Lolu

807B Main St, Nashville, TN

Lolu is East Nashville's social sauna, a bathhouse that opened in January 2025 beneath a hot-yoga studio on Main Street after co-founders Evan Galante and Chirag Challa spent two years running backyard ice camps and outdoor sauna meetups for friends. The name comes from löyly, the Finnish word for the steam that rises off the stones, and the build is made for a crowd: one 40-person dry sauna with wood bleachers that runs 175-195°F, a custom 20-person salt-water cold pool held around 45°F, a tea lounge, a breathwork room, an espresso counter in the lobby and an outdoor courtyard. You come one of two ways. Free Flow is a reserved 75-minute window where you move between the heat, the cold and the lounge at your own pace; Guided Classes are 60 minutes with a certified Lolu Guide leading up to 35 people through breathwork, meditation and set rounds of sauna and plunge, built so a first-timer can walk in with no experience. A drop-in is $30, credit packs and an unlimited membership (around $175 a month) are sold in the Lolu app, and members can bring two guests a day. Bring swimwear or activewear, a water bottle and a change of clothes; towels, lockers, filtered water and tea afterwards are included. Arrive five minutes early for a guided class, because guides may not admit latecomers, and cancel at least 90 minutes ahead to avoid the $15 fee. Sessions run from 6:30 a.m. to past 9 p.m. most weekdays in morning, midday and evening blocks. Regulars describe Friday and Saturday evenings as closer to a neighborhood bar than a spa, with music on and loud conversation on the benches, and the studio leans into it with DJ nights, breakfast clubs, a Week of Breath and whole-space hires for weddings and bachelorette groups. A private suite with its own sauna and cold tub for up to four is bookable by appointment.