History: The Nordics, the North Baltic States, Russia and Eastern Europe

In Sweden and Norway saunas are found in many places, and are known as 'bastu' (from 'badstuga' = bath house). In Sweden, saunas are common in almost every public swimming pool and gym. The Public saunas are generally single-sex and it's often optional to use swimwear. When men and women use the sauna together in Sweden swimwear is often used.

In Russia, public saunas are strictly single-sex, while in Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, both types occur. During wintertime, Finns often run outdoors for either ice swimming or, in the absence of lake, just to roll around in the snow naked and then go back inside. This is popular in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia as well. Finnish sauna is traditionally the same as Russian banya despite the popular misconception that Finnish sauna is very dry.

In ex-USSR there are three different types of saunas. The first one, previously very popular especially during the Soviet Era, is the public sauna or the banya, (also known as the Russian banya), as it is referred to among the locals, is similar in context to public bath houses in Russia and in all ex-Soviet nations. The banya is a large setting with many different rooms. There is at least one sauna (Finnish style), one cold pool of water, a relaxation area, another sauna where fellow-sauna goers beat other fellow-sauna goers with the leafy birch, a shower area, a small cafeteria with a TV and drinks, and a large common area that leads to the other areas. In this large area, there are marble bed-like structures where people lie down and receive a massage either by another sauna-member or by a designated masseur. In the resting area, there are also other bed-like structures made of marble or stone attached to the ground where people lie down to rest between different rounds of sauna or at the very end of their banya session. There is also a large public locker area where one keeps one's clothes as well as two other more private locker areas with individual doors that can lock these two separate locker rooms.

The second type of sauna is the Finnish sauna type one can find in any gym throughout the world or a hotel. It could be in the locker room or mixed (i.e. male and female together). Attitudes towards nudity are very liberal and people are less self-conscious about their nude bodies.

The third type of sauna is one that is rented by a group of friends. It is similar to the public banya bath house type, except that it is usually more modern and luxurious, and is often rented by groups of friends by the hour for the use of partying and socializing. Here it can be single-sex or mixed-sex.