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 38 countries, in a total of 239 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:
| Rimini and Saint-Tropez swim ... on the same day, in Serbia :-) Full story August 2025, Srebrno Jezero beach, Veliko Gradište, Serbia Swimming (Waterbody-Lake, Beach) | |
| Swimming prohibition I've been in a medical procedure, as a time slot opened in my hospital for an operation that I've been waiting for. This lead me interrupting a vacation and flying back to Finland, some great care in the Meilahti hospital, some sick leave, and hopefully getting improved health as a result. But it also led to a temporary prohibition for swimming and saunas, and heavy exercise. Fortunately I can still soak my feet in the pleasant waters of the Bodom lake, in Oittaa. Full story August 2025, Oittaan uimaranta, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland Swimming (None, Waterbody-Lake, Beach, Outdoor) | |
| Ski, swim, and fly in one day Myyrmäki, Pornainen and Helsinki-Vantaa An active day, for sure. I needed to fly out today, but before that I wanted to get my August ski turns in the massive snow mountains of Myyrmäki's ice skating hall (picture above), visit my mom, and do a quick swim at a swimming place near her in Pornainen's Hietasen uimaranta (Hietasen's beach) in Vähä-Laukkokoski. A nice package for the day! The skating hall was open and there was a pile of snow, saw my mom, visited the beach with warm water and sunshine and no one else around, and had a pleasant flying experience in the air and at the airports. Full story August 2025, Myyrmäen jäähalli, Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland; Hietasen uimaranta, Vähä-Laukkokoski, Pornainen, Finland; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Split Airport, Split, Croatia Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake, Beach); Flying | |
| The 2M€ smoke saunas 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. Full story August 2025, Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, Finland Sauna (Smoke); Swimming (Waterbody-Lake, Beach) | |
| Vršac castle and the Helvecija 1880 spa 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. Full story August 2025, Vršac castle, Vršac, Serbia; Helvecija 1880, Vršac, Serbia Urban-Exploration (Historic, Castles, Ruins); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam) | |
| Green Cave A hole in the sky. Or in the roof, rather. This is what has given this cave its name, Zelena Špilja or in English the Green Cave. At noon, sun will shine through this small hole down to the water in the sea cave, and combined with the sea weed at the bottom of the water, a green light is created. I'm here though in the evening, but the cave is still spectacular! Full story August 2025, Zelena Špilja, Griže, Ravnik, Croatia; Unnamed beach cave 1, Podhumlje, Vis, Croatia; Unnamed beach cave 2, Podhumlje, Vis, Croatia; Zaglav, Vis, Croatia; Milna, Vis, Croatia; Budikovac beach, Podstražje, Otok Veli Budikovac, Croatia Caving (Rock, Swimming, Morphology-Erosion); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea); Caving (Rock, Boating, Morphology-Erosion); Caving (None, Rock, Morphology-Erosion); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Beach); Swimming (None, Waterbody-Sea, Beach) | |
| Saarijärvi swim My son took me to a place that he had scouted earlier. A remote lake, rocky peninsulas, crystal clear water. The day was also warm, sunny, and the water pleasant... can't get better than this. Saarijärvi! Full story July 2025, Saarijärven niemi, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland; Saarijärven uimaranta, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Lake); Hiking; Swimming (None, Waterbody-Lake, Beach) | |
| It is the Hype season 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. Full story July 2025, Hype Hybridiareena, Espoo, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal) | |
| Martinlaakso swim 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... Full story July 2025, Martinlaakson uimahalli, Vantaa, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| Throwing water to the stove in the sauna 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? Full story July 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake) | |
| Metropolitan Sport Club & Spa in Madrid's Eurobuilding 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! Full story July 2025, Metropolitan Sport Club and Spa, Eurobuilding, Madrid, Spain Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool) | |
| Kivenlahti sea swim Around Kivenlahti there are a number of nice beaches to swim at, including Laurinlahti that I also recently visited. But this time I am at the Kivenlahti Beach, conveniently located just few hundred meters from the Hypeareena which has gyms, hockey arenas, saunas, and also pools. This time I did the gyms there and came to the beach for the swim. The Kivenlahti Beach is a really nice, secluded beach surrounded by the green nature. Much recommended! Full story July 2025, Kivenlahden uimaranta, Espoo, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Outdoor, Beach) | |
| Laurinlahti beach Stopped at yet another beach while driving back from home. Can't imagine I haven't been here before: Laurinlahden uimaranta (Lauri's bay beach). Very nice. Compact, clean, necessary facilities... nice water. Also good that they have a long pier to swim from, unless one wants to swim from the sand, like I did. Full story July 2025, Laurinlahden uimaranta, Espoo, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Beach, Outdoor) | |
| Norway swim fail 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. Full story July 2025, Fjellhamar arena, Oslo, Norway Swimming (None); Sauna (None) | |
| Deep lake rush hour Syväjärven uimaranta, Kirkkonummi. A beach on the "deep lake" (Syväjärvi). In reality the lake is pretty small though. I doubt about its deepness either. Anyway, with almost thirty degrees and one of the rare sunshine-filled days of the summer, everybody and their kids appear to be at the lake. So am I! Full story July 2025, Syväjärven uimaranta, Kirkkonummi, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Lake, Outdoor, Beach) | |
| Midnight swim at the cottage 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! Full story July 2025, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake) | |
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, set 15, set 16, and set 17.