The best wood-fired outdoor saunas

Finnmark's wood-burning option on its Large Barrel is the wood-fired sauna we'd buy, because it's the most complete stove package here: a Narvi Kuru 20, heat shielding, the flue kit and stones, for £8,859.99 with the barrel. The Kuru 20 is rated for rooms of 10 to 20m³ and the barrel's room is 11m³, so the stove is sized for it rather than borrowed from a smaller sauna.

The barrel is 40mm thermo-spruce, 2.25m across and nearly 3m long, with two 2.7m facing benches for 6 to 8 people. Finnmark's own advice is that a wood stove takes bench space, so plan on six. Delivery to mainland UK is free by Moffett forklift, and it's a self-build kit unless you book Finnmark's assembly service.

The Kuru's published clearances to anything combustible are generous: 500mm in front of the stove, 250mm to the sides and back and 1,350mm above. In a timber barrel that's what the heat shielding is for, and it's why we'd buy the kit rather than piece one together.

Layzee's Timber Cube XL with a Harvia M3 is £6,895, which is £3,104.99 less than the Polar Cube with the same stove on almost the same footprint, 2.05m by 2.4m. Layzee only sells the stove in the XL, because the smaller cube has no room for it, and the XL's room is 1.96 × 1.96 × 2.2m, about 8.45m³, inside the M3's 6 to 13m³ range.

The difference is in the walls: 28mm thermowood rather than 45mm, so more of the fire's heat goes through the timber on a cold night and you'll feed the stove more often. Layzee rates it for up to 6 and quotes a heat-up time of 30 minutes to an hour, and flat-pack delivery is included to most of the UK.

Layzee calls the build fairly technical and will fit it at extra cost. Its listing doesn't say what flue comes with the M3, so ask before you order.

The 6 to 8 person Sauna Cube with a Harvia M3 has the thickest walls of any wood-fired cabin here. It's the same 45mm thermowood room as the electric version, 200 × 196 × 218.5cm inside or about 8.6m³, with L-shaped alder benches and a black Katepal roof, and the stove takes the place of the 9kW heater for £1,500 more.

The M3 is Harvia's best-known wood stove. Polar lists it at 13kW; Harvia's own figure is 16.5kW for rooms of 6 to 13m³, which puts this room comfortably inside the range. It's £9,999.99 with a wooden front or £10,999.99 with glass, with free delivery, made to order in 3 to 4 weeks.

No 50A circuit and no electrician, which is the point. What Polar's listing doesn't spell out is the flue, so ask what length of chimney comes in the box and whether a heat shield is included before you order. The warranty is 2 years if Polar's fitters build it, at £1,200 to £2,000, or 1 year self-built.

The Hekla Barrel 250 with a Harvia Linear 18 Compact is £9,400 from Outdoor Living, chimney kit and 40kg of stones included. Harvia rates the Linear 18 at 14.3kW for rooms of 5 to 18m³, and it heats a thermo-spruce barrel with two facing 1.94m benches for six and a 35cm covered porch.

Outdoor Living tells buyers to light it about an hour before a session and to allow about an armful of logs. The wood option costs £1,501 more than the 9kW electric version, which is the price of not needing a 40A circuit. Kerbside delivery is £149 and building it on your base is £899.

The barrel is 2.23m by 2.5m and 2.34m tall, and the warranty is 2 years from Hekla. Outdoor Living's own FAQ tells buyers to check local rules on wood burners and smoke before ordering, which is good advice for every sauna on this page.

£5,695 buys Layzee's 2m barrel in Scandinavian spruce with a Harvia M3 stove, delivered flat-packed to most of the UK. It's the cheapest way onto this page by £1,200, and in thermowood it's £6,175.

The barrel is 2.05m across, 2m long and 2.15m tall, with 42mm walls, and Layzee rates it for up to four. Four is a squeeze where the curve meets the ends, so think of it as a sauna for two or three. Layzee quotes a top temperature of 90°C and a heat-up time of 30 minutes to an hour.

Plain spruce needs treating to keep the weather out, so the £480 thermowood upgrade is worth it if the barrel will stand in the open. As with the Layzee cube, ask what flue comes with the stove.

The Cove with a 13kW Cozy wood-burning stove is £18,995.95, £1,000 more than with the 9kW electric heater. You get the big Polar room, 8.5m³ behind 45mm thermowood, a covered outdoor cold shower on the side and an aluminium roof, for 4 to 8 people, in stock on a 1 to 2 week delivery.

Of everything here it's the one that puts the whole routine, fire, heat and cold rinse, in one building. It's also nearly twice the price of the wood-fired Sauna Cube, and Polar publishes nothing about the stove beyond its 13kW figure, so ask for the stove's manual, its rated room size and the flue details before you order.

The shower still needs a water feed and a drain, and Polar's fitters quote £1,500 to £2,000 to build the cabin. The warranty is 2 years fitted or 1 year self-built.