The River Thames just got its first ever designated swimming site. A sauna theatre is being built inside Edinburgh's Summerhall. And new saunas are popping up from the Peak District to Pembrokeshire, Hampshire to Fife.
Here's what's been happening in May 2026 — the second in our monthly roundup of sauna and wild swim news from across the UK.
Wild swimming: the Thames and 12 other sites get official bathing status
This is a landmark moment for wild swimming in the UK.
On 15 May, 13 new sites across England were officially designated as bathing waters — the biggest single expansion in years. The headline: the Thames at Ham and Kingston in southwest London became the first ever designated bathing water on the River Thames. But the full list spans the country, from Northumberland to Cornwall:
- Little Shore, Amble — Northumberland
- Newton and Noss Creeks — Devon
- Canvey Island Foreshore — Essex
- Sandgate Granville Parade Beach — Kent
- Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury — Wiltshire
- East Beach at West Bay, Bridport — Dorset (the Broadchurch filming location)
- Pangbourne Meadow — Berkshire
- River Fowey, Lostwithiel — Cornwall
- River Swale, Richmond — Yorkshire
- Falcon Meadow, Bungay — Suffolk
- River Thames at Ham and Kingston — Greater London
- New Brighton Beach (East) — Merseyside
- River Dee, Sandy Lane — Chester
The designation means the Environment Agency will test water quality weekly throughout the bathing season (15 May to 30 September), publishing results online for swimmers to check before getting in. The Thames site is free to use.
The Thames story alone is huge. The river was declared biologically dead in the 1950s. The fact that a stretch of it is now officially safe enough for swimming speaks to decades of clean-up work — and years of persistent campaigning by local swimmers and environmental groups. Richmond Council has launched a feasibility study to improve riverside access on the Ham side, and Kingston is also preparing for increased use.
But the broader picture matters just as much. This takes England's total designated bathing waters past 460 — and for the first time, several inland river sites are included alongside the traditional coastal spots. If you swim in any of these areas, this is good news.
Portsmouth: Hilsea Lido reopens with sauna after £7.75m renovation
One of the south coast's most anticipated openings landed on 2 May: Hilsea Lido in Portsmouth is back after four years of closure and a £7.75 million renovation funded through the Levelling Up programme.
The lido — originally opened in 1935 — now features a fully refurbished 67-metre freshwater pool (that's longer than Olympic standard), a brand new sauna, new changing rooms and showers, and food and drink pop-ups on site. The operator is Sea Lanes, the same team behind Sea Lanes Brighton and the upcoming Canary Wharf lido — so the quality benchmark is high.
Founder memberships offer unlimited swimming and sauna access, and the team's stated goal is to make the lido a year-round community hub for physical and mental wellbeing. With nearly 30 new jobs created and a packed events programme planned, Hilsea is already drawing big crowds.
It's worth noting the Sea Lanes thread here: Brighton already running, Hilsea now open, Canary Wharf opening in June. That's a serious operator building a network of outdoor swim and sauna venues along the south coast and into London.
Peak District: Peak Furnace launches in Hathersage
A new mobile, wood-fired sauna and cold plunge experience has arrived in the Peak District — and it's filling a gap that's been missing for a while.
Peak Furnace is the creation of founder Matthew Phillips, who set it up out of a simple frustration: the Peak District didn't have a sauna, despite being surrounded by the kind of scenery that makes contrast therapy feel completely natural.
Based at Thorpe Farm in Hathersage (Hope Valley), the setup is straightforward — a one-hour session in a wood-fired sauna with cold plunge tubs and an outdoor cold shower, all perched on a hillside with panoramic views across the Hope Valley. The sauna seats eight, and sessions run from £15.
The vibe is relaxed and welcoming. Visitors so far have ranged from locals to tourists from as far as France who've been visiting the area for climbing. Running groups have been stopping by at the end of long days in the hills for recovery. Weekend sessions currently run 11am to 8pm, with midweek evening sessions being explored.
Phillips plans to keep Thorpe Farm as the main base while popping up at other locations throughout the Peak District and at local events. For anyone who's ever come off a long walk in the Peaks and wished there was somewhere to warm up properly — this is it.
Hampshire: Meon Springs Sauna & Plunge now open
A new sauna and cold plunge experience has opened at Meon Springs in the Meon Valley, Hampshire — set within the South Downs National Park on a family-run farm already known for glamping, fly fishing and clay shooting.
The sauna and plunge setup is now live and taking bookings alongside the existing yurt village and shepherd's huts, with early morning sessions running on Mondays and Fridays until 30 June. The setting — spring-fed lakes surrounded by rolling chalk hills — is hard to beat for a post-sauna cool down.
Northamptonshire: The Hidden Sauna opens at Grendon Lakes
A new wood-fired sauna has just opened at Xtremewake, Grendon Lakes in Northamptonshire — branded as The Hidden Sauna.
The setup offers 55-minute sessions in a wood-fired sauna for up to 10 people, with an optional cold plunge between rounds of heat. At £15 a session, it's priced to be accessible. The sauna sits within the wider Grendon Lakes site, which is already a destination for wakeboarding, watersports and outdoor recreation — so it adds a genuinely useful recovery option for people already spending the day on the water.
It's also a sign of how sauna is increasingly finding a home at existing outdoor and adventure venues, rather than always needing a standalone setup.
Leeds: Swillington Wilds — wild swimming and sauna
A new membership-based wild swimming and sauna venue has opened just outside Leeds.
Swillington Wilds is set within the parkland of Swillington Farm in southeast Leeds. The first lake — around 200 metres long — is now open to members for year-round wild swimming, with a wood-fired sauna on site. Changing facilities and toilets are in place, and the site is designed to feel calm, connected to nature and considered in its layout.
Memberships are being opened in stages to keep the atmosphere peaceful and the numbers manageable. The team describe it as something they're building long-term, shaped by the landscape, and they want to grow carefully alongside a community of like-minded people.
It's a different model to pay-per-session saunas — closer to what you'd see in Nordic countries, where regular access to a local swim and sauna spot is just part of the weekly rhythm.
Wales: Niku Naku — Finnish sauna on the shores of Bala Lake
Niku Naku is an authentic Finnish sauna sitting on the banks of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) in Eryri National Park — the largest natural lake in Wales.
Founded by Finnish-born brothers Erannan and Antreas Bent, who were raised in Ireland, the sauna was built by Erannan using traditional boat-building skills and his architecture training from the Centre for Alternative Technology. The name comes from a playful Finnish word meaning naked, bare or stripped back — which feels about right.
The experience is designed around proper Finnish tradition: heat up in the sauna, cool off in the lake, repeat. Public and private sessions are available, and the setting — mountains, water, clean air — is hard to argue with. Reviews from Finnish visitors have called it the real deal.
The brothers are also building a second sauna in Tywyn, near the seaside, which is expected to open later in 2026. They're documenting the build on Instagram and it's worth following along.
Scotland: The Wild Sauna Company expands to Dalgety Bay
The Wild Sauna Company — already running popular sessions at the Lake of Menteith in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park — is opening a second location at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club on 20 June.
Set beside the water on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, the new sauna will offer coastal views and access to swimming in the Forth. It's a natural expansion for a business that was born from a love of wild swimming and the restorative properties of heat, and it brings a proper wild sauna to Fife for the first time.
Bookings are expected to go live on their website ahead of the opening. Memberships at their Lake of Menteith site are already available at £48 a month for four sessions — and it wouldn't be surprising to see something similar introduced at Dalgety Bay.
Edinburgh: the Fringe gets a Sauna Theatre
This one's a bit different — but it's too good not to include.
The Edinburgh Fringe 2026 (7–31 August) will feature the UK's first purpose-built Sauna Theatre at Summerhall, one of the festival's most popular venues. Founded by Lucy Osborne and James Grieve, the 80-seat venue will be heated to around 90°C and host a programme of theatre, music, dance, literary salons and Aufguss rituals.
Highlights include morning sauna raves, a reimagining of Virginia Woolf's "The Waves", and a remixed version of Nick Cassenbaum's sell-out "Bubble Schmeisis". The venue will also be the UK's biggest sauna.
It's a fascinating collision of sauna culture and the arts — and a sign of just how far into the mainstream sauna has moved. The project is modular and could tour after its Edinburgh debut. One to watch for August.
London: Hotdrop Sauna lands in Battersea
A new sauna experience is arriving in Battersea — and from what we've seen so far, Hotdrop Sauna looks like one to pay attention to.
Details are still emerging ahead of what appears to be an imminent launch, but the Battersea location puts Hotdrop in one of London's most high-profile riverside neighbourhoods — close to Battersea Power Station, the Thames path, and some of the capital's busiest cycling and running routes. For anyone looking for a post-run or post-ride contrast session with a view, the positioning is hard to beat. You can find them on Instagram at @hotdrop.sauna.
What this means
May 2026 shows the UK sauna and wild swim scene continuing to broaden — not just in where it's happening, but in how.
A river that was biologically dead 70 years ago now has a designated bathing site. A boatbuilder is crafting Finnish saunas next to the largest lake in Wales. An adventure park in Northamptonshire has added a sauna for recovery. A theatre company is building the UK's biggest sauna for the Edinburgh Fringe. And new operators keep appearing — from the Peak District to Battersea.
This isn't one trend — it's many different communities finding their own version of what heat, cold and water can do.
We'll be back with the June roundup. If you're running a sauna or wild swim spot and want to be featured, or you're interested in partnering with us, get in touch.
