Heating up: The rise of the mobile sauna along Ireland's coasts

As sea swimming and saunas soar in popularity, Ciara McDonnell meets the people behind the mobile saunas that have invigorated our coastal communities

Rory Murphy at My Hot Spot sauna based at Redbarn beach near Youghal in East Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

If 2020 was the year of the sea swim, 2023 is the year of the sauna. Over the last three years, the Cork coastline has become home to a necklace of wooden barrel-shaped saunas, pitched up on the sand offering a route to fire and ice. 

The health benefits of cold water immersion are widely known, both to reduce inflammation in the body, increase our metabolism and kickstart our immune system.