Saunas in Reading: Where to Sweat, Swim and Cool Off

What sauna options Reading actually has

The three venues are quite different in character. Thames Lido pairs its sauna with a heated open-air pool, steam room and hot tub on Napier Road, which makes it the closest thing in Reading to a traditional bathing circuit.

David Lloyd Reading keeps its saunas inside a members' spa, alongside a whirlpool, steam room and heated beds, and restricts that spa to adults. Village Gym Reading takes the simplest approach: a roomy poolside sauna next to a 20-metre indoor pool, included in membership.

If you are used to the wave of pop-up and community-run saunas elsewhere in Britain, Reading will feel thin by comparison; the community saunas in the UK hub shows how much more is on offer in other cities.

Thames Lido: swim, sauna, steam and hot tub by the River Kennet

Thames Lido sits on Napier Road in Reading, with the River Kennet running alongside the pool. The sauna is booked as part of a combined swim, sauna, steam and hot tub session rather than as a standalone room, and the lido takes bookings online through its own site.

That packaging is the main trade-off. You get a full circuit — hot room, steam, hot tub, cool pool — but you are committing to a session slot rather than dropping in for twenty minutes of Löyly. Book the slot that fits your day, then plan to stay for the whole round.

The lido also runs supper clubs and seasonal events, and walk-ins are welcome for the restaurant side. Food and drink are therefore part of the visit rather than an afterthought, which suits a longer evening session better than a quick lunchtime sweat.

David Lloyd Reading: two saunas in an adults-only spa

The spa at David Lloyd Reading is adults-only and holds two saunas, a whirlpool, a steam room and heated beds. The two saunas matter: with more than one hot room, you can move between temperatures instead of queueing for a single bench.

Access runs through club membership rather than a sauna ticket, so the spa works best for people who will use the gym, pool and classes too. If you only want an occasional sauna, the cost per visit sits well above a lido session.

Village Gym Reading: a poolside sauna for members

Village Gym Reading keeps its sauna next to a 20-metre heated indoor pool at Caversham Bridge on Richfield Avenue, and use is included in all membership packages. Members can use it without booking, any time the club is open.

The hours are unusually generous for a gym sauna: it opens from 6.30am to 10pm on weekdays and 8am to 9pm at weekends. That makes an early-morning round before work realistic, which is rare among Reading's options.

House rules are clear. The sauna seats up to eight people, users must be 16 or over, and the club asks for swimwear and a towel to sit on. The club also advises keeping sessions to a maximum of 20 minutes, a house rule rather than a health prescription.

How a session works in Reading

All three venues expect swimwear, and Village Gym Reading spells out the details: a swimsuit, bikini or swim shorts, with flip-flops if you want footwear. Bring a towel to sit on as well as one to dry with, since the benches get hot.

Shower before you go in, and keep the room clean by taking belongings with you when you leave. Expect a shared, mixed room at the gym and lido rather than single-sex sessions, and expect conversation to be quiet rather than silent.

The custom at all three is short rounds rather than one long bake: Village Gym advises a maximum of 20 minutes, and the lido's circuit format encourages you to alternate between the sauna, steam room, hot tub and pool. If you want the deeper tradition behind those rounds — the Finnish sauna — it explains why cooling off between stints is the point.

Prices and booking

The split is simple. Thames Lido sells bookable sessions that combine swim, sauna, steam and hot tub, so you pay per visit; the lido publishes its session prices and booking calendar on its own site.

David Lloyd Reading and Village Gym Reading both fold sauna use into club membership, so there is no per-sauna fee to compare. Village Gym states plainly that sauna use is included in every membership package, which means the real cost is the joining fee and monthly rate.

For a one-off visit, the lido is the only one of the three you can book without joining. For regular use, the clubs make more sense — but read the contract terms, because annual memberships commit you for longer than a lido ticket.

The cold-water question

Cold water at Thames Lido is the outdoor pool itself, which is the proper lido experience: hot room, then a cool plunge, then repeat. That is the closest Reading gets to a Nordic-style circuit without leaving town.

At Village Gym Reading, the cooling option is the 20-metre indoor pool next door rather than a cold plunge, so expect a lukewarm dip rather than a shock. David Lloyd Reading offers a whirlpool and steam room in the spa, which is a warmer, gentler contrast.

For open-water swimming beyond the lido, the Thames and Kennet paths around Reading give access to river swimming spots, but these are unsupervised and conditions change with rainfall and flow. Treat the lido pool as the reliable cold option.

Getting there

Thames Lido is on Napier Road by the River Kennet, close to the town centre, which makes it the easiest of the three to reach by train. Village Gym Reading is at Caversham Bridge on Richfield Avenue, on the north side of the river.

David Lloyd Reading sits on the eastern edge of town, so it suits drivers and cyclists more than a quick station stop. Check the club's own directions page before setting out, since the entrance is off a business park rather than a high street.

All three are within a taxi ride of Reading station, and buses run along the Richfield Avenue and Caversham Road corridors. If you are combining a sauna with a swim, the lido's central location wins on convenience.

Honest trade-offs

The biggest limitation is access. Two of the three saunas sit behind club membership, so a visitor to Reading cannot simply walk in off the street for a sweat unless they book a lido session.

At Village Gym the sauna seats eight and is shared with pool users, so peak evenings can mean waiting for a bench. At the lido, popular slots sell out in advance, and the outdoor pool is colder in winter, which is either the appeal or the deterrent.

Changing rooms at all three are functional rather than generous, and at the gym you are changing alongside swimmers and gym-goers rather than a sauna crowd. Expect a practical, municipal feel rather than a spa retreat.

How Reading compares with Britain's big sauna city

Reading's sauna scene is small and club-based; the country's sauna revival has concentrated elsewhere, with community-run and pop-up saunas appearing in cities from Sheffield and Leeds to Birmingham and Norwich. The Community Sauna Network tracks many of these, and the community saunas in the UK hub maps them by city.

If you are travelling for saunas rather than passing through, it is worth comparing Reading with the saunas in Sheffield or the saunas in Leeds, where wood-fired and floating options are more common. The saunas in Birmingham offer another urban alternative within reach by train.

The Finnish reference point still applies. A proper round means a hot room, a genuine cool-down and a rest between stints — the pattern the Finnish sauna describes, and one that Reading's lido circuit comes closest to reproducing.

Safety and what to bring

Bring swimwear, two towels (one to sit on), flip-flops and a water bottle, and shower before entering. Drink water before and after, skip alcohol beforehand, and leave the room if you feel dizzy or unwell; if you are pregnant or have a heart condition, ask a doctor before using a sauna.

Keep rounds short. At Village Gym the house limit is 20 minutes, and the lido format encourages alternating between hot and cool rather than one long session, which is far more comfortable than trying to outlast the bench.

Plan Your Visit

For a one-off visit, book a Thames Lido swim, sauna, steam and hot tub session — it is the only Reading sauna you can book without joining a club, and the outdoor pool gives you a real cool plunge.

If you want regular saunas near home, Village Gym Reading's poolside sauna with 6.30am weekday opening and no booking requirement is the most practical, while David Lloyd Reading's adults-only spa with two saunas suits anyone already using the club.

Whichever you choose, treat it as a circuit rather than a single sit: hot room, cool-down, rest, repeat. For the wider picture across Britain, the Community Sauna Baths across the country show what Reading might yet grow into.