What is Aufguss? Everything You Need to Know

What is Aufguss? If you’ve come across the word and had no idea what it meant, you’re not alone. It’s still a relatively unfamiliar term in the UK, despite becoming increasingly popular at saunas across the country.

At its simplest, Aufguss is a guided sauna ceremony. A sauna master pours scented water over hot stones, then uses a towel to circulate the steam around the room. What it actually feels like, though, is closer to theatre than a typical sauna session.

What is Aufguss and where does it come from?

Aufguss is a German word that translates literally as “infusion” or “to pour.” It refers to the act of pouring water, usually infused with essential oils, over the hot stones of a sauna to create an intense burst of steam.

The exact origins are difficult to trace, but Aufguss is generally believed to have developed in Germany during the 20th century as a simple way to freshen the air in a sauna. Water was poured over the hot stones and the steam was circulated around the room using a towel.

Today, Aufguss is an established part of sauna culture across Germany, Austria and the wider Nordic and Baltic sauna scene. The Deutscher Sauna-Bund, Germany’s official sauna association, founded in 1947, runs the German Aufguss Championships every year, and Aufguss has grown into a guided sauna experience with its own techniques, essential oils, music and dedicated practitioners.

Twenty countries now compete against each other every year at the Aufguss World Championships. In the UK it’s still relatively new, but that’s changing fast.

What happens in an Aufguss session?

An Aufguss is led by a sauna master who guides everyone through the experience. Sessions typically last around 15 minutes and follow a similar structure, though no two are exactly alike.

The sauna master begins by pouring water infused with essential oils over the hot stones, creating an intense cloud of fragrant steam. They then use a towel, sometimes two, to circulate the steam around the room.

The towel work is more skilled than it sounds. The movements are deliberate and choreographed, designed to build the intensity gradually. Competition Aufguss is judged across seven categories, including heat distribution, waving technique, fragrance usage, theme implementation and atmosphere, which gives you a sense of how seriously it’s taken.

Throughout the session the temperature and humidity rise significantly, higher than a standard sauna. Most sessions build through several rounds of increasing intensity before the sauna master brings things to a close.

From Germany to Japan

Aufguss started in Germany and Austria, but has since spread well beyond Europe. It’s caught on in Japan too, where Tokyo saunas now run regular Aufguss nights that book out several hours in advance, and there’s even a Japanese word for the towel-waving sauna master, ‘neppashi’. In 2022 the country entered the Aufguss World Championships for the first time, and won it the following year, beating the countries where Aufguss actually began.

Where can you experience Aufguss in the UK?

Aufguss is still relatively new in the UK compared to mainland Europe, but it’s growing fast. A number of spa hotels and dedicated sauna venues now offer regular sessions, and the UK has its own national championships, the UK Aufguss Championships, run by the British Sauna Society, who also list Aufguss events across the country on their website.

I attended this year’s UK championships at Galgorm Resort in Belfast in April this year, and came away with a completely different understanding of what Performance Aufguss can be.

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