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New York has no shortage of places to sweat, plunge and attempt a hard reset, but a newly opened Chelsea studio is betting that what city dwellers really crave right now isn’t another buzzy wellness scene: it’s silence. Saint, a personal sauna and ice bath concept, is now open at 242 West 29th Street, offering a fully private alternative to the city’s increasingly social spa culture.
Inside the space, each booking unlocks a full hour of uninterrupted solitude in your own cedar dry sauna, complete with a slate-lined ice bath and rain shower. It’s less “see-and-be-seen” bathhouse and more minimalist sanctuary: there are no communal lounges and no shared plunge pools. Just four individual suites designed for total seclusion.
The opening arrives as wellness trends continue to lean into contrast therapy (cycling between heat and cold), but Saint reframes the ritual as intensely personal. Instead of group sessions or guided programming, guests are left to move at their own pace, sweating, plunging and rinsing on their own terms. The concept taps into a broader shift toward screen-free recovery spaces in a city that rarely slows down.
Design also plays a starring role here. The interiors were created by New York-based Bond Studio, which is known for its restrained, material-focused aesthetic, while Brooklyn creatives Thibault Gerard and Johan Gerdin shaped the brand’s visual identity. The studio sits inside Ruby, the newly completed luxury tower from developer MAG Partners, whose founder, MaryAnne Gilmartin, backed the project early on.
Even the pricing structure nods to the studio’s stripped-back philosophy: sessions start at $90 for a single hour-long visit and a founding membership offers a more committed path for regular cold-plunge devotees. Guests can also bring a plus-one for an additional fee, though the experience itself is built around solo downtime—a rare commodity in Manhattan.
Saint arrives at a moment when the idea of the “third place” is everywhere, from coworking clubs to members-only lounges. But instead of adding another social hub to the mix, this Chelsea newcomer leans in the opposite direction, promising something far harder to come by in New York: an hour where nobody expects anything from you.
For anyone curious about heat therapy—or simply desperate for a quiet reset—Saint is now welcoming bookings, inviting New Yorkers to step off the grid, if only for 60 minutes.