Wikipedia’s Naked Facts

We’re putting together a post answering some of the most common questions about sauna dress codes. In the meantime, you could check Wikipedia.

Wikipedia’s English-language sauna page has a few contradictory statements about clothing in the sauna.

Of saunas at swimming pools in North America, Western Europe and Russia, it apparently depends on the location of the sauna. “This may be a separate area where swim wear may be taken off or a smaller facility in the swimming pool area where one should keep the swim wear on”.

If you’re with the same family, mixed gender nudity is we’re told, common. If you’re on a cruise ship, or in a hotel, you’ll probably have to wear a towel around your waist when having a drink by the sauna. Clearly vital information.

Above all, the consensus on what you should wear depends on where in the world you are and whether you’re in a mixed or same-sex sauna. So an entire section on Wikipedia’s page is devoted to “modern sauna culture around the world”. From this we derive the following table.

Countries are in the order in which they are listed on Wikipedia. A “?” denotes a fact that is not stated on Wikipedia.

Country Etiquette Which are most common?
Single-Sex Mixed
Finland Garments rarely worn Garments rarely worn Single-gender times more common, but mixed bathing does happen.
Estonia ? ? Both
Latvia ? ? Both
Lithuania ? ? Both
Russia ? - Strictly single-sex.
Sweden ? ? Public saunas generally single-sex.
Germany Nude Nude Single-sex rare, most both women-only and mixed-gender.
Austria Nude Nude Single-sex rare, most both women-only and mixed-gender.
Benelux Usually Nude Usually Nude. Single-sex rare, most both women-only and mixed-gender. Some bathing suit days/mornings.
Switzerland (German-Speaking) Nude Nude. Single-sex rare, most both women-only and mixed-gender.
Switzerland (French-Speaking) Most often Nude. Often choice nude/clothed. Both common. Some places offer nude single-sex, nude mixed-gender AND clothed mixed-gender.
France Nudity tolerated Nudity usually forbidden Single-gender most common type.
UK Nudity tolerated Nudity usually forbidden Single-gender most common type.
Much Of Southern Europe Nudity tolerated Nudity usually forbidden Single-gender most common type.
Northeast Italy (Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) Nude Choice nude/clothed ?
Slovenia Nude Choice nude/clothed ?
Croatia Nude Choice nude/clothed ?
Croatia ? Usually Swimsuits, nude tolerance rare. Single-sex rare.
Portugal ? ? ?
Hungary ? ? ?
Central America (southern Mexico, Guatemala) ? ? People use temazcals indidvidually
Africa ? ? ? but lower temperature to Europe.
Korea ? ? ? but saunas are public bathhouses.
Japan - Nude “almost always” single-sex “often required by law”
US (Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa) Choice nude/clothed Clothed Widespread due to Finnish American population.
US (Other) Choice nude/clothed Clothed Not widespread. Single-sex uncommon, most saunas in gym/club changing rooms.
Australia Nudity not tolerated Nudity not tolerated Most often mixed.

So, does this ring true with you? What’s your experience in the above countries? What’s your experience in other parts of the world? Share your thoughts by posting a comment.

This blog entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 and is filed under Sauna Etiquette. You can comment on this below. Comments may include mentions of this post on other websites ('trackbacks').

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Vaughan says:
4 February 2010 at 5:32am

I believe Korean bathhouses are nude with separate sections for men and women. At least this is the case with the Korean bathhouse I visited in Brisbane, Australia.

In Scandinavia, public saunas are often in dressing rooms so are single sex. They adhere to the no clothing rule, though, so saunas taken at home with family members and friends are nude and mixed-gender.

Gill says:
9 February 2010 at 2:35pm

Even if most common type was based on data, how is it worked out?

Say one gym has a sauna in each changing room, and another has a single mixed sauna.

That’s two single-sex saunas, and one mixed. So you could say single-sex is more common.

Really it should be based on what you’re more likely to encounter. I’d only see one sauna in either gym, so they’d be equally common.

I hope the Real Saunas data will let us compare data in various ways.

Jiri says:
1 April 2010 at 3:05pm

Saunas in Czech Republic are usually mixed with women only hours.
Nudity/towel is common. I havent seen swimming costumes in sauna, but its possible in some facilities I havent seen yet (for example at public swimming pools)

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