If you've decided to bring a sauna home, you've already made the hardest decision. The next one — which type of sauna — trips up more people than it should, mostly because the categories get described in jargon instead of plain language. Here's the plain-language version.
Traditional saunas: the classic, high-heat experience
A traditional sauna heats the air. A heater warms a bed of stones, you pour water over them, and the room climbs to 150–195°F with a wave of steam you can feel on your skin. It's the experience most people picture when they think "sauna" — enveloping, intense, deeply relaxing.
Traditional saunas suit people who want the full ritual: the heat, the löyly (that burst of steam off the stones), the sound and the smell of hot wood. Our Aurora Finnish Hemlock Traditional Sauna is a good example of the style — built around a proper stone heater and finished in hemlock. If you go this route, the heater matters as much as the cabin; browse our electric and wood-fired options.
Infrared saunas: gentler heat, shorter warm-up
An infrared sauna doesn't heat the air much at all. Instead, infrared panels warm you directly — the way sunlight feels warm on a cool day. The cabin typically runs 115–140°F, noticeably milder, but you still sweat, because the heat is reaching your body rather than just the room around it.
Infrared is the easier entry point for most households. Warm-up is faster, the heat feels more tolerable if you're new to it, and the lower running temperature is friendlier on your energy bill. The Auria Serenity 1-Person Cabin is a compact way in; the Solace Horizon Full-Spectrum Infrared Sauna steps up to a complete full-spectrum panel set. Want the best of both? A hybrid like the Lumenara Hybrid Hemlock Sauna pairs infrared panels with a traditional heater.
Barrel saunas: traditional heat, outdoor home
A barrel sauna isn't a third kind of heat — it's a shape. The curved design sheds rain and snow, heats efficiently because there's less dead air space to warm, and frankly just looks beautiful in a backyard. Most barrel saunas are traditional, stone-heater saunas built for the outdoors.
If you have the outdoor space and want the sauna to be a destination — something you walk out to — a barrel is hard to beat. The Nordic Peak Barrel Sauna is our most accessible model; the Onyx Zenith Panoramic Barrel Sauna adds a panoramic window wall. See the full range in our barrel sauna collection.
So which one?
A quick way to narrow it down:
- Choose infrared if you want gentler heat, faster sessions, lower running costs, or you're fitting a sauna indoors.
- Choose traditional if the steam, the high heat, and the full ritual are the point.
- Choose a barrel if your sauna is going outside and you want it to be a backyard centerpiece.
There's no wrong answer here — only the one that fits your space and how you like to feel. Browse the full lineup in our infrared and traditional collections, and if you're still torn between two, that's exactly what we're here to help with.