Contrast therapy just means going back and forth between a hot sauna and a cold plunge. A common beginner routine is 2 or 3 rounds of about 10 to 15 minutes in the sauna and 30 seconds to 2 minutes in the cold, with a short rest in between. You don't need to buy anything: as of October 2026, about 1,570 places in the US in our directory have a cold plunge, and every one of them has a sauna or steam room too.
Below is how to do a first session without overdoing it, who should check with a doctor first, and which kinds of places make it easiest.
There's no agreed protocol. Harvard Health puts it plainly: "There's no consensus about the best temperature, timing, or duration of cold plunges" (Harvard Health). So start gentle and adjust to how you feel.
Lower yourself into the cold and keep your head above water. When cold water hits your skin, you gasp and your breathing speeds up. The National Weather Service calls this cold shock and says the gasping and fast breathing can last for the first 2 to 3 minutes (NWS). It's the reason not to jump in or go under on your first tries.
Water temperatures vary from place to place. PLUNJ in Saratoga Springs, Utah keeps its plunge at 45 to 50°F and says guests usually stay in for 30 seconds to 5 minutes (PLUNJ). Löyly Nordic Spa in Orem, Utah has individual tubs set from 41 to 56°F, so you can start warmer (Löyly Nordic Spa). Our cold plunge temperature chart shows what each range feels like.
Sauna first. The heat warms you up so the cold is easier to take, and it's the usual order at bathhouses and studios.
Either is fine, and it's mostly about how you want to feel afterward. Ending in the cold leaves most people feeling wide awake. Ending in the sauna, or just with a warm shower, is better if you're heading to bed or you get cold easily.
Heat and cold both put real stress on the heart. Cold water speeds up your heart rate and raises blood pressure, and Harvard Health says cold plunges aren't advisable for anyone who's had cardiovascular disease, especially heart rhythm problems such as atrial fibrillation. It also flags circulation problems like peripheral artery disease and Raynaud's (Harvard Health). On the sauna side, Harvard notes the heat "may not be so hot" for people with unstable angina or a recent heart attack (Harvard Health).
If any of that applies to you, or you're pregnant, or you take medication for blood pressure, ask your doctor before trying it. Everyone else: skip it if you've been drinking, and get out if you feel dizzy, sick or numb.
As for benefits, people do it to feel good, to recover after workouts, or for the social side. The research on lasting health effects is still thin, and we cover what's known in our cold plunge benefits article. One often-quoted study looked at a small group of young Scandinavian men who did winter swimming with sauna 2 to 3 times a week (Søberg et al., 2021). It describes how their bodies adapted. It wasn't a test of how much cold or heat a person needs.
Most people don't own a cold plunge, so the easiest way to try contrast therapy is a place that has both. Here's how common a cold plunge is at each kind of place in our directory.
| Type of place | Places with a cold plunge | Share of that type we list |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery and wellness centers | 892 | about 2 in 5 |
| Day spas | 212 | about 1 in 10 |
| Sauna studios | 131 | a little under half |
| Gyms | 123 | about 1 in 8 |
| Public bathhouses | 93 | about 2 in 3 |
| Hotels and resorts | 64 | about 1 in 5 |
| Mobile and pop-up saunas | 55 | about 4 in 5 |
US places in the AllSaunas directory as of October 2026 with at least one cold plunge (a tub or open water) listed, each place counted once. We only list places where we found a sauna or steam room.
Recovery and wellness centers have the most plunges by number. Many of them are contrast therapy studios, often with infrared saunas. Public bathhouses and mobile saunas are where you're most likely to find one at any given place, and they usually have traditional hot-rock saunas. Of all the places with a plunge, roughly 600 also list a traditional dry sauna and roughly 1,100 an infrared sauna (some have both).
Gyms are hit and miss, so check the club's amenities page before you go.
California has the most places with a cold plunge (218), followed by Florida (174), Texas (134), New York (73), Arizona (54), Colorado (52), Utah (51) and Washington (48). You can search places with a cold plunge and narrow it down by city or by type of sauna.
If you want the Nordic version, with a hot-rock sauna where you can pour water on the stones yourself, about 75 places with a cold plunge also let guests pour. That's a small group, mostly bathhouses, sauna studios and mobile saunas.
The old way to do this is to walk out of the sauna and into a lake. As of October 2026, 31 places in our directory list an open-water plunge, most of them mobile saunas set up by a lake or the sea.
Two examples in the Seattle area: Bywater Sauna sets up on beaches like Alki and invites guests to dip into the cold water between rounds, and at Von Sauna in Kirkland people jump into Lake Washington. Search open-water plunges to see them all.
Open water is colder and less predictable than a tub. Go where there's a host or lifeguard, don't swim out alone, and keep your head above water at first. The cold shock reaction can happen in water as warm as 77°F, according to the National Weather Service.
You'll usually pay per session or join a membership. At the waterfront spots above, a 60 to 75 minute social session costs about $32 to $40 as of October 2026: Bywater charges $35 on weekdays and $40 on weekends (Bywater Sauna), and Von Sauna charges $32 off-peak and $40 at peak times (Von Sauna). Some studios sell unlimited plans instead. Löyly Nordic Spa advertises unlimited sauna and cold plunge for $45 a month (Löyly Nordic Spa). Prices change, so check the place's own site before you go.
Sauna first. Being warm makes the cold easier to handle, and it's the usual order at bathhouses and studios.
Two or three rounds is a common routine. On your first visit, one or two is enough to see how you feel.
Start with about 30 seconds and build up slowly. There's no agreed ideal time; one Utah studio says its guests stay anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
Either works. Ending cold tends to leave you feeling alert, and ending warm is better before bed or if you chill easily.
There's no agreed limit, and short, gentle sessions are the safest way to make it a habit. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, circulation problems or are pregnant, ask a doctor first. Our cold plunge frequency guide covers how often people plunge.
As of October 2026, a single 60 to 75 minute session at the places we checked costs about $32 to $40, and some studios offer unlimited monthly plans from around $45.
About 1,570 places in our directory have a cold plunge. Search by city to find one near you.
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