In a regular sauna you manage the heat yourself: you choose when to go in, where to sit and how long to stay. Saunagus is the same hot room with someone leading it, a gusmester who pours water with essential oils on the stones, moves the hot air with a towel and runs the session in rounds, with music and pauses in between.
A regular sauna: your heat, your pace
A regular sauna is you and the heat. You walk in when you are ready, sit where it suits you, and leave when you have had enough. Where there is a ladle, you decide when the water goes on the stones. You set the pace, and that is exactly the appeal.
Saunagus: someone runs the room
Hot air collects up at the ceiling and stays there unless someone moves it. In a gus, the gusmester is the one who runs the room and moves it. Water with essential oils goes on the stones, the scent arrives, and the heat follows right behind. Then the gusmester takes up the towel. Big slow circles, sharp snaps, a wave sent down the row, so the heat reaches you instead of staying up under the ceiling.
The gusmester also picks the music and the oils and shapes the whole session. There are three rounds of 10 to 12 minutes, with about 10 minutes to cool off in between. A session runs 60 to 75 minutes in all.
There is no talking inside the sauna during a gus. The pauses are for that.
We run three formats. Relaxed Gus keeps all three rounds calm. Signature Gus starts calm, builds in the middle round and settles again. Energizing Gus is three rounds of upbeat music and more movement. Which gus suits you? walks through the differences in more detail.
If you want the sauna without the gus
We also run a Social Sauna at Bispevej. It is a Finnish-style sauna with no facilitator, no essential oils and no guided rounds, and our house rules do not allow your own oils or scrubs either. You book an hour and use it as you like, moving between the sauna, the shower and the cold plunge at your own pace, always via the shower on the way to the cold water. Unlike in a gus, you can have a quiet conversation in there, or sit in silence. You find it in the booking calendar next to the gus sessions.
What stays the same
You close the shower door, shower without swimwear and wash your whole body and hair with soap before you go in. Rinsing without soap is not enough. In the sauna you sit on a large towel that covers everything you sit or lie on, with your feet on the towel too. If you use the cold plunge, you rinse the sweat off in the shower first, every time, and keep your head above the water. Saunagus and the cold plunge: the right order explains the sequence.
In both, you can step out whenever the heat is too much. If you feel dizzy or unwell, leave the room, and tell staff if you or someone else needs help. During a Social Sauna, that is the gusmester on site. The full list is in our behaviour policy.
Which one is for you
Choose the regular sauna if you want to decide everything yourself, talk quietly with the person next to you, or just sit in the heat for a while.
Choose saunagus if you would like someone else to take care of the heat, the scent and the pace, so all you have to do is sit and breathe.
Questions we get
Is saunagus hotter than a regular sauna?
It can feel that way. When the water hits the stones it turns to steam, and the towel pushes that hot air down to you. If it gets too much, move to a lower bench where the air is cooler, or step out.
Do I need experience?
No. Every session welcomes first-timers, and the gusmester guides you through it. Saunagus for beginners covers what to bring and what the first round is like.
Can I leave during a round?
Yes, at any point, without explaining yourself. Once you are out, you wait for the round to end before you go back in. In the Social Sauna you come and go as you like.
What is saunagus good for?
We are careful here. Saunagus is a ritual, not a treatment, and we do not promise health effects. If you want to know more about the cold water, Cold exposure: what the research actually says goes through what has and has not been shown. If you are pregnant, have a heart condition or take medication that affects your circulation, ask your doctor before you book.
What do I bring?
For a gus: a large towel, a water bottle and swimwear. The towel is mandatory in the sauna whichever you book. More in our FAQ.
Try both
Both are in the same booking calendar, and we are at Bispevej 23 in Nordvest. Current prices sit on the pricing page. If you have never been to a gus, What is saunagus? tells the whole story. Otherwise, find a time and see which one you want to do again.