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 37 countries, in a total of 135 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:

Ireland sauna and swimming experience
I was in Dublin for a conference, pretty tight agenda but I did manage to do a cave hike on one morning. And visit a local spa for a quick swim and sauna on the last evening!
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November 2024, The Spencer Health Club, Dublin, Ireland
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Sauna, snow, and departure
Trip to the IETF conference in Dublin started. But it feels like I’m going in the wrong direction when after a long warm spell it just now started snowing .. fortunately bumped to old friends at the airport. And managed to squeeze in a traditional stop at the airport sauna on the way in, too :-)
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November 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Flying

Day trip to Levi
Did a day trip yesterday to Levi for October turns. Levi and Ruka are the only open ski resorts in Finland. Icy experience on the slopes, but glad I went!
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October 2024, Levi, Kittilä, Finland; Levi Hotel, Kittilä, Finland; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Rovaniemi Airport, Rovaniemi, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal); Flying; Travel

Night sail
Had a fun event at work today, a picnic in Suomenlinna (the fortress island in front of Helsinki). But a friend from work invited us to join the trip by a sail boat. Nice!
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August 2024, Suomenlinnan vierasvenesatama, Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland
Travel; Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea)

Sauna in Hotel Merihovi
Kemi. Never been, but what a nice surprise! Nice, walkable center, boat harbors, nice restaurants, ... and a nice historic hotel, the Hotel Merihovi. We visited the sauna upon arrival, having been in the outback for a week by this time :-)
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August 2024, Hotel Merihovi, Kemi, Finland
Sauna (Normal)

Rantasauna
Rantasauna is a legendary party place in Otaniemi, in the student village of the Helsinki University of Technology (now called Aalto University).
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June 2024, Rantasauna, Otaniemi Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea); Sauna (Normal)

First mökki-swim in 2024... driving on a Jaguar
Too busy, and now without a car I have not been able to visit the summer cottage this year at all. Sigh. But now my car repair shop nicely loaned me a four-liter green '99 Jaguar for the weekend. Very nice! And a fun car to drive. And it was such a bliss to drop into the lake after visiting the sauna. The water was warmer than it probably has ever been on June 1st...
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June 2024, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Car; Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake)

Excursion to Myyrmäki
A Friday evening excursion to Myyrmäki, a suburb in Vantaa! I went for a swim in Myyrmäki's community swimming hall, but it was of course also an opportunity to do more sightseeing in the nice weather. And ride more trains... given that my car is broken.
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June 2024, Myyrmäen uimahalli, Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Hotel Vema Spa
Hotel Vema is a brand new hotel in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Visoko is a small town near Sarajevo, maybe a 20 minute drive away. It is perhaps best know for the Bosnian pyramids, pyramid shape mountains that some claim actually are ancient pyramids. More on that story later... but for now, we will focus on this wonderful hotel!
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May 2024, Hotel Vema, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Urheiluhallit kallio
My first time visiting the Kallie swimming pools. Very nice!
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May 2024, Urheiluhallit Kallio, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Sveitsin uimala - Switzerland swimming in Hyvinkää
After my visit to Usmi, I felt like I *really* needed to have a shower. And a sauna and swim would be a bonus. Fortunately, Hyvinkää's Sveitsin Uimala was nearby. Very, very nice. Indoor and outdoor pools (from June 1st), multiple pools, very nice saunas, clean, and at a nice pine forest area on top of the hill.
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May 2024, Sveitsin uimala, Hyvinkää, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Swim in the Tammisaari swimming hall
I visited Tammisaari on a Friday evening, after a tough work week. It was sunny... my crappy car was still kind of running (but few weeks left), and the swimming hall, the Tammisaari beaches, and Tammisaari in general were just wonderful.
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May 2024, Tammisaaren uimahalli, Raasepori, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam)

Järvenpää and Nurmijärvi swims
Like skiing or sex, they are always at least good, sometimes great :-) While looking for spare parts for my car, I managed to also stop at the Järvenpää and Nurmijärvi swimming halls. Very nice, both of them. But I was particularly struck how nice Nurmijärvi's hall was. Or Rajamäki's hall rather, Rajamäki belongs to Nurmijärvi, and is also famous for their alcohol production.
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May 2024, Rajamäen uimahalli, Nurmijärvi, Finland; Järvenpään uimahalli, Järvenpää, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Back in the K.O.R.S.O.
Me: "Last time I was here was 35 years ago." Receptionist: "Not much has changed since then.". But, Korso's swimming hall still rocks. Small but functional.
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April 2024, Korson uimahalli, Korso, Vantaa, Finland; Korson siirtolohkareen luolanen, Korso, Vantaa, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Boulders, Rock-Gneiss)

Omorika - swimming in the old Yugoslavia army hotel
This really is an experience. An old Yugoslavia army hotel, now a tourist destination? Omorika sits in the Tara mountains in southeastern Serbia, close to the Bosnian border. The architecture is just right, it does say Yugoslavia. While the all-inclusive model in an affordable hotel may not be to everyone's tastes, it was quite reasonable experience, fish for dinner, etc. And the saunas and pools were good, even if the other facilities were a bit 1960s...
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April 2024, Hotel Omorika, Planina Tara, Kremna, Serbia
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Hot in HEL
Go against the flow - from HEL to SIN this time. On my way to the IETF meeting in Brisbane. First row seat on this first leg at the appropriately hot lounge in HEL.
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March 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Flying

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, and set 11.