Ganavan Sands – a Beach Sauna and a Hot Chocolate
A few hours.
The route
Wild Bathing's sauna, the Catalina, stands on the pale sand of Ganavan, Oban's own beach just up the coast, with the hills of Lismore and Mull across the water.
Book a seat in a shared session or take the whole sauna, run into the sea between rounds if you're a strong swimmer, then come back into town for a hot chocolate at the Oban Chocolate Company on the front.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book the Catalina sauna, Ganavan Sands
Book a seat or the whole of Wild Bathing's Catalina sauna online for Ganavan Sands (Monday 10am to 7pm, Wednesday and Friday 1pm to 7pm, weekends 10am to 5pm), where the prices are: 55-minute sessions, a full refund up to 48 hours ahead, no under-8s, and children to 17 only with a parent or guardian.
The day
Ganavan
Wood-fired heat on the sand with the sea a few steps away. Then a hot chocolate and cake on Oban's seafront.
About two and a half hours
The Catalina sauna, Ganavan Sands
The Catalina, Wild Bathing's ten-seat wood-fired sauna, stands on the sand at Ganavan, just up the coast north of Oban. Park in the council's Ganavan car park above the beach, £1.20 an hour at the time of writing, with public toilets beside it. At Ganavan it fires up on Mondays 10am to 7pm, Wednesdays and Fridays 1pm to 7pm, and Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 5pm. Book a seat in a mixed session or the whole sauna online, where the prices are. Sessions run 55 minutes, with a full refund up to 48 hours ahead. Arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for a short safety talk, already in your swimwear, as there's no changing area. Wrap up in a big towel, bring a small one to sit on, beach shoes and warm, loose clothes for after. Children from 8 to 17 may come with a parent or guardian, two children to an adult at most, and no one under 8. A sea dip is at your own risk, for capable swimmers only, and Wild Bathing ask you not to go straight back into the heat after it.
8 min by car
Oban Chocolate Company
Coffee
The Oban Chocolate Company is about 8 minutes' drive back along the coast road, on the Corran Esplanade, the first stretch of the seafront as you come into town. Its café, beside its own small chocolate factory, does a whole range of hot chocolates, with coffees, ice cream milkshakes and homemade cakes and chocolatey treats. From September it opens 10am to 5pm every day but Wednesday. On a Wednesday, Cuan Mor, a few minutes' walk along the front on George Street, serves coffee and cake and lunch through the day, walk-in, and welcomes dogs.
If it rains
The sauna is warm in any weather, though Wild Bathing may move a session in unsuitable weather; the chocolate café is indoors.
Make it a weekend
