19/08/2026
There is a moment about six weeks into a sauna habit where it is raining, the session you wanted is booked out, and the drive is thirty five minutes return.
That is usually when people start asking whether they should just own one.
So we ran the numbers properly.
Two bathhouse sessions a week at $25 costs about $2,600 a year. Per person. Every year, for as long as you keep the habit.
Running your own sauna twice a week costs about $420 a year in power — and that covers everyone in the household, not one person.
The sauna is the only one of those with an end date. Most owners are square inside two to three years. Everything after that is essentially free heat.
But the real argument is not the money. The most cited sauna research in the world followed 2,315 Finnish men for nearly 21 years. The benefits scaled with frequency: four to seven sessions a week showed a 63% lower risk of sudden cardiac death and a 40% lower risk of death from any cause compared with once a week.
Four to seven sessions a week is achievable when the sauna is twenty steps away. It is close to impossible when it involves a car, a booking and a queue.
To be fair to the bathhouses — if you sauna once a fortnight, or you rent, or you are still working out whether you love it, go and use them. They are good and they are the right first step.
But if you are already going twice a week, you are renting something you could own.
Delivered nationwide. Family business in Rotorua. We answer the phone.
puresweatsauna.co.nz