Savu at Madbush Falls

SAVU at Madbush Falls in Waitsfield, Vermont is the newest and perhaps most dramatically situated location in SAVU’s growing network of outdoor luxury sauna experiences — a private wood-fired sauna with a waterfall cold plunge, tucked in the forested Mad River Valley with the sound and sight of Madbush Falls as the session’s constant companion.

The experience is as elemental as the location suggests: heat in SAVU’s beautifully crafted cedar sauna, then plunge into the pool at the base of the waterfall for cold immersion — the most viscerally alive version of contrast therapy available anywhere in Vermont. SAVU founder Dave Nelson’s vision of creating sauna experiences in America’s most beautiful outdoor settings reaches a particular peak at Madbush Falls: the combination of wood-fired heat, natural cold plunge, and forest bathing in the Mad River Valley produces the kind of profound restoration that guests describe as genuinely transformative.

Community sauna nights run every Monday and Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., with six guests per sauna and towels required. Private hourly rentals are also available. For a post-Sugarbush ski sauna or a standalone Mad River Valley wellness experience, SAVU at Madbush Falls is one of the most extraordinary options in Vermont.