Australia's First National Sauna Festival Is Coming To The Blue Mountains

Community Announcement
13 August 2026
https://saunaaustralia.org.au

Australia's love affair with sauna is showing no signs of cooling down, and later this month the growing wellness movement is getting a festival of its own.
 
The Big Sweat is taking over Blue Mountains Sauna in Leura on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August, bringing five different saunas, icy plunges, Aufguss ceremonies, live music, movement classes and plenty more to the mountains for what organisers are calling Australia's first national sauna gathering.
 
Co-presented by Blue Mountains Sauna and the Australian Sauna Association, the two-day event is designed to celebrate the growing sauna culture taking hold around the country, and there's going to be a lot more happening than simply sitting in a hot room.
 
Five saunas will be fired up across the weekend, including Blue Mountains Sauna's 25-person Finnish sauna, a handmade Swedish bastu constructed using sustainably harvested and recycled timber, a cedar sauna travelling from Victoria's High Country with two cold plunges attached to the front, and another wood-fired sauna making the trip down from Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
 
The fifth is particularly special as the festival will mark the official debut of Blue Mountains Sauna's new Savu, which the team says is the Southern Hemisphere's first public wood-fired smoke sauna.
 
If you've never encountered one before, a traditional Finnish savusauna is heated without a chimney. Wood is burned for hours before the fire is extinguished and the smoke released, leaving behind intense heat and the distinctive atmosphere that has made smoke sauna an important part of Finnish sauna culture.
 
There'll also be Aufguss running throughout the weekend, with sauna masters pouring water and ice infused with essential oils over hot stones before using choreographed towel movements to circulate the aromatic steam around the sauna.
 
When you need a break from the heat, you can cool down with cold plunges or explore the rest of the festival program, which includes yoga, breathwork, talks, workshops, market stalls, live music and food.
 
And don't worry if your sauna experience currently extends no further than occasionally sitting in one after the gym. Sessions are clothed, the event is open to all ages and first-timers are just as welcome as seasoned sauna devotees.
 
Tickets start at $80 for a single-day adult pass, which includes a two-hour bathing session as well as access to the wider festival program. Weekend passes are $150 and include a bathing session on both days.
 
The Big Sweat takes place from 10am to 9pm on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August at Blue Mountains Sauna, 7 Quinns Avenue, Leura.
 
Find out more and book tickets here. Image credit- Australian Sauna Association