Sauna Røros — 3 saunas in a UNESCO mining town

Sauna Røros is bathing at the coldest end of the Norwegian climate. Røros sits on a high plateau close to the Swedish border, at around 630 metres, and the old copper-mining town at its centre — wooden houses, slag heaps and the church above them — is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Winters here are famously severe: Røros regularly records some of the lowest temperatures in southern Norway, and the dry, still cold of a February morning is a different animal from the damp cold of the coast. That is exactly the setting that makes a sauna worth building, and three venues do it in three different ways. Gjettjønna Badstue is the outdoor one, a mixed-gender badstu at the small lake Gjettjønna on the edge of the old town. Bergstadens Hotel Spa on Osloveien is the spacious hotel spa, with a cold plunge, showers, changing rooms, food and drink and parking, and prices listed from 95 to 249 NOK — some of the most accessible spa pricing anywhere in this guide. Røros Hotell on An-Magritt-veien adds an indoor pool and sauna at a historic hotel, child-friendly, with towel rental, lockers and mixed-gender bathing. Below you'll find all three with prices, facilities and booking details.

All three saunas are within walking distance of the old town, which is unusual and makes Røros one of the easiest sauna destinations in Norway to do on foot. Gjettjønna Badstue sits by the lake of the same name just outside the historic centre — outdoor, mixed-gender, in the mid price band, and the one that puts you in the landscape rather than in a building. Bergstadens Hotel Spa is on Osloveien 2, a short walk from the church, and is the most complete facility: a spacious hotel spa with a cold plunge, changing rooms, showers, food and drink and parking, with entry priced between 95 and 249 NOK depending on what you book. Røros Hotell on An-Magritt-veien 48 is the family option, with an indoor pool alongside the sauna, changing rooms, showers, towel rental, lockers, food and drink, parking, child-friendly facilities and mixed-gender bathing with swimwear required. Seasonally, Røros runs on winter. The Rørosmartnan winter market in February is the busiest week of the year and accommodation books out well ahead; the cross-country skiing season is long, and the plateau around the town holds snow later than most of southern Norway. Summer is quiet and light, with the mining landscape and the World Heritage sites the main draw. The Røros Line connects the town to Trondheim and Hamar, and Røros Airport has flights to Oslo, which makes it more reachable than its remoteness suggests.

The three saunas in Røros

• Bergstadens Hotel Spa — Osloveien 2. A spacious hotel spa with a cold plunge, changing rooms, showers, food and drink and parking. Priced from 95 to 249 NOK, which makes it unusually accessible for a hotel spa in Norway.
• Gjettjønna Badstue — at the lake Gjettjønna on the edge of the old town. Outdoor, mixed-gender, mid price band. The one that uses the Røros winter rather than shutting it out.
• Røros Hotell — An-Magritt-veien 48. Indoor pool and sauna at a historic hotel, with changing rooms, showers, towel rental, lockers, food and drink, parking and child-friendly facilities. Mixed-gender, swimwear required.

Røros is a walking town, and the sauna plan can be too — all three venues are reachable on foot from the old centre, which is not true of most places in this guide. For a first visit in winter, take Bergstadens for the cold plunge and the price, and add an outdoor session at Gjettjønna on an evening the temperature drops properly. That contrast, in a town this cold and this old, is the reason to come here rather than somewhere on the coast.