47 new sauna businesses – 15 places with no prior sauna
47 new sauna businesses registered in 18 months, spread across 36 municipalities. 15 places had no previously registered sauna business.
In the last 18 months, 47 new sauna businesses have been registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises, spread across 36 municipalities. This is a registration of an entity, not a confirmation that a sauna has opened. The most interesting observation is that 15 of these places had no previously registered sauna business – nearly a third of the new registrations occur in places where our catalogue had no prior sauna. This indicates that growth largely happens outside established sauna communities.
Commercial ventures or community saunas?
Among the 47 new businesses, 21 are registered as limited companies, 17 as associations, and 9 as sole proprietorships. Four of the businesses are registered in the Voluntary Register. The distribution shows that limited companies are the most common legal form, but associations make up a significant share. This suggests that both commercial operation and volunteer-based activity are present among the new registrations.
Where in the country
Eastern Norway has the most new registrations with 18, followed by Western Norway with 15. However, Western Norway has far more pre-existing saunas (224) than Eastern Norway (174). Southern Norway has 6 new, Northern Norway 5, Central Norway 2, and one is registered with an unknown region. Among municipalities with more than one new business, Bergen stands out with 5, Askøy with 3, and Ålesund, Kristiansand, Moss, and Oslo with 2 each. That Western Norway, which already has the most saunas, also has the second-most new ones, may indicate that growth reinforces existing geographical patterns.
| Region | New businesses | Saunas already listed |
|---|---|---|
| Østlandet | 18 | 174 |
| Vestlandet | 15 | 224 |
| Sørlandet | 6 | 48 |
| Nord-Norge | 5 | 101 |
| Midt-Norge | 2 | 52 |
Places getting their first sauna business
These 15 places have no sauna in our directory yet, but now have a registered sauna business:
- Sauna Sandra Van Der Waard — Gjemnes (Vestlandet)
- Havdamp Sauna AS — Vefsn (Nord-Norge)
- Lillestrøm Badstue AS — Lillestrøm (Østlandet)
- Støtt Sauna Forening — Meløy (Nord-Norge)
- Sjøspeil Sauna AS — Lund (Sørlandet)
- Sandøy Sauna Og Service — Hustadvika (Vestlandet)
- Hadeland Badstuforening — Lunner (Østlandet)
- Siggerud Sauna AS — Nordre Follo (Østlandet)
- Badstue & Bondeliv På Aanesland Gård — Birkenes (Sørlandet)
- Zen Sauna AS — Bømlo (Vestlandet)
- Nordisk Sauna DA — Melhus (Midt-Norge)
- Bardu Badstuforening — Bardu (Nord-Norge)
All 47 registrations
What the numbers do not show
The figures only show registrations in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises and say nothing about how many saunas have actually opened or closed during the period. We also do not know the size of the businesses or how many saunas they may operate. Our catalogue contains 599 saunas in total, but this is a snapshot and not a complete overview of all saunas in Norway.
Source: the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises, combined with the Norwegian Saunas directory. Updated monthly by our news agent.