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 41 countries, in a total of 165 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:
| It is the Hype season While all the community swimming pools seem to be closed during the summer, I realized that the parking-garage looking building on my way to work is actually a multi-function place, with not just parking but also an ice hockey arena, gym, cafeterias, nightclubs and restaurants... and a rooftop saunas and a pool. Very, very nice experience. Loved the sauna with a view. Full story July 2025, Hype Hybridiareena, Espoo, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal) | |
| Martinlaakso swim Another swimming hall visit! This time in Martinlaakso, a suburb of Vantaa. They have a nice swimming hall, and at least now in the summer it seemed almost completely empty. But open, unlike most of the other community swimming halls sigh... Full story July 2025, Martinlaakson uimahalli, Vantaa, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| Throwing water to the stove in the sauna A common sauna discussion is the one about the effect of throwing water on the sauna stove, and how it affects the temperature in the sauna: whether it just feels hotter due to the humidity, or if the temperature actually rises? Full story July 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake) | |
| Metropolitan Sport Club & Spa in Madrid's Eurobuilding While at a conference in Madrid, I stayed at the NH Collection hotel in the Eurobuilding. This hotel has a spa and gym. While it was separately paid and not inexpensive (30€), it was a quite nice for a hotel spa! Nice big Finnish sauna, a Turkish sauna, ice bucket, multiple pools, etc. The main pool was maybe 15 meters long and narrow, just enough space for 2-3 at the same time. But very much enjoyed this visit! Full story July 2025, Metropolitan Sport Club and Spa, Eurobuilding, Madrid, Spain Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| Norway swim fail Having hiked, caved, and skied I was ... not ready to sit in a packed airplane. A swim or at least a sauna would be so good! Initially, it looked like it would be possible in Norway's many swimming halls. But none of them turned out to be actually open, or open to public at all. Nor did the airport hotel let anyone except guests in their gym that would have had a sauna. Sigh. Full story July 2025, Fjellhamar arena, Oslo, Norway Swimming (None); Sauna (None) | |
| Midnight swim at the cottage Arrived late from Madrid. And not only that, but the car's ventilation was broken, so drove to the cottage only late in the evening. Arrived shortly after 11pm, and did a swim at midnight. Such bliss, water was very warm but still cooled us down a bit, everything was quiet, the darkness had set in, lake had no waves. Nice! Full story July 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake) | |
| Ice bears from the streets of Helsinki rescue my ski trip! Ski trip in the surroundings of Kista is going badly. Can’t find open skating rinks or their excess snow piles. And I dragged my mini-skis all the way to Sweden for this! Sigh. But, as you know we have ice bears walking on the streets of Helsinki... and they bring the cold, good stuff. Full story June 2025, Ritorps ishall, Ulriksdahls idrottsplats, Solna, Sweden; Medley Solna Simhall, Ulriksdahls idrottsplats, Solna, Sweden; Myyrmäen jäähalli, Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland Skiing (None); Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts) | |
| Just a hole in a wall - Toravuori I was driving back from a very nice midsummer visit to a friend's cottage when I spotted a grand, 20+ meter cliff by the roadside. I had seen this before, but never had an opportunity to stop. But now I had to, because there was a hole on the middle of the wall, staring me in the eye :-) The question was though if I could get to it without climbing equipment. It turned out that a steep ledge was leading up to it, not great and not for wet weather, but still climbable carefully. So I got to the hole! It turned out to be a pretty small though, maybe 3 meters long. Still something, but as a too short cave I had to return it back to the nature :-) Full story June 2025, Toravuoren kolo, Salo, Finland; Kuharanta, Perniö, Finland Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Crack); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal) | |
| Green weekend at the cottage Early June is a perfect time to enjoy the Finnish summer. The nature is so nicely light green at this time of the year. We visited our summer cottage in Teisko, including of course plenty of stops at the sauna and the lake. Summer 💚 Full story June 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake) | |
| Vatnahalsen sauna Vatnahalsen Høyfjellshotell is a hotel on a lonely mountaintop, on the Flåm railway line between Myrdal and Flåm. This railway line is "considered one of the world’s best train journeys". It is indeed spectacular, going through mountains and running on the sides of beautiful, untouched valleys and high plains. And the hotel is a convenient place to stay along the route, if you don't want to stay in Flåm which has more services and hotels. In Vatnahalsen there's nothing except this one hotel, mountain views... also a zip line down to the valley, length 1380 meters :-) And there's s sauna. Full story June 2025, Vatnahalsen Høyfjellshotell, Myrdal, Norway Sauna (Normal) | |
| Hamburger Börs sauna - the experience in the classic hotel in Turku Hamburger Börs is a classic hotel in Turku, dating back to 1894. Rebuilt and mostly a new building around the old one nowadays though. Visited the hotel while I was in Turku for the caving association meetup and scanning the Luolavuori cave. Of course I had to try the sauna in the hotel, as well. Very nice. Full story June 2025, Hotelli Hamburger Börs, Turku, Finland Sauna (Normal) | |
| Espoonlahti on my mind ... or at least the Espoonlahti swimming hall :-) Full story June 2025, Espoonlahden uimahalli, Espoo, Finland Swimming (Outdoor, Water); Sauna (Normal) | |
| Flåm bunkers and caves While in Flåm (see separate articles about Vatnahalsen and the train journey), I noticed that there are some interesting places near the Flåm harbor. Today, the harbor is visited by massive cruise ships that flood the little town with tourists, but it is an old harbor and has seen a lot of history. Full story June 2025, Flåm bunker, Flåm, Norway; Flåm dynamite cellar, Flåm, Norway; Flåm harbour boulder cave, Flåm, Norway; Floating fjord sauna, Flåm, Norway Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Boulders); Sauna (Normal, None) | |
| Mini-vacation in Forssa Can I have an evening mini-vacation, swimming in the waves? Yes I can! Just drive to Forssa (only 104 km away from home) and enjoy the wave machine at the Vesihelmi spa. Full story May 2025, Vesihelmi, Forssa, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal, Steam) | |
| Tampere swims I did my first proper visit to the summer cottage in early May, did a quick dip to the lake from the cottage sauna, but a more proper swim was on the way to the cottage in Tampere, at the Tesoma swimming hall. This is a small swimming hall, but quite a positive surprise. Five pools, including a cold dip pool and a jumping platform pool that doubles as a warm therapy pool. Nice. Full story May 2025, Tesoman uimahalli, Tampere, Finland; Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland; Tesoman jäähalli, Tampere, Finland Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake); Sauna (Normal); Skiing (None) | |
| May turns on the melting slope May ski turns on the melting local ski hill, some snow still left despite the early spring. Also a visit to the smoke saunas in Kuusijärvi that were empty due to the May Day. Full story May 2025, Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, Finland Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Smoke); Swimming (Waterbody-Lake) | |
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, set 10, set 11, set 12, and set 13.