It might look like a pair of waterside sheds, but hidden behind Floating Sauna’s timber is a spa with views across Tasmania’s Lake Derby.

Licht Architecture designed the sauna, which is connected to the land by a small bridge that visitors must cross barefoot. Guests get changed in one of the volumes, clad in semi-translucent panels, before heading into the wood-wrapped spa.

Wooden benches offer space to sit or lie while enjoying the wood-fired heat, while the sauna’s glazed end offers views straight across the water. Brave spa-goers can take a cold plunge into the lake straight afterwards.

Floating Sauna is available to book, starting at $45AUD per person, or $300AUD for a group. The surrounding area – a tin mining town until the 1940s – is filled with rainforest and mountain biking trails.

6 scenic saunas to unwind in this autumn