5.–9.6.2026
Oulu Sauna Festival
5.–9.6.2026 • Tuira beach area • Koskitie 58, Oulu
Visit more than 10 different saunas and sauna experiences in Oulu!
The Oulu Sauna Festival’s Sauna Time tickets are available online at Holvi
About Oulu Sauna Festival
The Oulu Sauna Festival is a five-day sauna event in Oulu, organized by the Oulu Sauna Association. The event gathers sauna culture lovers to Tuira, the main venue of the festival, from June 5th to 9th.
On Saturday, June 6th Saunasampo, a sauna seminar will take place in the Oulu Central Library Saari, complementing the festival’s program and bringing together sauna enthusiasts, experts and tourists.
The Oulu Sauna Festival is a sauna culture event open to all and suitable for visitors of all ages–for experienced sauna-goers, first-timers and those who don’t do sauna at all, but want to get to know more about sauna tradition.
At the festival you can enjoy a variety of saunas, take a dip in the Oulujoki river and experience both new and traditional sauna experiences.
Tickets to Oulu Sauna Festival
Tickets for the Oulu Sauna Festival are available in our Holvi shop.
Ticket Prices
16 € Sauna Time
adults
8 € Sauna Time
children younger than 12
More Info
Reserving a Sauna Time and Acquiring Your Sauna Time Wristband
The Oulu Sauna Festival has 10 Sauna Times. By showing the receipt of the Sauna Time you purchased at the festival info, you will get a wristband and access to all the saunas and the sauna program in the festival area. The info desk is open during festival hours.
You are welcome to visit the event free of charge if you don’t bathe in the saunas
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Sauna Times and Timetable at the Festival
Sauna Times in Tuira
Click on a Sauna Time to see the full program.
Friday 5.6.:1/10 Sauna Time 16–18.30
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Friday 5.6.:2/10 Sauna Time 18.30–21
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Saturday 6.6.:3/10 Sauna Time 9–12 (morning sauna)
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Saturday 6.6.:4/10 Sauna Time 16–18.30
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Saturday 6.6.:5/10 Sauna Time 18.30–21
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Sunday 7.6.:6/10 Sauna Time 16–18.30
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Sunday 7.6.:7/10 Sauna Time 18.30–21
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Monday 8.6.:8/10 Sauna Time 16–21
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Tuesday 9.6.:9/10 Sauna Time 13–15.30
The program will be updated in May 2026!
Tuesday 9.6.:10/10 Sauna Time 15.30–18
The program will be updated in May 2026!
The event is made possible by the The Oulu Culture Foundation and the Saunasampo project funded by The Finnish Heritage Agency.
In addition to saunas, the festival area in Tuira has changing rooms and showers, as well as sauna food for sale. The adjacent Tuira beach is freely available to both festival guests and the public.
Oulu Sauna Festival Saunas
and Sauna Experiences
Sauna artists bring spoken word art, music, performances, sound art, visual art and dance to the program. In the experienced hands of members of the association of Traditional Sauna Healers, sauna guests can experience traditional sauna whisking and rituals.
Sauna discussions on topical issues are held in the spirit of the Naked Truth concept organized originally in Tartu, the European Capital of Culture.
Kesän Sauna, Löylykontti and the Oulu2026 sauna are already waiting in Tuira, and more special saunas will be brought to the festival area, such as the Kicksled Sauna, the Wine Barrel Sauna and the Football Sauna. You can enjoy all of these on your Sauna Time!
The full sauna art program of the Oulu Sauna Festival will be announced in May.
Sauna Healer and Artist Sanna Pelliccioni
Sanna Pelliccioni, an artist originally from Oulu, brings traditional sauna healing to the Oulu Sauna Festival with a multi-sensory exhibition, a sauna book and healing leafwhisking. The exhibition called Saunan sylissä is in two locations at the Oulu Sauna Festival: the main venue at Tuira beach area and also in Olosauna.
Read more >>
In the exhibition in Tuira you enter the powerful world of sauna through a sauna gate, where sound, images, textures, movement and touch invite the public to the frequency of the sauna. The Saunan sylissä exhibition consists of paintings, installations and a soundscape. Saunan sylissä – translated as ”in the arms of the sauna” we heal and get healed, raise gentleness, remember our ancestors, and die and are born. In the soundscape created by Pelliccioni and Gabriela Ariana, you hear traditional sauna songs, whose roots go back thousands of years. A multi-sensory space at the interface of everyday life and art invites everyone to experience the world of sauna and the ancient tradition of it.
The exhibition on display in Olosauna consists of aquarelle illustrations from the book Saunan sylissä.
Pelliccioni’s Saunan sylissä, kaikuja perinnesaunasta book and sauna song cd are available in Olosauna and in the Oulu Sauna Festival in Tuira.
Sanna Pelliccioni is an illustrator and writer, with a side job as a traditional sauna healer. She originally graduated from Oulu as a biologist. Pelliccioni studied illustration at the Fabbrica delle Favole of the University of Macerata, Italy and graphic design at the Pekka Halonen Academy. She has published 62 books and her books have been translated into 10 languages. An IBBY honoree, Pelliccioni received the Adventure Illustrator Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and won the Bratislava Biennale Plaque Award in 2024. She was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2025 and 2026.
Naked Truth sauna discussions
The Oulu Sauna Festival brings to Oulu the Naked Truth sauna dialogue discussions that started in Tartu, the European Capital of Culture 2024. Let’s show the world that constructive social discussion is possible! We can do it, as long as we behave like we do in a sauna – with respect, equality and kindness.
Read more >>
The topics of the discussions are the environment, traditions and peace, just like at the Tartu festivals in 2024 and 2025. The languages are Finnish and English. The concept was created by Hannele Valkeeniemi, the Director of the Finnish Institute in Estonia, who will also present the origin story at the Saunasampo seminar in the Oulu Central Library on June 6th, 2026.
The pop-up Oulu2026 sauna and the sauna artist performances
The Oulu2026 sauna is a pop-up sauna built in honor of Oulu’s European Capital of Culture year. The sauna is conceptualized and built by the Oulu Sauna Association. The Oulu2026 sauna brings northern sauna culture to events and urban spaces, inviting people to discuss, relax and share a moment without titles or hurry. The Oulus2026 sauna has toured in Finland and internationally as a part of the Oulu2026 program since 2024.
Read more >>
The sauna has been assembled, for example, in Oulu at the Tuira beach on the Finnish Sauna Day in 2025, on the Oulunpäivät festival and at the Varjofestivaali festival in Kuusisaari. In 2025 it was also a part of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival folk music event. The sauna was built for the first time as a Finnish-Estonian collaboration in the European Capital of Culture 2024, Tartu for the Naked Truth sauna festival as a discussion sauna, and for the second time at the same event in 2025. The Tartu event was organized by the Finnish Institute in Estonia. The people of Oulu and the Finnland-Institut in Germany also built their own pop-up sauna in the European Capital of Culture, Chemnitz in Germany as a part of the Poche Art Biennale.
The Oulu2026 sauna is also an art sauna, a space where artists from different fields experiment with how art and sauna go together. The works of sauna artists are from the fields of literature, performing arts and music.
The Oulu2026 sauna is designed and built by designer Jussi Pöllä and M.Sc. (Tech.) Marko Asell. The producer of the concept is Katri Tenetz.
Saunas in Tuira
Kesän Sauna
Oulu’s gem, a floating, wood-burning sauna run by volunteers since 2014.
Read more >>
- At the Oulu Sauna Festival Kesän Sauna hosts Naked Truth sauna dialogues curated by Hannele Valkeeniemi.
- 20 sauna bench seats.
- Kesän Sauna opened in 2014.
- Run by the Oulu Sauna Association and its over 100 volunteers.
Oulu2026 Sauna
A pop-up sauna built for Oulu’s European Capital of Culture year. Conceptualized and built by the Oulu Sauna Association.
Read more >>
- At the Oulu Sauna Festival the Oulu2026 Sauna has sauna artist performances and also hosts sauna dialogues in co-operation with the newspaper Kaleva.
- 12 sauna bench seats.
- The Oulu2026 Sauna was designed and built by Jussi Pöllä and Marko Asell.
- Producer of the Oulu2026 Sauna concept is Katri Tenetz.
Löylykontti
A sea container sauna maintained by the Oulu Sauna Association in cooperation with Löylykontti.
Read more >>
- The only electric sauna of the festival main venue.
- 10 sauna bench seats.
- The Oulu Sauna Association opened Löylykontti on the Tuira beach at the end of February 2026.
Maitolaiturisauna
Kaija and Pirjo, the heaters of the ”milk haul platform sauna” also organize back washing:
”1 euro per meter”.
Read more >>
- 3 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Sunday.
Jalkapallosauna
Samuli Keisu brings his football-shaped sauna to the Tuira beach.
Read more >>
- 6 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Tuesday.
Keisun tynnyrisauna
The second sauna brought to the festival by Samuli Keisu is a traditional barrel-shaped sauna.
Read more >>
- 6 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Tuesday.
Potkukelkkasauna
The Saunamajurit association of Northern Finland brings the Kicksled Sauna to Tuira. The sauna has toured events around Finland.
Read more >>
- The heat of the sauna – the ”löyly” as we Finns call it – can be intense or gentle and mild.
- 3 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Tuesday.
Viinitynnyrisauna
Reijo Lampi brings his five thousand liter wine barrel sauna to the festival. The heat in the sauna can be intense or soft, depending on how the sauna master heats the sauna.
Read more >>
- 5 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Tuesday.
Sillankorva
The program of the Sillankorva sauna owned by sauna master Sami Raitsaari includes, in addition to saunas, traditional sauna rituals by Sanna Pelliccioni and Eda Veeroja.
Read more >>
- Reservation of the individual sauna whiskings starts about a week before the festival.
- 10 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Tuesday.
Kart In sauna
The Kart In sauna of Sami Raitsaari can fit a karting car, and when the owner goes to competitions, the sauna goes with him.
Read more >>
- 4 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival at least from Sunday to Tuesday.
Black Horse
Henry Spets’ Black Horse sauna is built on top of a 1977 horse carriage. The carriage was found from a field.
Read more >>
- 6 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Sunday.
Tent saunas 1 & 2
Tent sauna 1 offers Sanna Pelliccioni’s individual whiskings. Tent sauna 2, on the other hand, is a traditional tent sauna.
Read more >>
- Tent sauna 1: 2 sauna bench seats.
- Tent sauna 2: 3 sauna bench seats.
- At the festival from Friday to Tuesday.
Instructions for Sauna
Arriving in Tuira
The main venue of the festival is the Tuira beach area, Koskitie 58, Oulu.
There is only a limited amount of free parking space near the Tuira beach. Parking is allowed in the beach’s parking lot and in marked street side lots along Koskitie. Remember to use a parking timer!
Parking is prohibited in Lehtoranta and Alalaanilantie.
We recommend arriving by bus, bike, on foot or otherwise without a car.
Acquiring Your Wristband
Exchange the ticket you bought in advance for a wristband at the start of your Sauna Time at the info desk on Tuira beach. The info desk is open during the festival.
Safety
You can find information about first aid at the festival info.
The general emergency number is 112.
River water is cold at the beginning of June. Please swim along the shoreline. There is a lifebuoy and a lifeboat on the beach.
Dressing Rooms and Storage
The Tuira beach area’s building has separate men’s and women’s dressing rooms. There are also outdoor changing booths on the beach.
Use the dressing rooms to change your swim suit. You can leave your clothes in the dressing room or, for a service fee, in a plastic bag at Cafe Rantsu. There is also a limited number of small compartments for valuables. Families and groups are encouraged to use the same compartment.
There are hooks for towels and bathrobes near the saunas.
When Having a Sauna
The sauna attendants add all firewood and bring the water.
Remember to drink enough water when taking a sauna. In other saunas you can take a bottle of water into the sauna. At Kesän Sauna, drinks are left outside the sauna.
Soft drinks are sold in the area. You can also bring your own beverages.
It is prohibited to be intoxicated in the festival area.
Washing Up
Do not use detergents when washing in the river.
There is a shower in the indoor dressing rooms. There is a limited amount of hot water, which should be noted.
Must-haves
swimwear
a towel or two
water bottle
Nice-to-haves
seat cover
slippers
bathrobe
sauna hat
Get Your Sauna Tickets!
Seat covers will be for sale at the festival!
Kesän Sauna’s and sauna festival seat covers will be on sale at the festival!
These high-quality linen fabrics are manufactured by Jokipiin Pellava in Finland in Jalasjärvi, based on a long textile tradition. As a tip, in addition to the sauna, seat covers can also be used, for example, as a foot towel. The seat covers are available in three different colors.
Festival Saunas around Oulu
The Oulu Sauna Festival expands in addition to the Tuira festival area also to Olosauna, Lainesauna and the Aappola saunayurt. More information will be updated during May.
Olosauna
Olosauna is part of the Oulu Sauna Festival from Friday to Sunday June 5th to 7th with its own program, and a weekend of sauna, music and culture and a unique atmosphere!
Read more >>
Friday June 5th
Olosauna open 6pm – 12pm
DJ Tribos 9pm – 11pm
Saturday June 6th
Olosauna open 12am – 12pm
Mari Vuoritie’s concert 4pm – 5pm
Sunday June 7th
Olosauna open 10am – 6pm
Ilona Anttila’s “Löylytuuli” sauna experience 10am
Silent sauna 4pm – 6pm
During the weekend artist Sanna Pelliccioni brings her Saunan sylissä illustration exhibition to Olosauna, and also the new summer menu of Olosauna is available.
You are warmly welcome to enjoy the summer, festival vibes, the sauna and our unique program together with us!
Address and parking instructions
Vaakunakyläntie 9, 90510 Oulu
There are free two hour parking spaces at the end of Vaakunakyläntie.
Lainesauna
Welcome to our Sauna Festival cruise on Saturday, June 6th!
Buy tickets:
lainesauna.johku.com/saunalautan-vuokraus/saunafestivaaliristeily-6-6
Read more >>
When the sauna raft leaves the pier and slides down the Oulujoki river, the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure begins.
Wood-burning sauna, the changing scenery and time to enjoy the sauna, take a dip in the river or admire the beauty of Oulujoki from the roof terrace.
The cruises takes place when there are 6 reserved seats. For the both cruises, maximum is 12 people.
The sauna raft has a licence to serve alcohol and we sell refreshments and drinks, so you only need to bring your towel and swimsuit.
Come and experience sauna on a whole new level.
Timetable:
Sat June 6th at 3pm, duration 2h
Sat June 6th at 6pm, duration 2h
Address and parking instructions:
Nissiläntie 21, 90650 Oulu
The parking area is located at the end of Nissiläntie, at the Saarela harbour
Aappola saunayurt
Location: Aappola – olemisen tila
Monkkasenkuja 35, Kempele
Sauna: Aappola saunayurt
Buy tickets:
www.aappola.fi
Read more >>
Friday June 5th
The opening of the summer cafe and public sauna at 1pm and 3pm, sauna time 1.5 hours, tickets 15 €
More info: aappola.johku.com/fi_F
Saturday June 6th
Sauna brunch from 9.30am to 12.30pm
More info: aappola.johku.com/fi_F
Tuesday June 9th
Tibetian Soundbath in the saunayurt from 5.30pm to 8pm
More info: aappola.johku.com/fi_F
Parking instructions
The address of the parking space: Sarkkirannantie 57 (the parking space of the baseball court), from where there is a 600 m walk to Aappola
Sauna 4
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In English >>
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Saunasampo Seminar
Saturday June 6th from 11am to 2.30pm
Oulu Central Library Saari, Pakkalan sali
Kaarlenväylä 3, Oulu
The seminar is free of charge and open to all
Sauna seminar program
11.00–11.10 Welcome to the seminar. Katri Tenetz, Oulu Sauna Association’s Producer and the Chair of the Sauna Route association.
11.10–11.55 Author, docent, PhD, cultural researcher Kaarina Kailo: The launch of Kailo’s new book. The book is a comparative study of the world’s saunas.
Kailo presents her latest sauna book ”Finnish Shamanism Laid Bare – Sauna Culture, Nature and Healing Rituals”, which describes the vestiges of shamanism and the rituals of the agrarian era useful for today’s sauna users. The book is also aimed at people yet to find the joy, secrets and etiquette of sauna. Sauna lovers can also use the book’s information about Finnish-Karelian life cycle rituals, which were also based on magic. Their humorous customs can be used even in today’s bridal rites.
Kailo has done her life’s work around sauna culture and published numerous books on the subject. kaarinakailo.info
11.55–12.25 Doctoral Researcher, sauna culture and tradition research, FM Dalva Lamminmäki:
Health and well-being from sauna – from 1544 onwards.
In her presentation, Lamminmäki takes the listeners on a journey through the shared history of sauna and health, starting from 1544 – when Mikael Agricola’s work Rucouskiria was published. The book begins with various health information, including saunas, in connection with the monthly calendar.
The answer to what people at different times have looked for in a sauna is sought through written sources, such as sauna books and archival material. With abundant and interesting examples, you will hear how health, happiness, (soul and body) purification, community and safety at the crossroads of life have been sought from the sauna.
Lamminmäki is a Doctoral Researcher in the subject of folklore studies at the University of Eastern Finland with a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. She is preparing a dissertation that examines the traditional and changing meanings of well-being in the vernacular, i.e. the community’s voluntary sauna culture, and saunas as intangible cultural heritage. linktr.ee/DalvaLamminmaki
12.25–12.45 International sauna influencer Mika Meskanen: Britain’s vision of multicultural and diverse saunas.
The sauna culture of the ”Foggy Albion” may have sounded like a joke a few years ago, but now, more than 700 public saunas later, the papers are ripping headlines about how Britain is ”challenging Finland’s sauna supremacy”. It is said that sauna belongs to everyone, but what happens when enthusiasm makes one of Europe’s most creative and diverse countries the testing ground for future saunas?
Mika Meskanen is a Finnish expatriate living in London and a sauna activist who has promoted the happy message of sauna through the British Sauna Society, the International Sauna Association, Sauna Aid and Sauna Route. saunneur.com
12.45–13.00 Break
13.00–13.30 Eda Veeroja, Estonia: Savusauna – translated to the letter as smoke sauna – tradition and living cultural heritage.
Estonian savusauna tradition will be presented at the seminar by Eda Veeroja, who is known as the developer of the Mooska Farm Savusauna and an active nurturer of the savusauna culture.
Savusauna is a unique part of the northern cultural heritage and is also on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. Eda’s talk opens up the meanings, traditions and special atmosphere of savusauna, which fascinates sauna lovers around the world. mooska.eu/mooska-farm
13.30–13.50 Director of the Finnish Institute in Estonia Hannele Valkeeniemi: The Naked Truth or how sauna saves democracy.
Sauna shows the rest of society a way to save the discussion culture. In sauna, we are equal, respectful and open to others. The concept of the Naked Truth sauna discussions is based on this idea. All discussions are held confidentially in the sauna. Nothing is recorded, no one is converted, but ideas are developed together. The discussion implements the Erätauko model of dialogic discussion developed in Finland. The Naked Truth discussion festivals have started in Tartu, and also people from Oulu have also participated there.
More info: finst.ee/fi/uutiset/totuus-on-taas-alaston
13.50–14.10 Toivoniemi sauna – Oulu’s last public sauna.
During its operation, the Toivoniemi sauna was not only a place for the people of Oulu where those without their own sauna could get into the heat of the sauna, wash and receive treatments offered by the cupper, but also an important community meeting place.
In the interdisciplinary project course organized by the University of Oulu’s Department of Cultural and Historical Sciences, students study the time layers of the public sauna that operated in Toivoniemi, Oulu, using research methods of history, cultural anthropology and archaeology. Memory information was also collected from those who still remember the sauna.
Presentation of research results of cultural studies and archeology students: www.munoulu.fi/kulttuuri/toivoniemen-sauna-oli-tarkea-kohtaamispaikka-yleisotilaisuus-valaisee-saunan-historiaa
14.10–14.20 Discussion and closing of the seminar
Our Partners
Oulu Sauna Festaval thanks: Kesän Sauna, Oulu2026 – Oulu Culture Foundation, Museovirasto – The Finnish Heritage Agency, Pohjois-Suomen Saunamajurit, Perinnesaunottajat ry, Finnish Institute in Estonia, Sanomalehti Kaleva, Löylykontti, Olosauna, Lainesauna, Aappola – olemisen tila, Versonpuoti, Finn Spring – Villivesi, Saunavire and Narvi.
Oulu Sauna Festival's Tale
The Oulu Sauna Festival is organized by the Oulu Sauna Association and its partners. The Oulu Sauna Association is an non-profit association founded in 2004. Our goal is to promote Finnish sauna culture and to get a public, year-round open sauna in Oulu.
Oulu is the European Capital of Culture for the year 2026.
The Oulu Sauna Festival is a part of the Oulu2026 cultural programme and cultural climate change
Photographs taken in Tuira: Harri Tarvainen.
Visual Design: Tmi Henna Raitala.