Why is Vadsø called “Norway’s sauna capital”?
Last updated: 8 October 2026
Short answer
Vadsø has a long sauna tradition and was formerly known as Norway’s sauna capital (Visit Greater Arctic). It is a name the town has been called, not an official title. The sauna came with the Kven and Finnish immigrants, and until around the 1970s shared saunas were common in the town’s Kven neighbourhoods (Varanger museum).
In more detail
The sauna at Tuomainengården was one of the town’s public saunas until 1932, where neighbours met to bathe together every week.
Norway’s first national sauna day was celebrated in Vadsø on 1 June 2024, during the first Varanger Saunafestival (NRK). Today you can bathe at, among others, Horisontti Sauna at the end of Ytrebyfjæra.