I’d just rather be out exploring the cities or hiking in Germany 🙂
@Jeremy – I’m not a big fan of saunas either, even when I can go in a bathing suit. I feel very faint very quickly. I’d also rather be out exploring 🙂
Didn’t know that nekidness was such a universal thing in Germany … crazy!
@Noah – Yep! Although to be be fair, I do have some female German friends who are not comfortable with it either.