Estonia’s Sauna Marathon Sets March 2027 Date After 800 Racers Hit 21 Saunas
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The 16th edition runs March 5 and 6 in Otepää, with tickets on sale now. Last year’s fastest team took two and a half hours, and the main prize was a sauna.
In this story3 sections
The European Sauna Marathon will run for the 16th time on March 5 and 6, 2027, in Otepää, Estonia, and tickets are on sale now. Teams of four race by car between saunas around the town, and every team member has to sit at least three minutes in each one. Last February, 188 teams and about 800 people from 19 countries, the United States among them, worked through 21 sauna stops.
“Interest in the European Sauna Marathon remains strong both in Estonia and abroad,” head organizer Ago Arro said after the 2026 race, in remarks translated from Estonian. “We’re glad there were more foreign guests this year than in previous years, which shows that our sauna culture speaks to people further away too.”
The 2027 marathon at a glance
- When Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6, 2027
- Where Otepää, southern Estonia, about three hours by car from Tallinn
- Friday the Sauna Village on Otepää’s central square
- Saturday the team race, starting at 11 a.m. from the town square; the finish at Tehvandi Sports Hall stays open until 6:30 p.m.
- Teams four people, plus a car and a driver
- Tickets €20.90 to €833.70 on Piletikeskus, depending on the package; ages 18 and up
Friday is a sauna village, Saturday is the race
The weekend opens on Friday evening, when saunas heat up in a Sauna Village on the town’s central square, with shared sauna rituals, concerts, a folk music party and street food. Marathon teams get in with their wristbands; other guests pay €25 at the door, according to the ticket listing.
Saturday is the race itself. Teams set off from the square in groups of 20, each with a map of the participating saunas, and try to visit as many as they can before the finish closes. Some are secret saunas, where each team has to guess how long it has spent inside, and visits to hot tubs and ice holes are counted rather than timed. Prizes go to the fastest teams and to the best costumes, and saunas and teams vote for each other.
The fastest team needed two and a half hours
The official 2026 results give the best time to the mixed team Linnupere: 2 hours, 32 minutes and 59 seconds. The field had 97 men’s teams, 23 women’s teams and 68 mixed teams. Norway’s ambassador to Estonia, Marius Dirdal, and Germany’s ambassador, Jan Scheer, raced too, and the Norwegian embassy team won the prize for best international team.
The main prize was a sauna, built by Lemmikmees with Skamet, and it was awarded from among the ten fastest teams. It went to the mixed team Elu on lill. “Our goal was to get through every sauna and finish in the top ten, and we did both,” team member Mati Ant said in the organizer’s recap, translated from Estonian. “My wife and I are big sauna fans, and the new sauna will get good use.” Lemmikmees and Skamet are again the main-prize sponsors for 2027.
The saunas were judged as well. Mulgi Reivi saun won best sauna, Saun ÖÖ won for the best löyly, and Ädu Aur for the best sauna atmosphere.
The race that started the format
Otepää’s marathon is the original of a format that has since spread to Switzerland, Finland and beyond. Our look at how sauna marathons are multiplying compares the Estonian race with its successors. The 2027 date is on our event page, and tickets are sold through the marathon’s website.
