Sauna and ice bath in Auckland: what it costs and what you get

Sauna and ice bath has gone from a fringe thing to a normal weeknight in about five years, and Auckland now has a reasonable number of places to do it. This is what it costs at Renew in Parnell, what you get for the money, and how it compares to setting it up at home.

Two ways to do it here

Private contrast rooms, $75 for 30 minutes

Each room has its own infrared sauna and its own cold plunge, behind a door that shuts. Nobody else is in there, nobody is waiting, and you set the pace and the number of rounds yourself.

The rooms fit two to three people, and bringing someone is $25. That makes a private room for two $100, which is the version most couples and training partners book.

The rooftop, $45 for 60 minutes

Two saunas, an ice bath and a spa bath, outside, with the city in front of you. Up to nine people at a time, so it is a shared space rather than a private one.

Twice the time for less money. The rooftop is the cheapest thing we do, and at dusk it is the best.

What the numbers mean

The plunge runs at 6 to 8 degrees. That is cold enough to do the job and not so cold that two minutes becomes an ordeal. Two to three minutes in the cold is plenty, and you go back into the heat and repeat as many times as you want to.

Bring togs. Water and towels are here. Park in the underground carpark below the building, come in through the Next Gen entrance and say you are here for Renew.

Doing it at home instead

A chest freezer conversion runs a few hundred dollars and up, a purpose built plunge a good deal more, and a sauna is a serious purchase before you have paid to run it or found somewhere to put it.

The real cost is not the equipment. It is maintenance and consistency. Water needs filtering and changing, temperature needs holding, and the honest failure mode of a home setup is that it gets used hard for six weeks and then becomes storage.

If you already know you will use it three times a week forever, build one. If you are finding out whether you like it, paying $45 a visit for a while is the cheaper experiment.

How it compares to the rest of Auckland

Most places in the city do one thing. What is unusual about Renew is that contrast therapy, PEMF, red light therapy and NormaTec compression are in the same building and can be booked back to back in a single visit. Anywhere else that is four appointments in four places.

Whether that matters depends on what you want. If sauna and ice bath is the whole ask, book the rooftop and ignore the rest.

The cheapest way to try it

The Experience Pass is $160 for two weeks of unlimited private contrast, rooftop contrast, PEMF, red light and compression. One per client. Four rooftop sessions and it has paid for itself, and it is the only version of this that lets you find out what you actually like before committing.

Otherwise: the rooftop at $45, or a private room at $75.

Before you book

Cold water is a genuine cardiovascular stress. If you have a heart condition, uncontrolled blood pressure, or you are pregnant, talk to your doctor first. And you do not have to get in the ice bath. The sauna on its own is still an hour well spent.