Therme Bucharest’s Sauna Fest Draws Aufguss Masters From 29 Countries

Therme București opens the eighth Sauna Fest on Oct. 5. For 21 straight days, through Oct. 25, Therme says more than 100 Aufguss masters from 29 countries will stage over 800 shows in the saunas of its resort in Balotești, just north of Bucharest. The operator bills it as the world’s largest festival dedicated to sauna shows.

The country count is up by seven. The 2025 edition, Oct. 6 to 26, drew more than 100 masters from 22 countries, according to Therme’s opening announcement, as published by HotNews. This year’s festival page names masters from Argentina, Canada and the US alongside European countries including Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The shows come with the day pass

Sauna Fest has no separate show ticket. Every performance is included in admission to Elysium, the zone that holds Therme’s themed saunas. Adult Elysium tickets run from 132 lei for three hours Monday to Thursday to 217 lei for a full day Friday to Sunday, about $28 to $47 at the Sept. 30 European Central Bank rate, per Therme’s price list. It’s the same bundling Therme used for its Herbarium festival in May, where the programming came with the day pass.

Seating is the constraint. Therme’s program says each sauna is cleared 15 minutes before a show for preparation, and guests are let in by arrival order up to the room’s capacity. Shows run about 15 minutes. Therme publishes the schedule in a downloadable brochure and in its myTherme app; the current brochure covers the first week, Oct. 5 to 11.

The Sauna Village grows to ten days and ten exhibitors

From Oct. 16 to 25, the Sands of Therme beach becomes the Sauna Village, where guests can try saunas from ten manufacturers and distributors: Celsium Wellness, Saunum, Nomad Hot Tubs, Edjusta, North Heat, Harvia, Alpha Wellness Sensations, Hidrostyle, Hotspring România and Ciubăreala. The cold side is a beach pool held at 54 to 57°F. Therme calls the Village the largest space in Romania dedicated to sauna culture.

The 2025 Village, billed as Romania’s first, ran seven days, Oct. 20 to 26, with nine exhibitors. Bast Sauna and Tellta Saana were on last year’s list and are not on this year’s; Saunum, Alpha Wellness Sensations and Ciubăreala are new. Therme’s 2025 announcement pitched the Village to tourism operators looking at sauna setups for resorts, guesthouses and holiday homes, as well as to homeowners.

Stand-up, scent theater and dance join the program

Therme is widening what happens in the hot room. Comedians George Tănase and Alexandru Minculescu perform stand-up in the Hollywood sauna. “Theatre of Scent” is a 12-minute live play built around Necalli perfumes, with projections by Tony Macpela, and each guest leaves with a perfume sample. In the Provence sauna, dancer Ryan Pavel performs alongside an Aufguss master. Live music pairs a cappella singing with traditional instruments such as the pan flute, drawing on Romanian mythology.

The Aufguss lineup still carries the festival. Shows Therme has highlighted include Zuzana Špaková’s “Carmen” (Czech Republic), Michelle Scheuren’s “The Chocolate Girl” (Belgium), “Tale of the Three Brothers” by Happy Aufguss’s Djuri and Charlotte Reijnen (Netherlands), Jan Jakub Baroň’s “Godly Lesson” (Czech Republic) and Vanesa Slota’s “Audrey” (Romania). Anyone costing an Aufguss program for a US facility can see these formats side by side over three weeks.

Before you go

Buy an Elysium ticket through Therme’s online shop or the myTherme app, and check the brochure or the app for the shows you want. Arrive at the sauna before the 15-minute cutoff, since rooms fill in order. If you want the Sauna Village and the Aufguss program on the same visit, go between Oct. 16 and 25. The SaunaNews event page carries the dates and venue details.