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!
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July 2025, Metropolitan Sport Club and Spa, Eurobuilding, Madrid, Spain
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
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.
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July 2025, Fjellhamar arena, Oslo, Norway
Swimming (None); Sauna (None)
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!
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July 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake)
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.
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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)
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 :-)
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June 2025, Toravuoren kolo, Salo, Finland; Kuharanta, Perniö, Finland
Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Crack); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal)
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 💚
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June 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake)
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.
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June 2025, Vatnahalsen Høyfjellshotell, Myrdal, Norway
Sauna (Normal)
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.
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June 2025, Hotelli Hamburger Börs, Turku, Finland
Sauna (Normal)
... or at least the Espoonlahti swimming hall :-)
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June 2025, Espoonlahden uimahalli, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Outdoor, Water); Sauna (Normal)
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.
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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)
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.
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May 2025, Vesihelmi, Forssa, Finland
Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal, Steam)
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.
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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 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.
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May 2025, Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Smoke); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake)
Thermae Grimbergen is in the outskirts of Brussels, I chose it as an affordable hotel for my business trip. The Thermae looked like a regular hotel, and a small spa, split among multiple buildings. The entrance to the spa was downstairs past the reception in the main buildimng, and I expected a usual basement spa experience. But, it turned out that the buildings were just a front to what was hidden behind: a lush garden with a pond, more than a dozen different saunas and endless relaxation spaces. You wouldn't think the city exists outside the garden.
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April 2025, Thermae Grimbergen, Grimbergen, Belgium
Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool, Waterbody-Lake); Sauna (Steam, Normal, Infrared)
Saw this on lake Annecy, at the spa "Eugénie Spa" in Talloires-Montmin on Lac d'Annecy. Nice location, and I don't usually like barrel saunas but I would like to try this one with the glass bubble on the business end!
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April 2025, Eugénie Spa, Talloires-Montmin, France
Sauna (None)
Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere. I was told there was a swimming hall here, an underground one. Usually there'd be some signs but now I see nothing, at least not at the parking lot. But the map points to the yard of the nearby apartment block, so after walking just 50 meters I see the entrance, a small concrete building is the only thing that sticks out above ground.
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April 2025, Hervannan uimahalli, Hervanta, Tampere, Finland
Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)