Plunge Club

Sweat with strangers, freeze with strangers, leave with a new group chat.

Plunge Club is the after-work round for people who want company without a bar tab: a social bathhouse three floors up at 38 North Canal Road, with a big sauna, two ice baths and alcohol-free events. Go with colleagues who have earned it, or solo if you fancy talking to people with no phone between you. The compromise is the mood. This is a social club first, with neon lighting and DJ nights, so anyone after silence should look elsewhere.

Its own tagline is “Sweat, Plunge, Recover, Connect”, and the last word is the one that matters. The events calendar runs to kimono dance parties, DJ nights and singles socials, all without alcohol. If you have wondered where the sober-curious go on a Friday, this is one answer, and the club announces its socials through a WhatsApp community.

The centrepiece is a 95°C hot stone sauna that holds 40 people and hosts Aufguss sessions, the European ritual in which a sauna master works the heat around the room. Then the plunges: one at 8°C, the gentler option, and one at 4°C for when you want to find out what you are made of. The club's suggested ritual is fifteen minutes in the sauna, three in the cold and five in the recovery lounge, two or three times over.

Between rounds there is a lounge for rehydrating and, for extra recovery, semi-private suites with zero-gravity beds, compression boots and red light therapy. Breathwork sessions and sound baths are among the regular events.

Practically, it is simpler than it sounds. Sessions run 90 minutes, walk-ins are taken when there is space, swimwear is compulsory and can be hired with your booking, and the club is co-ed and 18-plus. Off-peak sessions cost less than a regular drop-in; the current prices are in the club's app. Session packs can be shared, so a group of friends can split one, and the club takes private bookings for up to 50 guests, which makes for a more original team offsite than another escape room.

How to do it well: book a session that includes Aufguss, start in the 8°C pool rather than the 4°C one, and do the circuit at least twice before you judge it. Hire swimwear if you forgot yours rather than going home. Clarke Quay and Raffles Place are the nearest MRT stations (the walk from either is shorter than one Aufguss session).

Good to know Level 3, 38 North Canal Road. Book 90-minute sessions in the club's app (walk-ins if there's space); co-ed, 18+, swimwear required and hireable. Check the app for current prices and event nights.

Plunge Club | 38 North Canal Road, Level 3, Singapore 059294 | Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay, Raffles Place