Roger-Luc Chayer & Arnaud Pontin (Image : AI / Gay Globe)
The world of saunas within the gay men’s community dates back more than 2,000 years, and even today, gay saunas remain a significant part of this community. According to Rentech Digital, there is no centralized official figure precisely indicating how many gay saunas exist worldwide, as this market is fragmented and relies on data compiled from commercial listings or specialized directories. However, an approximate estimate can be made based on data collected by certain sites that catalog these establishments:
Estimated Number of Gay Saunas Worldwide
According to an international summary database:
• North America: about 155 gay saunas (including approximately 103 in the United States and 17 in Canada).
• Europe: about 247 gay saunas.
• Asia: about 124 gay saunas.
• Oceania: roughly 17 gay saunas.
• South America: around 104 gay saunas.
Adding these figures results in approximately 640 gay saunas listed in this global database — but this total is likely underestimated, as some world regions are not well covered in these lists, and not all establishments appear in publicly accessible databases.
A Major Absence in LGBT Communities
However, and this is a major gap within LGBT communities, saunas for lesbian women or trans people are virtually absent. The reality is that, unlike gay saunas for men, there are almost no establishments specifically dedicated to lesbian women or trans feminine people worldwide, and there are no official statistics available for such venues. Commercial saunas oriented toward sexual encounters have historically been developed for gay men, and this model has hardly ever been replicated in a comparable form for women.
What Available Sources Say
Here’s what is known from available sources:
- PinkUK: Saunas explicitly reserved for lesbian or queer women are extremely rare. There is no global list or census for such establishments as there is for gay men’s saunas, and most guides or directories list only gay/bisexual men’s saunas.
- GO Magazine: There are some historical or occasional examples; for instance, Pussy Palace in Toronto was a lesbian women’s sauna event held a few times a year in an existing sauna, but it was not a permanent women-only sauna, and such events are no longer active.
- Place2B: In some major cities (like Berlin), there are women’s bathhouses or hammams, sometimes linked to feminist or community centers, which may include saunas and welcome trans and non-binary people depending on the days or local rules. However, these are not “gay lesbian” saunas in the commercial sense but rather wellness spaces.
- Reddit: In saunas traditionally oriented toward men, there are sometimes “women’s nights” or inclusive evenings for cis and trans women, but these are very occasional and depend on each venue — they are not stable, exclusively female spaces.
Gay Saunas in Quebec
Quebec has six gay saunas for men, located in Montreal, Saint-Hubert, and Quebec City (the capital). However, with one exception, these saunas are exclusively reserved for gay men. The Carpe Diem sauna in Saint-Hubert welcomes trans and cross-dressing people every Wednesday, which is a very popular day.
Why Don’t Saunas Exist for Lesbian Women?
The answer has nothing to do with a lack of desire or sexuality among lesbian women, but rather with very different historical and social realities. The gay saunas, as we know them today, have roots that go far back in time and mainly developed in the 20th century as discreet, sometimes clandestine places for gay men to meet at a time when their homosexuality was heavily repressed, monitored, and criminalized. The sauna responded to a very concrete need: to meet quickly, anonymously, and out of sight in a hostile social context.
For lesbian women, the historical path is different. Their sexuality was long denied or made invisible rather than directly persecuted. It was often seen as secondary, nonexistent, or “harmless.” This invisibility had a paradoxical effect: since there was not the same police pressure or need for secret places, fewer specifically sexual spaces were created. Lesbian communities therefore structured themselves more around bars, cultural, political, or community spaces, where exchange, solidarity, and collective identity took precedence over anonymous sexuality.
It is also important to consider differences in socialization. The sexual sauna model relies heavily on direct, visual, and anonymous sexuality, a dynamic historically linked to male spaces. Many testimonials show that many lesbian women tend to prefer places where trust, security, and relationship-building come before sexuality. This does not mean there is no desire or collective sexual experiences, but simply that the format of the permanent commercial sauna fits less with dominant expectations.
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