Yesterday I sailed to a company event on my friends boat. The views going there in the morning and coming back in the night were wonderful. We also tested a secret sauna island far out south of Espoo.
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September 2025, Gåsgrund sauna, Gåsgrund, Espoo, Finland
Sailing; Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Beach, Outdoor)
Yet another swimming pool visit in nearby (max 1+ hour drive) swimming halls, as I've run out the ones closer. This time in Hämeenlinna. A large, quite nice swimming pool. The dressing room, shower, and saunas are really top notch. Really liked the glass walls in the saunas and the fact that they had not just a steam sauna but also an infrared sauna was really, really nice. Well done.
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September 2025, Hämeenlinnan uimahalli, Hämeenlinna, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Infrared, Steam)
These are challenging times, these are September times.
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September 2025, Ritorps ishall, Ulriksdahls idrottsplats, Solna, Sweden; Cyloq Arena, Sollentuna, Sweden; Medley Solna Simhall, Ulriksdahls idrottsplats, Solna, Sweden; Medley Sollentuna sim- och sporthall, Sollentuna, Sweden; Sundbybergs Simhall & Gym, Sundbyberg, Sweden; Arlanda, Sweden
Skiing (None); Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Hiking); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water, None); Sauna (Normal, None); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal); Flying
Given the loaner car I have this weekend... I can extend my driving range beyond towing distance. Hence a visit to Lahti, for a Sunday evening swim at the Saksala swimming hall.
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September 2025, Saksalan uimahalli, Lahti, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
Given that I still had the loaner car for an extra day, I felt it was an opportunity to use reliable transport now that it was available. I drove to Salo's swimming hall (link) after work. A long drive, hour and fifteen minutes, but a nice hall!
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September 2025, Salon uimahalli, Salo, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water); Sauna (Normal)
I continued my quest to swim in more places in the evenings after work. Inspired in part by having a reliable loaner car that can take me 100+ km away without a need to worry about breakdowns :-) But obviously mostly inspired by the desire to swim in more nice places.
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September 2025, Hotel Regatta Spa, Hanko, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam); Sauna (Infrared, None)
Vršac is a small city in northeastern Serbia, close to the Romanian border. The city has been built on the foothills of a striking hill, and on the top of the hill there's a castle dating back to 1439. It has been abandoned for centuries, but reconstruction started in 2009. The main tower of the castle is today in good condition, other parts remain as ruins.
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August 2025, Vršac castle, Vršac, Serbia; Helvecija 1880, Vršac, Serbia
Urban-Exploration (Historic, Castles, Ruins); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam)
Tested the new 2M€ smoke saunas in Kuusijärvi that were opened today. They were very, very nice. Didn’t know they were opened today, just happened to want a sauna visit and Kuusijärvi was on my route.
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August 2025, Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Smoke); Swimming (Waterbody-Lake, Beach, Outdoor)
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.
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July 2025, Hype Hybridiareena, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal)
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?
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July 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake)
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...
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July 2025, Martinlaakson uimahalli, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
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)
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)
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)
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)
... or at least the Espoonlahti swimming hall :-)
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June 2025, Espoonlahden uimahalli, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Outdoor, Water); Sauna (Normal)