By now, it is VERY hard to find swimming places under two hours driving distance from me. But now I found one, in Töölo, in the city center of Helsinki!
There was a a spa in Aulanko, 90 minutes away, but they are being renovated now. There's something in the archipelago near Turku... but over two hours away.
But, there are several hotels with swimming pools or even spas in the Helsinki area. Typically they require staying at the hotel, but I found Crowne Plaza in Helsinki. They have a commercial gym, saunas, and a nice pool in Töölö, right in the city center of Helsinki. Open for hotel guests, gym members, and visitors!
As a first time visitor I even got a great first timer deal, 3€ in! Later I could choose a 15€ per time visit, 20€ weekly card, or a full membership. Nice.
The pool had a very nice feel to it, really liked the looks. Dressing rooms were ok, sauna (one per side) was good, showers were good, but the pool was indeed spectacular. Not your usual white, depressing tiles. It was a bit hard to determine the length of the pool, it felt like fifteen meters, reception wasn't sure but said 13.5 meters, and the Internet did not have an answer. Still did more than 500 meters on it, with very little other guests this was quite easy. The other end of the pool was 1.8 meters, the shallower end just 1.0 meters. The latter was not great but was still ok.
Overall the gym also looked nice, though I only peeked at it briefly.
Links: Crown Plaza hotel and Forever gym chain.
The hotel building:
Sign outside the house:
Reception:
Stairs to the gym:
Entrance:
For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and
This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
"Mongolia is kind of close, right? Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel." The Planetskier blog focuses on skiing, caving, climbing, biking, flying, sauna, and swimming adventures around the world. See the other Planetskier blog articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.