To Nude or Not to Nude: Sauna Culture at the Kulm

Outside, it’s minus twelve. Fresh snow crunches underfoot with that satisfying squeak, the air so crisp you could snap it in half. Inside? Dry heat, the scent of wood, and the sharp green perfume of freshly cut larch branches. In the Kulm’s Finnish sauna, an age-old ritual kicks off — one that’s as ancient as it is universal, yet here, perched at over 1,800 metres, takes on a rather magnificent intensity of its own.

Within minutes, little beads of sweat pop up on your skin, muscles begin their slow unwind, and breathing does that lovely deep-and-slow thing. It’s a carefully choreographed tango between heat and cold, a cycle of clenching and releasing. Outside, winter sits waiting like a patient cat. Inside, glowing embers radiate their steady warmth. Every plunge into icy water, every swim in the panoramic pool, every quiet moment sprawled in the relaxation room adds up to chapters in this alpine ceremony.

A Rhythm Like Music
The sauna ritual at the Kulm follows a gloriously simple triad: heat, cooling, rest. Ten minutes in the sauna, then out you pop into the freezing Engadin air. Your breath hangs there, crystallised; snow crunches beneath bare feet (yes, really). Those brave enough for the ice-cold plunge experience shock first, then something close to euphoria: millions of tiny pinpricks transform into pure energy, heartbeat and breath suddenly finding a new tempo. Finally, stillness. A deck chair, a glass of water, a view of peaks reflected perfectly in the panoramic pool.

Everything comes together in a natural rhythm, almost like a musical composition: the hiss of the infusion, the crackle of the fire, the soft crunch of snow underfoot. Heat, cold, silence and movement merge into a symphony for body and mind.

An International Microcosm

The Kulm sauna isn’t just wellness — it’s culture in miniature, a delightful collision of habits and rituals.

Germans with their precision and clearly defined routines.
Finns who sit with effortless ease, as if in a cabin near the Arctic Circle.
Italians and Spaniards wearing swimwear like a flag of cultural identity.
Japanese guests moving through each step with meditative focus.
Swedes drifting calmly between infusion and cold plunge.
Americans watch on with open, unabashed curiosity.

Yet in the decisive moment, these differences dissolve like steam. In the heat, every body sweats the same. In the lungs, the same breath does its work. Boundaries blur, giving way to a quiet, shared presence that’s rather lovely, actually.

More Than Wellness – An Experience That Lingers

Step into the Kulm Hotel’s sauna and you’ll sense the balance between time-honoured ritual and modern grandeur straight away. Every breath becomes more conscious, every step in the snow more deliberate, every movement in the water more intense. Sauna here transforms into meditation — a moment of grounding, calm, and returning to oneself.

This isn’t some fleeting feel-good moment that evaporates the second you check your phone. It’s an experience that resonates long after, settling deep in the body, sharpening the mind. And it serves as rather a nice reminder: sometimes, all it takes is a room full of heat and a leap into ice to bring the world back into order.