Saunas in Kildare

Kildare is flat, green and close: the Curragh plains, the Grand Canal and the Liffey, and a ring of towns that many Dubliners drive through on the way somewhere else. Its saunas give a reason to stop. They are inland by definition, so the cold plunge is the thing, and here it is the rule rather than the exception. Between the Liffey at Ballymore Eustace and the canal at Rathangan, the county has quietly built a proper sauna scene of its own.

There are saunas at Leixlip and Clane in the north of the county, at Naas and Punchestown in the middle, at Ballymore Eustace near the Blessington lakes, at Rathangan on the Grand Canal, and at Crookstown in the south. Wood-fired stoves and a mobile sauna feature, changing areas are common, and one venue takes group bookings. Kildare is the easy option when the coast is too far: most of these are under an hour from Dublin, and Wicklow's mountains and Laois's are on either side.