SAUNABLOGGER

Welcome to the cool Saunablogger blog, stories from saunas around the world, from Finnish smoke saunas to luxury spa saunas. Not to mention hotel saunas! The Saunablogger has explored saunas in 33 countries, in a total of 119 saunas. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.

The Saunablogger articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, and swimming.

All sauna-related articles:

Siltamäki suburb swimming hall
I realized there's more swimming pools in the Helsinki area that I have not visited. Today I visited the Siltamäki swimming pool. a small sports facility in the suburb of Siltamäki in Helsinki. My expectations were not high, and the pool being four lanes, 17m long, and only 80cm deep for half it... it wasn't a super good place for laps in the pool. But, it was a nice visit to a new place! And the sauna was just perfect temperature and design.
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January 2024, Siltamäen uimahalli, Siltamäki, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Water, Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Want Bormio spa
There's a more famous spa in Bormio city center, but ... this is something else: QC Terme Bagni Vecchi. Nestled in the high mountains above Bormio, on the road to the famed Passo di Stelvio... like a castle with indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna in a cave heated by the natural thermal waters.
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January 2024, QC Terme Bagni Vecchi, Bormio, Italy
Swimming (None); Sauna (None)

Matinkylän uimahalli, now with parking
I've been to the new Matinkylä swimming hall before, but it was only now I realized how to park in their garage! The swimming hall is a block or two away from the massive Iso Omena shopping mall, where I've parked before. But I kept wondering how come people were walking to the garage underneath the swimming hall, yet I couldn't see a way to drive there.
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January 2024, Matinkylän uimahalli, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

The Studio Sauna Again
I've been here before, but again... The Studio Hotel is a modern but nice hotel in Kista, where I often have to visit for work. The rooms are pretty small, but it is very affordable (61€ per night), has a good breakfast, is walkable but not too near to the offices, has parking, and most importantly, has a good sauna that is open late night.
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January 2024, The Studio Hotel, Kista, Stockholm, Sweden
Sauna (Normal)

Villa Bisera saunas
Lake Ohrid is a wonderful, large lake in southern part of North Macedonia. Very clear water! I wanted to recommend a hotel on the east side, few kilometers from the town of Ohrid. The Villa Bisera is a nice hotel, but I was particularly struck by their saunas in the hotel rooms. In the summer they also have outdoor pools.
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December 2023, Villa Bisera, Lagadin, North Macedonia
Sauna (Normal)

Love a swim and smell of kerosine in the morning!
I was in a conference at the Arland airport this week, in the "Clarion Hotel Arlanda Airport Terminal" as they like to call it :-) It is directly connected to the shopping and restaurant space of the airport, one does not have to walk outside to get here. But the really cool thing is their rooftop pool. One can enjoy a warm outdoor pool while breathing fresh air mixed with some kerosine smell. Love it! Particularly in the mornings!
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October 2023, Clarion Hotel Arland Airport, Arlanda, Sweden
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water); Sauna (Normal)

Late fall swim
It is always a bit sketchy to visit our summer cottage in late fall. It is cold, freezing, the facilities are pretty basic, and if the road is icy we can't cope with the steep hills on the road. Not with my crap car at least. But, it always ends up being a wonderful visit. Dipped in the cold lake once at least, had a wonderful warm sauna in glowing fire light, the lake and sunsets were beautiful. And I saw for the first time northern lights! Amazing that I have not succeeded in seeing them before, but for some reason not.
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October 2023, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake)

Screaming Underground
I've been here many times before, but doing it with my friends this time made me realize an annoying thing. We visited the Itäkeskus swimming hall, a wonderful underground creation. But... one of the nicest pools in a rock-dug hole was painful when kids were screaming at the full power of their lungs. And it is a massive echo chamber. In fact, the entire swimming hall is quite bad at acoustics; hard surfaces for the sounds to bounce off.
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September 2023, Itäkeskuksen uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)

A Finnish Caving Buffet
If your caving friend was coming over for a weekend, what would you show about the Finnish caving scene? Here's our menu for a caving buffet, covering everything from ice saunas to block caves to cracks in granite, mines, limestone caves, to salmon meals to ... did I already mention saunas? Not to forget Sibelius for dessert!
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September 2023, Viking Glory, Stockholm, Sweden; Luolavuoren luola, Turku, Finland; Rotkoluola, Kaarina, Finland; Itäkeskuksen uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland; House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland; Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland; Korkbergetin lohkareluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Hvitträsk cliff, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Steam, Other); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders, Equipment); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Equipment); Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Travel; Caving (Basic, , Rock, Equipment, Morphology-Erosion); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites)

Viking Ice
Wow, I had been here before but ... did not see this coming! There's also an ice room in the Viking Glory spa department. Nice! A real sauna (actually, one joint and two separated), a steam sauna (joint) and then the ice room!
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September 2023, Viking Glory, Stockholm, Sweden
Sauna (Normal, Steam, Other)

Grani Igen
Such bliss. A quiet swimming pool, almost an empty sauna and showers... now we are visiting the Kauniainen (Grani) swimming hall. It is one of the oldest and most basic swimming halls in the areas around Helsinki. And it may be torn down; but for now it means low prices, quietness, and space.
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September 2023, Kauniaisten uimahalli, Kauniainen, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

More Husbyfun Husbybadet
While skiing in Husby, I saw something which I wanted to return to: Husbybadet, the local community swimming hall.
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September 2023, Husbybadet, Husby, Stockholm, Sweden
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Mine sauna
I've been here before, but it is always refreshing: the Tytyri kaivos keeps having less miners but more and more tourists and elevator researchers. This time we found a treasure: a sauna in the depths of the mine, on level 80.
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September 2023, Tytyrin kaivos, Lohja, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Urban-Exploration (Mines)

Hotel Mariasteinerhof saunas
Mariastein is a small village near the highway leading from Innsbruck to Munich. It is centrally located for excursions to the Austrian alpine resorts, e.g., one hour away from the end of the Zillertal valley and the Hintertux summer ski center. One of the nice hotels in Mariastein is the Mariasteinerhof. They have four saunas in their spa section, two Finnish saunas, one steam room, and one infrared sauna. Nice!
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September 2023, Hotel Mariasteinerhof, Mariastein, Austria
Sauna (Normal, Steam, Infrared)

Särkijärvi Sauna
Särkijärven Majat is a small collection of villages in Särkijärvi, unsurprisingly by the lake Särkijärvi :-) We stayed there on our way to the Käsivarsi wilderness high up north.
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August 2023, Särkijärven Majat, Muonio, Finland
Sauna (Normal)

Hospitz sauna and beach
You have to agree that the name is weird, but regardless of that, Hotel Hospitz is a nice boutique hotel in Savonlinna's city center. It is small, just few rooms in two floors. But it has a bookable sauna in the basement, with direct access to the beach in front. Such a nice swim!
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August 2023, Hotelli Hospitz, Savonlinna, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)

This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, and set 10.