I’m not gonna lie, coming back from New York to the cold and endless amounts of snow here in Winnipeg has been really hard.

We have been going through a cold front lately, so it’s been a lot of bundling up, plugging my car in at night, slippery roads, snow storms, inches of clothing, jackets, mittens, hats, scarves, thick socks, boots… I think you get the point.

Every year around this time I ask myself, “why do I live in Winnipeg?”, it’s just so cold here. But then I remind myself of all the great things of residing in this city… the good standard of living, the easy accessibility to anywhere in North America (since we are smack dab right in the middle of the continent), our warm summers, lots of sunshine and long days in the summer, lots of trees and greenery, and the people.  We are known for being “Friendly Manitoba” and I have to admit, as much as I complain about living here, we do have some incredible things here and people doing amazing things as well.

One of those amazing things is Sauna Winnipeg. As much as we love to complain about the winters here in Winnipeg, we also do a heck of a great job in coming up with activities to embrace it. Sauna Winnipeg is the newest pop up at The Forks, our most popular tourist attraction, and is a couple of stand-alone saunas where you can come partake in some seriously me time for 90 minutes.

Located near the Johnson’s Terminal and overlooking the river, you start your experience in the Nordic cabin, which is where you sign in and get changed into your bathing suit.  Make sure to bring your own slippers/flip flops, water bottle, and robe, or if you want, you can also rent one of theirs for $15. They will supply you with water, a towel to sit on, and an oil-infused face towel to use at the end. After you’re ready, they will escort you to one of two saunas. There’s a communal one which you share with five other people, or a private one you can rent for a party of six.

Myself and five of my besties checked out Sauna Winnipeg this past Saturday. We hit up The Forks Market first for some food (Nuburger for the win!), and since the area is licensed, we grabbed some beer and wine from The Common and made our way over to Sauna.  We had the private sauna and although we probably should have rotated between the Nordic cabin, sauna, and outdoor fireplace, we actually spend the full 90 minutes inside the sauna (which flew by!).

After our 90 minutes in the sauna, we made our way back to the Nordic cabin where they gave us an oil-infused towel to refresh with and just relax a little more. This area isn’t the biggest, but since they limit the amount of people who can use the facility, it doesn’t get too crowded.

So why should you check this out? First off, it’s such a cool experience to partake in, especially at The Forks (especially since there’s no RAW Almond or river trail this year). Plus, it’s such a cool experience, especially for a date night or a girl’s night (or day, like we did!).  Also, there’s all the health benefits. Visiting a sauna reduces stress, releases toxins, cleanses your skin and pores, relaxes muscle, soothes aches and pain, can help with colds and flus (which is currently going around right now), and can help with sleep. So really, why wouldn’t you want to visit this?

Now if you are a Winnipegger, you may be asking, what’s the difference between this and Thermea?  This is exclusively a sauna, you don’t get the other benefits and in-house experiences that come with Thermea (aside from the outdoor fireplaces), so if you are expecting something similar, you’ll be disappointed. Now with that being said, I loved this experience, and really it just brought more excitement to visiting The Forks. I feel like The Forks has really been upping their game over the past few years and this is just another thing to do when you go there.

So overall, I loved it and would definitely do it again. I do recommend renting out your own sauna and grabbing five other people and make it a party. The private sauna is $150 ($168 after tax), or if you want to go by yourself and don’t mind being a sauna with five other people, it’s $25 ($28 after tax) a spot.

Make sure you check them out online and IRL at The Forks here in Winnipeg (they will be here until April!). We still have a few more months of winter left, so you might as well get out there and embrace it, because it’s definitely not going anywhere.

Will you be checking out Sauna Winnipeg?

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