Winter Island Copenhagen: A Floating Sauna Guide
Winter Island places four shared saunas and a splash bucket on a floating island in Copenhagen's harbour. Here is how booking, hours and the cold side work.
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Winter Island is a floating sauna island in Copenhagen's harbour, run on a book-and-pay-online model rather than as a walk-in bathhouse. You reserve a slot for a shared sauna, a private sauna or a gus session, and the island supplies the changing rooms, hot showers and café. The reason to choose it over a land-based sauna is the setting: timber decks, cold water on tap and a heated bar serving stone-oven pizza between rounds.
What Winter Island is
The venue describes itself as an island built on floating modules, with sauna, shower and café facilities grouped together on the water. Everything is booked through its own site: shared sauna, private sauna, gus sessions, gift cards and a café menu of hot drinks, cocktails, stone-oven pizzas and beer. A membership is not compulsory, because a cap on member numbers is kept deliberately so that visitors who want a spontaneous, no-commitment sauna slot still find space.
That sentence is the key to how the place works in practice. Members get a daily allowance of shared-sauna bookings across the four 8–10 person saunas, but the general public books standard slots the same way. If your trip is built around one specific evening, book that slot when you know your dates.
Where it sits and why you cannot swim off the island
Copenhagen has a general ban on bathing in the harbour outside designated bathing zones, so stepping off the Winter Island deck into open water is not an option. The venue states the rule plainly and provides cold-water showers and a splash bucket on the island as the cold-side alternative; swimming in the harbour can lead to being asked to leave. This is the single biggest thing first-timers get wrong, because the harbour baths and dipping zones elsewhere in the city make cold swimming look universal.
If a sea dip is the point of your sauna day, plan the two halves separately: sauna on the island, then a harbour bath or a beach later. The city's designated harbour baths, such as Islands Brygge, are enclosed and separated from ship traffic, which is exactly why they are legal places to swim and the island's edge is not.
The saunas
There are four shared saunas on the island, each capped at ten people, so a shared session is a small-room experience rather than a big hall. Private sauna and gus sessions can be booked as separate products, which matters if you are a group that wants the room to itself or a couple who would rather not share. The island also runs gus experiences, listed on the same booking page as the saunas.
Treat the shared sauna as a conversation-scale room: ten bathers is roughly the size of a generous Finnish apartment sauna, so the heat comes up quickly and a busy slot feels full. The booking categories exist for a reason, and choosing between shared, private and gus is the main decision you make before paying.
The cold side: showers and the splash bucket
The cold set-up is deliberately land-based: the island lists three hot-water showers, two cold-water showers and a ten-litre cold-bucket, plus a splash bucket as the alternative to a harbour plunge. None of this is a sea pool, and the difference is worth knowing before you book with an image of a harbour jump in your head. Winter Island notes that there is a general ban on bathing in the harbour unless you are in a designated bathing zone, and that swimming in the harbour can lead to being asked to leave, so the showers and cold bucket are the on-island substitute.
In sauna terms, a cold shower and a bucket do the job Finns would do with a lake or a snow bank: a short, sharp cool-down between rounds rather than a long swim. If your session is about the cool-down as much as the heat, plan the order of your day so the cold sea or harbour option comes after the island rather than during it.
Changing rooms, showers and towel logistics
Changing rooms are plentiful for a floating venue: the island provides six in total, alongside four toilets and three hot-water showers. That layout makes it practical for a group arriving together to split up and meet on the deck, and it reduces the changing-room crush that small floating venues often suffer. Towels can be added to a booking, and the venue confirms changes to towels or oils by email after purchase.
Bring a water bottle and something to wear between the sauna and the showers, because the walk between rooms is outdoors on a deck. The island's own booking page suggests bringing water to gus sessions, an easy thing to forget when you book in a hurry.
How a visit works step by step
Booking happens online through the site's booking menu and the Book now button, and payment is taken at the time of booking. You then arrive for your slot, change, take your sauna rounds with cold showers or the splash bucket between them, and finish in the café or heated bar. Sauna and café are separate timetables, so a late sauna slot can run past the café's kitchen hours on some days.
Changing the time is only possible if you add the rebooking guarantee when you book; the confirmation email then carries a change-time link. Changing the number of people, or adding oils and towels, is handled by emailing the venue. Members do not pay for the rebooking guarantee even though it shows a small amount at checkout, and the sum is deducted when the booking is completed.
Prices and what membership buys
Winter Island publishes some rates but not a full standard tariff. Membership brings free weekday sauna starts between 6.30 and 14.30, half price at 75 DKK in all other time bands, and a friend ticket at 100 DKK when a member buys one member ticket and one standard ticket using the MEMBERBUDDY code. Memberships are binding and non-refundable, so the maths only works if you will use the weekday-morning window or the half-price slots repeatedly.
Non-members book standard tickets, and the private sauna and gus sessions are priced separately from the shared sauna. Gift cards can be bought for shared sauna, private sauna or gus experiences, with a printed code, a physical card collected on the island within one to two business days, or a message-in-a-bottle version for an extra 30 DKK.
Opening hours and seasons
The sauna and café run on weekday and weekend timetables: sauna weekdays from 6.30 to 21.30 and weekends from 9.30 to 21.30, with the café opening at 7.00 on weekdays and 10.00 at weekends. These are the venue's published patterns rather than a guarantee for every week of the year, so check the day you plan to travel.
The frost caveat is real and specific to the site. Because the island sits on floating modules with less insulation and frost protection than a building on land, some facilities can be out of service during long spells of hard frost; the venue says it works to keep everything available. For a winter trip, that is the one operational risk to accept when booking ahead.
Saunagus and how it differs from a Finnish round
Saunagus is the Danish take on Aufguss, the German practice of pouring aromatised water on hot stones: a sauna master works oils onto the stones and moves the heat and scent around the room with a towel, often with music. Sessions are structured so bathers cool off between rounds, with a cold shower or dip in between. At Winter Island, gus is a bookable product in its own right rather than something that happens incidentally during a shared sauna.
The contrast with a plain Finnish round is worth understanding before you choose. A Finnish sauna is self-service: you sit, you sweat, you cool off, and you repeat on your own schedule. A gus session hands the rhythm to the master, which suits people who want the ritual led for them and frustrates people who came for silence.
Who it suits and who it does not
Winter Island suits groups and couples who want a private or shared room with a bar and pizza afterwards, and first-timers who would rather have a booked slot than queue. It is a poor fit for anyone whose main goal is plunging into the sea, because the harbour ban rules that out from the deck, and for travellers who want a big public sauna with a mixed crowd and a long, hot room.
If you are building a sauna day in Copenhagen, use Winter Island for the booked, sociable session and pair it with a harbour bath or beach later for the open-water part. Sauna House Nordhavn and Green Island Copenhagen are the other floating-style bookings worth comparing for slot length and group size.
Other Copenhagen saunas and cold-water spots to pair with a booking
Copenhagen's harbour baths and designated dipping zones are the legal places to swim, and several sit close enough to the island for a combined day. Havnegade and Kalvebod Brygge both have dipping zones with adjustable shallow bottoms, and Kalvebod Bølge pairs a dipping platform with a swimming area enclosed by float barriers. La Banchina on Refshaleøen runs a small glass-walled sauna for up to eight people and a Sunday soup-and-sauna drop-in during winter, which makes a natural second booking in the same part of the harbour.
Further out, the architecturally distinctive Kastrup Sea Bath on the Øresund side is a circular wooden structure reached by a 100-metre bridge, with shelter built into its shape for winter bathing. The city also has venues that pair hot tubs with saunas, such as CopenHot on Refshaleøen, where outdoor hot tubs sit alongside saunas in an urban wellness garden.
Getting there and what to bring
Winter Island floats in Copenhagen's harbour at Refshaleøen, the former industrial and shipyard area now filled with food, design and waterfront venues. Reaching Refshaleøen is easiest by bus or bike from the city centre, and the walk from the nearest stop is an exposed one in winter, so dress for the weather rather than for the sauna.
Bring a water bottle, a towel, and shoes you can slip on for the deck. A single safety line covers the rest: stay hydrated, skip alcohol before bathing, leave the sauna if you feel unwell, and take a doctor's advice first if you have a heart condition or are pregnant.
Plan Your Visit
Winter Island is the Copenhagen booking that makes sense when you want a sauna session with a set time, a private option and food afterwards, and you accept that the cold side is showers and a splash bucket rather than the harbour. Book the slot type first, decide whether the membership maths works for your dates, and build the sea dip into a separate stop at one of the city's designated bathing zones.
Current times, session availability and any frost disruption are listed on Winter Island's own site, so match your booking to the day you will actually be in Copenhagen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you swim at Winter Island in Copenhagen?
No. Copenhagen bans bathing in the harbour outside designated bathing zones, and Winter Island sits in the harbour, so the venue provides cold-water showers and a splash bucket instead of a sea plunge. Swimming in the harbour can lead to being asked to leave. For an actual open-water dip, use one of the city's harbour baths or beaches, which are separated from ship traffic.
Do you need a membership to use Winter Island?
No. Shared sauna, private sauna and gus sessions can be booked and paid for online without joining. Membership brings free weekday-morning shared sauna starts and half-price slots at other times, but memberships are binding and non-refundable, so they only pay off if you will use those windows repeatedly.
How much does Winter Island Copenhagen cost?
The venue publishes some rates: half price at 75 DKK in the non-free time bands for members, and a 100 DKK friend ticket when a member books one member ticket and one standard ticket with the MEMBERBUDDY code. Standard tickets, private sauna and gus sessions are priced separately on the booking page.
What are Winter Island's opening hours?
The published pattern is sauna and café from 6.30 to 21.30 on weekdays and 9.30 to 21.30 at weekends, with the café itself opening at 7.00 on weekdays and 10.00 at weekends. These are patterns rather than a year-round guarantee, and facilities can go out of service during long periods of hard frost because the island floats on modules.
How many people fit in a Winter Island sauna?
Each of the four shared saunas is capped at ten people. Larger groups should look at the private sauna option, and couples or groups who want the room to themselves should book that category rather than a shared slot.
What is saunagus?
Saunagus is the Danish version of Aufguss: a sauna master puts aromatised oils on the hot stones and moves the heat and scent around the room with a towel, often with music. Sessions are structured with cool-downs between rounds, and at Winter Island gus is booked as its own product.
Is Winter Island open in winter?
It operates through the cold months, which is the point of a floating sauna, but the venue warns that hard frost can put some facilities out of service because the island is built on floating modules with limited insulation. Check the site for the day you plan to visit before booking a long way ahead.
Sources
Sauna notes for your next trip
Optional updates to our sauna guides.
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