Some like it hot: These 5 restaurants bring together sensational flavours with sumptuous saunas

There are few activities that boost our serotonin levels more than sauna and eating. The former helps us take a moment of peace for ourselves, with a host of health benefits ranging from increased circulation to improved cardiovascular health. The latter, meanwhile, is a way of coming together; breaking bread with loved ones and nourishing our bodies as we do. Combining the two feels almost intuitive, creating one joyous whole for a perfect evening or afternoon.

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From appetite-boosting sweat sessions in the Swedish Arctic, where peacefully remote saunas are a suitable prelude to a dinner celebrating Sami cooking, to metropolitan bastions of wellness that have become world-renowned, across Scandinavia and the Nordic regions there are a number of savvy hospitality professionals combining two of life’s greatest pastimes. Here, we’ve rounded up some of our favourites. And, breathe.

It’s hard to miss Löyly. A wood slatted complex jutting out into the ocean, it looks like so much more than a sauna – a rare scenario where judging a book by its cover is absolutely correct. Because Löyly is so much more than a sauna. Yes – you can get a sweat session in here, in both public and private saunas, before plunging yourself into the Baltic Sea to cool down. But you can also settle into the expansive restaurant afterwards, for everything from the Löyly Negroni made with gin from Finnish distiller Kyrö, to warming fish soup made with Finnish trout, all of it punctuated by sweeping views of the water beyond. After a few hours here, it will come as little surprise that Löyly was named one of the 100 greatest places in the world by Time magazine.

If you’re looking for cool Copenhagenites on a summer’s day (or any day, really) chances are you’ll find them at La Banchina, sitting waterside on the dock sipping glasses of natural wine, or skipping from the sauna to the swimming area to reset their body temperature. Considered one of Copenhagen’s best low-key dining destinations by both locals and tourists alike, La Banchina is also one of the city’s finest spots for a sauna, with a humble little barrel sauna in the trees from which you have picture-perfect views of the harbour beyond. Resetting your nervous system and then settling in for a glass of orange wine as the sun slowly dips below the horizon? We can’t think of many more zen ways to end a day.

Simply walking through the doors of Arctic Bath is a surefire way to quiet your brain. Jutting out onto the Lule River (onto the water if you visit in summer, and into the frozen, snowy expanse in winter) like a haphazard bird’s nest, the hotel feels equal parts modern and primitive; like it’s somehow simultaneously a structure from the future and a relic from the past. People come here for many reasons – some simply to see the impressive hotels with their own eyes – but two of the main reasons are to eat and to sauna. The restaurant’s five course tasting menu celebrates Arctic ingredients and Sami cooking, while there are few sauna experiences more impressive than this one, cooling down in a plunge pool carved into the river itself.

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The restaurant at Hotel Brosundet, Apotekergata No. 5, is widely considered one of the best in Alesund, with a rotating, seasonal tasting menu that takes advantage of the local larder. And the best way to get your appetite roaring for this Nordic feast? In the hotel’s waterfront sauna, raising your body’s mercury levels, before cooling off with a quick plunge into the Brosundet canal. It may require you to stay to take part, but you can be confident knowing you’re bedding down in one of the best in Alesund.

There are Michelin-starred restaurants. Then there are unique sauna experiences. Then there’s Ästad Vineyard, where you can warm up in the world’s only underwater sauna (yes, really), before feasting at Restaurant ÄNG, which has a Michelin star and a Michelin green star, and sip on locally made Swedish wine while you’re at it. The Sinnenas Spa at Ästad Vineyard sits on (and under) a freshwater lake, so you can watch the reeds dance and the fish trundle past as you sweat. Restaurant ÄNG, meanwhile, sits in a greenhouse-inspired building with floor-to-ceiling glass windows that let diners soak in the very fields their meal was grown in.