Welcome to the Planetswimmer blog! Stories from swimming indoors and outdoors, from ice swimming to tropical beaches. Not to mention hotel pools! The Planetswimmer has explored beaches and pools in 36 countries, in a total of 212 places. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.
The Planetswimmer 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 saunas.
All swimming-related articles:
| Swims and saunas in Ulaanbaatar I was in Ulaanbaatar for skiing and caving, but of course I also had to visit the local saunas and pools. I stayed at the Best Western Tuushin hotel and their spa had a sauna. And possibly the best hotel in town, the Shangri-La, has an entire sports club with 25 meter pool, saunas, etc. Full story February 2025, Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Shangri-La Centre Sports Club, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal) | |
| Matinkylä saunakontti want Showed the Matinkylä beach to a friend, have not been here during the winter before this. It was a dark night, but people were using the ice swimming hut, which looked funny when the hut made of white plastic was lit up from the inside, and they descended the stairs to the water. The use of the hut is free, same for the changing rooms. However, there's also a "sauna container" (saunakontti in Finnish) where you get your sauna fix, or recover from hypothermia :-) Full story January 2025, Matinkylän uimaranta, Matinkylä, Espoo, Finland; Matinkylän saunakontti, Matinkylä, Espoo, Finland Swimming (None, Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Beach); Sauna (None, Normal) | |
| Porvoo swimming hall Today I wanted to try a new swimming hall, and ended up driving all the way to Porvoo, an hour away from where I live. Porvoo is of course a wonderful historic city with wooden houses alongside the river banks. Their swimming hall was constructed in the 1970s probably, but then more recently expanded. Full story January 2025, Porvoon uimahalli, Porvoo, Finland Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam) | |
| Elite school swimming hall Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu or SYK is an elite school, known for the highest grades their students get. But, they also serve the broader public with their open-for-everyone swimming hall. I actually had not realized I was still missing visits to some public swimming pools in Helsinki, but I was. Full story January 2025, Suomalaisen Yhteiskoulun uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| Back in my swim school, after 48 years When I was in elementary school, our class would get swimming lessons by taking a bus to the Tikkurila swimming hall, a dome construction from 1968 and Finland's first 50-meter indoor swimming pool. Besides that pool, there's a teaching pool and a jumping platforms up to 10 meters. Three saunas at least on the men's side. The hall has been renovated multiple times, but the basics have not changed, exactly same layout and no new fancy pools or saunas for instance. Full story January 2025, Tikkurilan uimahalli, Tikkurila, Vantaa, Finland Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal) | |
| Thermal spa and sauna in Andorra I've been to Andorra couple of times before, but never had the opportunity to visit a sauna or do a swim. Now I did! Hotel Spa Termes Carlemany provided both! They are situated in an area of Andorra la Vella, by the river, where there's 72 degree water flowing from the ground. The water is also used to run interest pipe displays and art work. Full story December 2024, Hotel Spa Termes Carlemany, Andorra La Vella, Andorra Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor) | |
| Hotel Ramonda pools and saunas Hotel Ramonda (Хотел Рамонда, Ртањ) is named according to a flower that only grows on the mountain it is on, the Rtanj mountain in eastern Serbia. It is a luxury hotel that started out five years ago and has recently expanded with even more rooms and pools and saunas. It has outdoor and indoor pools and several different saunas. Full story December 2024, Hotel Ramonda, Rtanj, Serbia Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| Barcelona Beach Dip Just what the doctor ordered for the darkest day of the year, December 21st. We saw amazing, mind-blowing things (such as Gaudi's creations) during the day, but still.. what felt best was walking barefoot on beach sand, feeling the sunshine and wind on my skin, and dipping my feet into the sea. Full story December 2024, Nova Icaria Beach, Barcelona, Spain Swimming (Beach, Waterbody-Sea) | |
| Bogovina Cave The Bogovina cave is a karst/river cave in the village of Bogovina in eastern Serbia. In local alphabet the name of the cave is Боговинска пећина. The cave is (depending on source) 5020 or 5892 meters long, up until few years ago it was Serbia's longest cave. It is a show cave, that is you can't enter on your own but need to arrange the local tourist office to give you a tour. The show cave part is half a kilometer long, consisting first from an excavated tunnel and then the cave proper. The stalactite formations in the cave are wonderful, but at the end in the Hajduk hall they are especially spectacular. Full story December 2024, Bogovina Cave, Bogovina, Serbia Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Showtour); Swimming (Indoor) | |
| 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! Full story November 2024, The Spencer Health Club, Dublin, Ireland Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| 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! Full story 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 | |
| Hotel Beach Komiža is the exclusive, still largely authentic fishing village on the Vis island on Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast. There's multiple beaches, and my favorite is the Lucica Beach. But the one near Hotel Bisevo, Gusarica Beach is also nice! It is larger, and more popular. I usually call it the hotel beach. Full story August 2024, Gusarica beach, Komiža, Croatia Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Beach) | |
| 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! Full story August 2024, Suomenlinnan vierasvenesatama, Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland Travel; Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea) | |
| Beach cave tunnels at the Srebrna Beach The Srebrna Beach is a popular, rocky beach in the limestone layer of on the south side of the Vis island in Croatia. Beach caves are a very frequent occurrence on Croatia's coast, but for me - coming from a cave-poor country - they are always a wonder. There's a very nice straight, tunnel-like beach cave on the left side of the Srebrna beach. Full story August 2024, Srebrna beach mini cave, Srebrna, Croatia; Srebrna beach cave, Srebrna, Croatia; Srebrna beach, Srebrna, Croatia Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Erosion); Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Erosion); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Beach) | |
| Vis Swim Vis has a wonderful swimming area. Or several, but the one I like is across the road in front of the Issa hotel. There's a sandy/pebble beach further towards the city, and here there are only concrete piers and then bigger rocks under the water. But what a wonderful view, and most importantly, wonderful shade from the pine trees! Full story August 2024, Hotel Issa Beach, Vis, Croatia Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Outdoor) | |
| The Secret Beach in Komiža I have been here before, but then the tide and my clothes were not suitable for exploring. Now they were! I also did not understand the naming the beaches I was at, but I do now. The cave I'm looking at is at the Dog Beach, literally the beach that the dogs (and people) can swim at. A bit further out from the Dog Beach there's the Kamenice Beach, also called the Camp Beach due to the nearby low-cost but forbidden accommodation option :-) Both beaches can be accessed easily with chairs, have a bar, etc. However, between them there's the Secret Beach. To get there you have to go through a cave and climb, wall across a part of the sea that is only passable easily during low tide (picture above), or straight out swim. Full story August 2024, Dog Beach, Komiza, Croatia; Kamenice Beach, Komiza, Croatia; Secret Beach, Komiza, Croatia Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Beach); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Beach); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea) | |
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, set 13, set 14, and set 15.