When I travel, I try to find places where I can go to a sauna. It relaxes me... Last week I was in Seoul, South Korea, staying at the Conrad. This new hotel has a very nice gym & pool & spa area on the 8th floor. The pool is free of use for hotel guests, but the sauna costs 39,000 local (about 35€) to use. Nevertheless, I needed the relaxation. Badly.
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November 2016, Seoul, South Korea
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
Another visit to a sauna in foreign land! This time in 杭州市 or Hangzhou, China! The sauna was in the Courtyard Marriott hotel that I stayed at. A bit dark and basic, but still large, and most importantly, the temperature was high enough and you were allowed to pour water to the heater!
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October 2016, Courtyard Marriott, Hangzhou, China
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
I wanted go far this summer, ski the untried countries. But it was not to be, because work. And because Peru was cancelled.
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August 2016, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Hiking; Travel; Sauna (Normal)
As a saunablogger, I had to report that I've been to sauna in a new city: Shenzhen, China. The sauna was in the Pavillion hotel. Not a great sauna, but I'm glad I went anyway. Turning on the temp setting made the experience better.
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August 2016, Hotel Pavillion, Shenzhen, China
Travel; Sauna (Normal)
It is late May, and Saint-Sauveur is one of the only two open ski areas in the east. And I've already been to the other one, Killington. And what's more, all the ski crazies are here!
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May 2016, Mont Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, Canada
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal)
You have to take six lifts to get to the top. And we were late, because travel. But it turns out you can also stay late. By the time we started our final 2km vertical descent, it was already dark.
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December 2015, Engelberg, Switzerland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic); Sauna (Normal)
There are usually no great views from caves, at least not of the sunset. Except at Rokokallio.
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December 2015, Päällysluola, Rokokallio, Vihti, Finland; Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic); Sauna (Smoke); Swimming (Ice, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)
This is how we do ski lifts in Finland. I wanted to give you a taste of one round of the 24-hour ski competition in Ylläs, Finland. As if doing 30+ miles of vertical in one day wouldn't be enough.
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April 2015, Ylläs, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal)
My kids follow me on some of my trips. Not only to enjoy the great skiing, but also to learn about culture. For instance, where else would my sons learn about der Sauna, except by going to the Freizeitcentrum im Stubai, Austria?
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January 2015, Stubaital, Austria; Eisgrotte Stubaier Gletscher, Stubai, Austria; Schlick 2000, Austria; Patschkofel, Austria; Freizeitcentrum im Stubai, Stubai, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Caving (Glacier, Basic, Showtour); Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
Smoke sauna for 45 people, with a small waterfall and a warm pool, all inside. Takes three days to heat up. This is possibly one of the greatest sauna experiences I've had.
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October 2014, Storfinnhovan savusauna, Björkboda, Finland
Sauna (Smoke)
The sun is still bright, but the environment is getting strange. Fog is engulfing us. Plants are starting to look pre-historic. And I'm hanging from a 100 meter rope, above the Lost World, a cave system in Waitomo, New Zealand. And it is starting to look like my landing spot is in the river at the bottom of the cave.
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August 2014, Waitomo, New Zealand
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, SRT); Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
A few free hours appeared in my schedule, so I wanted to become a tourist. And do all the usual things tourists do here in Beijing. Like going to the sauna or skiing.
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September 2013, Qiaobo, Beijing, China
Skiing (Indoor, Snow); Sauna (Normal)
The girl at the sheep farm gate is from Qatar. Most tourists here seemed to be from Middle East, so I ask her why she had come to Austria: "Because it is so cool, and the weather is nice." We are standing in cold rain, but I guess she prefers a change to the weather at home. But come to think of it, I too prefer cold and rainy.
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July 2013, Kaprun, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
It is mid April and the sun is shining. Is there still some snow left somewhere? There is, at Aland! The Aland islands between Sweden and Finland are known for their sunny summers and flat landscape. I took a boat there to investigate if there'd be any skiing.
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April 2013, Germundo Alpin, Aland, Finland; Hotel Savoy, Maarianhamina, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal)
I always wanted to ski on yellow snow. Well, not really. But it always seemed that those fun half pipes were forbidden for skiers, so I was glad to find an empty half pipe in Tahko last Sunday. With no one to tell me that skiers were not welcome. Even if it was a yellow half pipe.
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April 2013, Tahko, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal)
Gotta love the French. Masters of bureaucratic directives. Or circumventing them. Take heliski, for instance. Heliski is illegal in France. But here we are, spending a day with skis and helicopters. For only 60€, to boot. It turns out that it is illegal to use a helicopter to take us to a mountain. But there is nothing that prevents using one take us from a mountain.
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February 2013, Alpe d'Huez, France
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts, Heli, Car); Sauna (Normal); Flying