My Day at the UK Aufguss Championships 2026 — What It Was Actually Like

I took a day trip from Edinburgh to Belfast on my own — a flight, a taxi, and a day at the UK Aufguss Championships 2026 at Galgorm Resort’s Thermal Village. I had no idea what I was walking into.

The thermal village is spread across woodland grounds — you walk through gardens and along paths and keep discovering things. Tucked away saunas, jacuzzis in the trees, lounge areas with outdoor beds in little snugs. It’s the kind of place you could spend a whole day just exploring. When you arrive you’re given a locker key — inside you find a Galgorm robe, towels and flip flops already waiting. It was quiet when I arrived, with just a handful of people around, already in their dressing gowns.

I gave myself time to explore and try a few of the pools before the first session at 10am. The Championships all took place in the Celtic Sauna — Galgorm’s main sauna space.

Seven Aufguss sessions across the day, one an hour, with lunch in between. I had no idea what I was about to experience.

The UK Aufguss Championships

The Championships are organised by the British Sauna Society and bring together the best Aufguss Masters in the UK to compete. This year the event featured two categories — Performance Aufguss, which included both Singles and Teams, and Modern Classic, which was new for 2026.

Each Aufguss follows a similar ritual, though every Sauna Master makes it entirely their own. They’ll often begin by introducing their theme and the scents they’ve chosen. Then they pour water onto the stones — slowly, deliberately, every movement part of the performance.

Once the heat builds they use a towel or fan to waft it around the room, directing waves of heat towards the audience. Ice balls infused with essential oils are placed on the stones and gently crushed, releasing the scent into the air. The music plays throughout, aligned to the mood and story. More water, more heat, more scent — the session builds in layers.

Even the small moments are part of it. When a Sauna Master stops to dab their face and arms with a towel — because they’re working in intense heat themselves — it’s done with the same care and elegance as everything else.

None of this I knew going in. I discovered it all in real time, session by session.

Before each session a gong sounded right outside the Celtic Sauna, a signal that a British Sauna Society member was about to give a brief introduction before we went in. No shoes inside, no phones. Around sixty people filing in together, finding a spot on the tiered benches, and waiting to see what would happen next.

If you’ve not come across Aufguss before, I’ve written a separate guide to what Aufguss is and how it works.

Zak and Jack — A Team Aufguss About Friendship

Their Aufguss told a simple story — two childhood best friends who lost touch when one moved away, but found each other again when he came back. The narration played out across the session, each part with its own music to match the mood. ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ by Randy Newman/Toystory for the years they were close, ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ by Gotye when one friend left, and ‘Get Into the Groove’ by Madonna when they were reunited.

What made Zak and Jack stand out was the unison — two people moving together, their towel work coordinated throughout the session. As the scent hit the room the crowd reacted — a few woos as the fragrance reached them, clapping when a towel throw landed well.

The heat and fragrance built together throughout. Afterwards, staff waited outside with trays of sorbet to cool everyone down.

I came out not entirely sure what had just happened, but wanting more.

Charlotte Jalley — A Modern Classic Aufguss About the Journey of Life

After the warmth and playfulness of Zak and Jack, Charlotte Jalley’s session was something else entirely.

It opened with birdsong. Just that — no heat, no music, no movement. The sauna was quiet and still, and somehow that silence made everything that followed feel more powerful.

Then Charlotte began heating the sauna, and Alex Warren’s ‘Ordinary’ came on. It’s a sad, beautiful song, and in that heat, surrounded by sixty people sitting in complete silence, it was unexpectedly moving. Every sense was caught up in it — the heat on your skin, the fragrance building in the room as the ice balls melted over the stones, the music carrying the emotion of it. Some people were quite moved. I was.

Then the mood lifted. Florence and the Machine’s ‘Dog Days Are Over’ started and the whole room changed — people clapping along, the energy rising with the fanning, the smell of rose coming through the scent now. After everything that had come before it felt truly uplifting.

I hadn’t expected to be moved sitting in a hot room watching someone wave a towel. I hear ‘Ordinary’ on the radio now and that Aufguss is the first thing I think of.

Robert Zidek — Exhibition Aufguss

Between the competition sessions there was a guest exhibition from Robert Zidek — a two-time Aufguss World Champion from the Czech Republic.

He opened with Elvis Presley’s ‘Fools Rush In’. His towel work was something else — throwing, twirling, catching, all of it looking completely effortless.

Then Michael Jackson’s ‘Heal the World’ came on and something unexpected happened. People started singing along. In a sauna. Sixty people in intense heat, singing together.

I could not believe what I was experiencing at that point.

Then someone started the chant — that familiar gig-goer chant for one more tune. A few others joined in. He was funny throughout, connecting with the crowd and making people laugh.

It was the most unexpected thing I’d seen until that point. And I’d already seen a lot.

Dan Lawson — The Rave Sauna Performance Aufguss

Nothing prepared me for this one.

Before we went in, we were handed bucket hats — with neon mushrooms on them — and white gloves. Some people got whistles. Outside the sauna there was a rave poster. I had a feeling something very different was coming.

Dan Lawson’s Performance Aufguss was set in the early 90s — a night out clubbing with friends, before mobile phones, when people just talked to each other and were fully in the experience rather than living it through a screen and posting it online. He narrated the story of one particular night — trying to get into a club, the bouncer confiscating his pills at the door. He had a t-shirt with the word ecstasy on it, coloured lights, actual rave music, and flags with those yellow acid smiley faces.

Then he brought out a large pill-shaped prop with E on it. We assumed it was there to bring the story to life. Then he unscrewed a small lid from the top and started pouring water onto the stones. People started laughing — nobody had seen it coming.

He was dancing to the rave music, people were blowing whistles, clapping, really getting into it.

But underneath all of it was a genuine story — about human connection, about the love drug, about a time when people went out and were just present with each other. No phones, no distraction. Just people together in a room.

Which, now I think about it, is exactly what an Aufguss is.

Eliska Zidek Blazek — The Nurse Exhibition Aufguss

The last session of the day was another exhibition — this time from Eliska Zidek Blazek, former Czech Aufguss champion and, as I later found out, Robert Zidek’s wife.

Her performance was set at the end of the Second World War. She was dressed as a 1940s nurse, caring for a wounded captain. A recording of the US President’s announcement that the war was over played through the speakers. The patient’s voice came through, his bandaged hand visible on a prop hospital bed beside her. It was New Year’s Eve in the story, and Auld Lang Syne played.

Then Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again.’ She acted out that famous image — a nurse being swept back by a returning soldier on the streets of New York — but alone, with just the props and the narration. At the end, an imaginary figure came to kiss her and she slapped them away.

It was the most theatrical performance of the day — the most layered story, the most elaborate props. She was fully in character from start to finish, more like watching someone on a stage than in a sauna.

She also made the sauna the hottest it had been all day — all three stoves going at once. A few people left. I stayed until the end, though I was very ready for the cool air outside when it came.

A Conversation with the British Sauna Society

Between sessions I had the chance to speak with Gabrielle Reason, Director of the British Sauna Society. She was busy — the Championships don’t run themselves — but she made time for a proper conversation, which I appreciated.

We talked about the rapid growth of saunas across the UK, the work the Society does to support and accredit wild outdoor saunas, and the growing interest from the medical community in sauna as a health intervention. She spoke about the work with obvious enthusiasm — you could tell this was something she genuinely cared about.

How It Felt

I got a taxi back to Belfast airport in the evening, still processing what I’d experienced.

Seven sessions in one day sounds like a lot. In practice it didn’t feel that way — each one was completely different, and the rhythm of moving between the sauna, the thermal village and the pools in between gave the day a natural pace.

What stayed with me most was how much was packed into each 15-minute session. The storytelling, the music, the scent, the heat, the crowd all reacting together. And the Sauna Masters themselves — after each session they came outside to greet people as they left. Some people stopped to chat, say thank you, share how it had made them feel. It was a surprisingly personal touch for what is also a competition.

I went knowing very little about Aufguss. I came back wanting to know more — about the culture, the people, the events. I hadn’t known this world existed before that day in Galgorm.