Finnish saunas in San Francisco, United States
Albany Sauna & Hot Tubs
Albany Sauna & Hot Tubs is a historic Finnish-style sauna house at 1002 Solano Avenue in Albany, north of Berkeley, dating from 1934. It offers four private sauna rooms, each built around a central brick furnace in the Finnish steam-sauna tradition, plus two outdoor hot tub rooms for two, four or more people, along with massage therapy and facials. Rooms are booked per session, and it is open Monday 10 AM to 10 PM and Tuesday to Sunday 10 AM to 9 PM.
Alchemy Springs
Alchemy Springs runs the Sauna Garden at 939 Post Street in Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco, a preview of its full bathhouse. The garden centres on a 40-person circular communal sauna with tiered seating, joined by cold-plunge tubs, rain showers, a fire pit and heated thermal benches, with showers and lockers on site. Programming includes guided contrast-therapy sessions with breathwork and sound baths. Passes are sold via ResortPass from $62; hours are Mon–Fri 5–9 PM, Sat 10–6, Sun 10–8.
Almonte Spa
Almonte Spa is a long-running wellness retreat in an older house at 158 Almonte Boulevard in Mill Valley, Marin County, operating since the late 1970s. It offers private outdoor hot tubs under the trees, a Finnish sauna with high dry heat and a gentler infrared sauna, plus customised massage. Hot tub and sauna sessions are booked individually at $45 for 30 minutes, $60 for 45 and $75 for 60, and massages start at $175. The spa is open daily from 10 AM to 9 PM.
Archimedes Banya
Archimedes Banya is a Russian bathhouse on the Bayview shoreline of San Francisco, open to adults 18 and over with a Banya Pass. Its heat rooms are a Russian parniki sauna at 170–210°F fed by a 22,000 lb tiled stove, a cedar Finnish dry sauna at 220°F and above, and a Turkish hammam steam room, paired with a cold plunge, warm pools and jacuzzis, a rooftop deck and a café. Aromatherapy aufguss runs daily and venik platza is the signature ritual. A 3-hour pass costs $72, an all-day pass $95.
Dogpatch Paddle Sauna
Dogpatch Paddle runs a waterfront barrel sauna and cold plunge at Crane Cove Park on San Francisco's Dogpatch shoreline, alongside its kayak and paddleboard rentals. The barrel sauna is kept around 190°F and seats up to four, and the cold plunge sits near 49°F. One-hour public sessions start at $25 for sauna only or $35 with the plunge; a private booking reserves the whole sauna for a group of up to four. Public sessions run daily from 9 AM with the last at 4 PM, and members have longer hours.
Fjord
Fjord is a floating sauna platform moored at Marinship Way in Sausalito, on Richardson Bay north of San Francisco. It carries two traditional Finnish-style saunas, North and South, each seating up to six, and guests cool off by plunging straight into the bay within a marked plunge zone. Shared 90-minute sessions cost $45 per guest for up to eight people, and a private two-hour booking of one sauna is $270. It opens daily from 8 AM, except Tuesdays from 2 PM, until 8:30 PM.
Kabuki Springs & Spa
Kabuki Springs & Spa is a Japanese-inspired communal bathhouse in the Japan Center in Japantown, San Francisco, operating since 1968. The bathing area has a cedar-lined dry sauna heated to 150°F, a herbal steam room at 120°F, a 104°F hot pool and a 55°F cold plunge, with seated sentō-style showers. Women bathe Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, men Thursdays and Saturdays, and Mondays and Tuesdays are all-gender with swimsuits. A 2.5-hour bath reservation costs $49.
Piedmont Springs
Piedmont Springs is a neighbourhood spa on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, open since 1981, that rents private heat rooms by the session. It has a cedar-lined sauna and a steam room, each with its own shower and dressing room, at $25 per person for 45 minutes, four private outdoor hot tubs at 102–104°F for $32 per person per hour, and a combination room with an outdoor two-person tub and its own sauna at $50 per person per hour. Massage is also offered, and it opens daily 11 AM to 10 PM.
Good Hot
Good Hot is a small bayside sauna spot at Point San Pablo in Richmond, on the East Bay shoreline north of Berkeley. Five electrically heated saunas with different seating layouts, adjustable to about 180°F, are rented privately: saunas 1–3 take one to six people for $130 per 90-minute session and saunas 4–5 take up to eight for $150. A small beach down a short stairway serves as the cold plunge. It opens Thursday to Monday, about 9:30 AM to 8:15 PM, with reduced-rate communal entries.
Imperial Day Spa
Imperial Day Spa is a Korean-style communal bathhouse at 1875 Geary Boulevard near Japantown, San Francisco, known for full-body exfoliation scrubs. It has two separate spa areas for men and women, each with a hot jacuzzi, a cold plunge, dry and steam saunas, and sit-down and stand-up showers; the women's side adds a heated red-and-yellow clay room lined with mugwort pouches. Treatments include two hours of spa use before or after, and it opens daily until 8:45 PM.
Onsen SF
Onsen is a Japanese-inspired communal bathhouse with a restaurant at 466 Eddy Street in the Tenderloin, San Francisco. The bathing room holds a redwood sauna, a steam room, a custom overhead cold plunge shower and a communal soaking tub kept at 104°F. Sessions are gender-specific on Mondays and Wednesdays and co-ed Thursday to Sunday, with two-hour bathing at $50 including robe, towel and sandals. Reservations take up to four guests; private bookings suit groups of five or more.
Hotel Nikko San Francisco
Hotel Nikko San Francisco, at 222 Mason Street in Union Square, has a 10,000-square-foot wellness centre with a glass-enclosed heated indoor pool, hot tub and a health club with cardio and strength equipment. Separate men's and women's locker rooms each contain a dry sauna and a steam room. The hotel describes the facilities as being for registered guests, but day passes are sold through ResortPass from $56, with pool access 9 AM to 5 PM and health club access 7 AM to 5 PM.
Nob Hill Spa
Nob Hill Spa is the spa of the Huntington Hotel at 1075 California Street on Nob Hill, San Francisco. Spread over three levels, it has an edgeless indoor soaking pool heated to 94°F opening onto a terrace with city views, saunas and steam rooms, a 1,800-square-foot fitness centre, a fireside sanctuary lounge and treatment rooms. Hotel guests and guests with treatment bookings use all areas, and a facilities-only day pass is sold Monday to Thursday for $125. It is open daily from 7:30 AM to 9 PM.
Albany Sauna & Hot Tubs
Albany Sauna & Hot Tubs is a historic Finnish-style sauna house at 1002 Solano Avenue in Albany, north of Berkeley, dating from 1934. It offers four private sauna rooms, each built around a central brick furnace in the Finnish steam-sauna tradition, plus two outdoor hot tub rooms for two, four or more people, along with massage therapy and facials. Rooms are booked per session, and it is open Monday 10 AM to 10 PM and Tuesday to Sunday 10 AM to 9 PM.
Alchemy Springs
Alchemy Springs runs the Sauna Garden at 939 Post Street in Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco, a preview of its full bathhouse. The garden centres on a 40-person circular communal sauna with tiered seating, joined by cold-plunge tubs, rain showers, a fire pit and heated thermal benches, with showers and lockers on site. Programming includes guided contrast-therapy sessions with breathwork and sound baths. Passes are sold via ResortPass from $62; hours are Mon–Fri 5–9 PM, Sat 10–6, Sun 10–8.
Almonte Spa
Almonte Spa is a long-running wellness retreat in an older house at 158 Almonte Boulevard in Mill Valley, Marin County, operating since the late 1970s. It offers private outdoor hot tubs under the trees, a Finnish sauna with high dry heat and a gentler infrared sauna, plus customised massage. Hot tub and sauna sessions are booked individually at $45 for 30 minutes, $60 for 45 and $75 for 60, and massages start at $175. The spa is open daily from 10 AM to 9 PM.
Archimedes Banya
Archimedes Banya is a Russian bathhouse on the Bayview shoreline of San Francisco, open to adults 18 and over with a Banya Pass. Its heat rooms are a Russian parniki sauna at 170–210°F fed by a 22,000 lb tiled stove, a cedar Finnish dry sauna at 220°F and above, and a Turkish hammam steam room, paired with a cold plunge, warm pools and jacuzzis, a rooftop deck and a café. Aromatherapy aufguss runs daily and venik platza is the signature ritual. A 3-hour pass costs $72, an all-day pass $95.
Dogpatch Paddle Sauna
Dogpatch Paddle runs a waterfront barrel sauna and cold plunge at Crane Cove Park on San Francisco's Dogpatch shoreline, alongside its kayak and paddleboard rentals. The barrel sauna is kept around 190°F and seats up to four, and the cold plunge sits near 49°F. One-hour public sessions start at $25 for sauna only or $35 with the plunge; a private booking reserves the whole sauna for a group of up to four. Public sessions run daily from 9 AM with the last at 4 PM, and members have longer hours.
Fjord
Fjord is a floating sauna platform moored at Marinship Way in Sausalito, on Richardson Bay north of San Francisco. It carries two traditional Finnish-style saunas, North and South, each seating up to six, and guests cool off by plunging straight into the bay within a marked plunge zone. Shared 90-minute sessions cost $45 per guest for up to eight people, and a private two-hour booking of one sauna is $270. It opens daily from 8 AM, except Tuesdays from 2 PM, until 8:30 PM.
Kabuki Springs & Spa
Kabuki Springs & Spa is a Japanese-inspired communal bathhouse in the Japan Center in Japantown, San Francisco, operating since 1968. The bathing area has a cedar-lined dry sauna heated to 150°F, a herbal steam room at 120°F, a 104°F hot pool and a 55°F cold plunge, with seated sentō-style showers. Women bathe Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, men Thursdays and Saturdays, and Mondays and Tuesdays are all-gender with swimsuits. A 2.5-hour bath reservation costs $49.
Piedmont Springs
Piedmont Springs is a neighbourhood spa on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, open since 1981, that rents private heat rooms by the session. It has a cedar-lined sauna and a steam room, each with its own shower and dressing room, at $25 per person for 45 minutes, four private outdoor hot tubs at 102–104°F for $32 per person per hour, and a combination room with an outdoor two-person tub and its own sauna at $50 per person per hour. Massage is also offered, and it opens daily 11 AM to 10 PM.
Good Hot
Good Hot is a small bayside sauna spot at Point San Pablo in Richmond, on the East Bay shoreline north of Berkeley. Five electrically heated saunas with different seating layouts, adjustable to about 180°F, are rented privately: saunas 1–3 take one to six people for $130 per 90-minute session and saunas 4–5 take up to eight for $150. A small beach down a short stairway serves as the cold plunge. It opens Thursday to Monday, about 9:30 AM to 8:15 PM, with reduced-rate communal entries.
Imperial Day Spa
Imperial Day Spa is a Korean-style communal bathhouse at 1875 Geary Boulevard near Japantown, San Francisco, known for full-body exfoliation scrubs. It has two separate spa areas for men and women, each with a hot jacuzzi, a cold plunge, dry and steam saunas, and sit-down and stand-up showers; the women's side adds a heated red-and-yellow clay room lined with mugwort pouches. Treatments include two hours of spa use before or after, and it opens daily until 8:45 PM.
Onsen SF
Onsen is a Japanese-inspired communal bathhouse with a restaurant at 466 Eddy Street in the Tenderloin, San Francisco. The bathing room holds a redwood sauna, a steam room, a custom overhead cold plunge shower and a communal soaking tub kept at 104°F. Sessions are gender-specific on Mondays and Wednesdays and co-ed Thursday to Sunday, with two-hour bathing at $50 including robe, towel and sandals. Reservations take up to four guests; private bookings suit groups of five or more.
Hotel Nikko San Francisco
Hotel Nikko San Francisco, at 222 Mason Street in Union Square, has a 10,000-square-foot wellness centre with a glass-enclosed heated indoor pool, hot tub and a health club with cardio and strength equipment. Separate men's and women's locker rooms each contain a dry sauna and a steam room. The hotel describes the facilities as being for registered guests, but day passes are sold through ResortPass from $56, with pool access 9 AM to 5 PM and health club access 7 AM to 5 PM.
Nob Hill Spa
Nob Hill Spa is the spa of the Huntington Hotel at 1075 California Street on Nob Hill, San Francisco. Spread over three levels, it has an edgeless indoor soaking pool heated to 94°F opening onto a terrace with city views, saunas and steam rooms, a 1,800-square-foot fitness centre, a fireside sanctuary lounge and treatment rooms. Hotel guests and guests with treatment bookings use all areas, and a facilities-only day pass is sold Monday to Thursday for $125. It is open daily from 7:30 AM to 9 PM.