St Ives Beach Sauna

There is no feeling better, in my opinion, than getting out of a sauna and running down the beach into the sea. The body tingles, the stunning setting, the sheer natural high. If you do anything on your St Ives holiday I recommend Mor Holan Sauna on Portminster Beach.

This December, we braved the grey skies and light rain and headed to the sauna for a morning session. It's about half way along Porthminster beach right next to the path that leads towards Carbis Bay. There are changing rooms next door and there is an attendant keeping watch, so you can leave your things there while you sauna. Once we entered the woody thick heat of the sauna we immediately forget all those fleece layers and raincoats. Our muscles relaxed, and we took deep breaths of hot dry air. We sat there chatting, baking ourselves and admiring the view: There are windows looking out over the water to St Ives Harbour in one direction and Virginia Woolf's lighthouse in the other. We were even graced with a rainbow that arced over the town and straight down into the water.

After 15 minutes of building heat we were ready: we discarded our sauna hats (provided by the venue) and ran across the sand down to the sea. I recommend going at high tide because we did not and it was quite a long way! But it was entirely worth it as we splashed into the waves screaming and whooping. If you don't fancy the sea there is also a cold shower and tin baths of cold water provided for that delicious freezing immersion. Then straight back into the sauna to warm up again. Not shivering in the wind, while trying to pull clothes onto your damp body makes winter wild swimming a much more attractive proposition.

The sauna is £12 per person and if you book six spots you can have the whole place to yourself.

Afterwards, I recommend doing as we did and going for a delicious lunch at The Cornish Deli.