Skip to main content
When you open Löyly’s front door on the pedestrian-hostile stretch of MLK where the Northeast location is situated, it’s a bit like stepping through a portal.
This unassuming storefront conceals my favorite of Portland’s relaxation destinations, an unpretentious Finnish-style sauna spot, perfect for when you want to escape to a soothing oasis without leaving city limits.
In its simplest translation, “löyly” is the steam generated by adding water to a sauna stove, but if Finnish Redditors are to be believed, it’s a word that encapsulates the essence of sauna, which Löyly has sought to bring to Portland since it first opened in 2006. Though not the oldest sauna locale in Portland proper, Löyly exudes a subtle maturity when compared with the glamorous urban spas that have sprung up as the sauna craze has reached a fever pitch.
While Löyly’s long tenure offers a subtle testimonial, the biggest selling point is its price. While spots like Knot Springs and Cascada will run you $69 to $100 for a two- or three-hour stay, respectively, Löyly charges a relatively affordable $30 for a two-hour visit Monday through Thursday and $40 Friday through Sunday. The sauna’s amenities are a bit more minimalist than other facilities’—no soaking pools or cold plunges, just saunas and cold showers (or pull-chain buckets of water you can dump on yourself from overhead)—but it doesn’t compromise on ambience.
The space is minimally decorated, with pops of red against a backdrop of concrete, warm wood grain, and a smattering of lush tropical plants—an aesthetic that feels luxurious, but not pretentious or extravagant.
Löyly has two locations, which are similar enough that the deciding factor is whichever is closest to your home. That said, the Northeast location is more spacious, and has a social sauna if you want to bring a friend (or if you appreciate some eavesdropping). The Southeast location is smaller and quieter, but boasts a steam room and a garage door that opens to the outside, allowing in fresh air and birdsong.
Wherever you go, you can expect a relatively uncrowded environment. I’ve rarely been at either location with more than five other guests present. Despite the seemingly small capacity, you can often book a spot same day. This has often come in handy when I’m in that unstrung state of mind that only a heat-filled, wood-paneled sanctuary can fix.
Wellness tastemakers and doctors alike ascribe plenty of health benefits to sauna time—from cardiovascular to immune to circulatory—but anyone who enjoys a sauna knows that the most immediate reward is the sense of bodily calm and serenity. Sure, you can achieve this in any old sauna, but a spa day is about more than just isolated amenities, and Löyly has the whole pampering thing down pat, offering massages and facials (ranging from $70 to $180) as well as sauna time.
Though wearing a bathing suit in the sauna is a Finnish faux pas, Löyly—which is open to all genders—requires that guests suit up. The rest of the ground rules will be familiar to the spa experienced: Leave your phone in your locker, shower before the sauna, and don’t visit if you are sick.
Bathing suit aside, you can show up with the bare minimum of accoutrements—I recommend a uniform of comfy clothes, slip-on shoes, and a fresh pair of underwear so that you don’t have to head home commando (unless that’s your style). Löyly provides practically everything else the rejuvenation seeker needs, from towels, robes, and sandal to hair products, lotions, and reading materials.
Once you’ve rinsed off in the locker room, you’re ready for the main event. For newcomers, Löyly suggests starting out with five minutes in the sauna, and gradually working up to 15-to-20-minute sessions with breaks and cold showers in between. How you use your time in the sauna is up to you. Soft conversation, gentle stretching, reading (this only works if you can get a spot by the dim light at the door) and simply sitting with your thoughts are all welcome options. Be sure to stay hydrated and listen to your bodily cues, as the heat can be intense.
While you are cooling off, you can recline in Löyly’s living room, adorned with wooden lounge chairs and benches, as well as a service station with cold water (free, of course), teas and cold beverages (for an additional charge). If you are so inclined, you can add an herbal foot soak, a face mask, or a salt scrub for maximum indulgence. While you rest, the soft piano music on the speakers, the patter of water on tile, and the crackling from the sauna stoves harmonize, becoming a soothing white noise. In the spa, time seems to slow and two hours stretches into an ample respite from daily life.
It’s your job to keep an eye on the clock, so be sure to give yourself enough time to wrap up your mini-vacation and acclimate to your old life as the new, more enlightened version of yourself. A quick rinse is fine on your way out the door, but I personally enjoy a longer shower so that I can get my money’s worth of shampoos, lotions and towels that I don’t have to launder myself. To feel truly pampered, it’s important to leave smelling like expensive spa products you would never buy for yourself.
Going to Löyly is like microdosing a sunny vacation in the middle of winter, with all of the tranquility and none of the air travel. I appreciate it most on the days when I feel my worst, because no matter how sluggish or frazzled I am on arrival, I always leave feeling like softened butter, or a cat that’s been napping in the sun: melty, a bit nonverbal, and warm to my core. It’s corny, but something about the ritual of it all—the silence, the absence of email or news or text notifications, the natural high that comes from intense cold and heat on repeat—can truly feel transformative.
GO: Löyly; 3525 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-914-4303; 2713 SE 21st Ave., 503-236-6850; loyly.net. 9 am–6 pm daily.
2
Löyly NE
From Belmont Arco: 4.3 mi
Gas needed at 30 mpg: .14 gal.
Cost at $4.75 a gal.: $0.68
