After the Ylläs competition, I first had a quick shower and sauna at the Pöllö next to the slopes. But since I had a long wait for my flight, I wanted to visit a proper spa. I had not been in the Levi Hotel Spa near the airport in a long time, so time for that today!
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April 2019, Levi Hotel, Kittilä, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
Abandoned fish factory in the cold winter of Icelandic north shores. But with a hot thermal bath! What's better than lying in the pool and trying to spot whales on the sea? For 4€...
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March 2019, Hjalteyri, Iceland
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Thermal-Bath, Waterbody-Pool)
For afterski, I felt like I needed a shower. But maybe not just that... perhaps a sauna, or a dip into a pool. How about the divine thermal bath waters of Zámecké Lázně in the nearby Karlovy Vary?
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March 2019, Zámecké Lázně, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool, Thermal-Bath)
While at Gudauri, we stayed at the Marco Polo hotel. The hotel has a spa, with a small sauna, pool, and a jacuzzi. The sauna is small but fiery. It was also fun to meet Russians who wanted to talk about the infamous (and sadly, deadly) Finnish-Russian sauna world championships...
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February 2019, Hotel Marco Polo, Gudauri, Georgia
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
Amazing! The Laugaskard swimming pool is a community-run, swimming pool, gym, and sauna facility. What a wonderful, hot swim outside in the cold weather.
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February 2019, Laugaskard swimming pool, Laugaskard, Iceland
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Steam)
I had an opportunity to swim twice this week. At a spa in the Tokyo evening, the water was so hot that my skin was hurting. And having come back home, I joined my colleagues for a visit at the Löyly in Helsinki. The water in the sea was ... also hurting my skin. But, on the average is was pretty nice temperatures. And in both places the views were great.
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January 2019, Hilton Tokyo Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan; Löyly, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor); Swimming (Outdoor); Sauna (Normal); Sauna (Normal, Smoke)
What a wonderful sauna. So Finnish... or so Belarussian... or, really, Russian. The Russian sauna culture is similar to Finland's, except only more so. More hot, close to 110 degrees Celsius in my case. More snowplay. More cold water. More funny hats. Maybe also more vodka.
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January 2019, Silichy, Belarus
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
The Löyly sauna & restaurant in Helsinki has been the most notable architecture and experience thing of recent years in Helsinki. I've been there, but not yet in the sauna side. Today it changed because my co-workers organized a very nice event there for our surfing club...
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January 2019, Löyly, Helsinki, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Smoke); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Ice, Waterbody-Sea)
Huh, pretty hot weather. And hot sauna. Burning in both, almost. And thick carpets in the sauna! But what a view over the sea, Tokyo downtown, and the rainbow bridge.
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January 2019, Hilton Tokyo Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
I often go to various exotic saunas and swimming pools (or holes in ice), but I have to lift up also my home town swimming hall in Kauniainen. Small, old, and not particularly fancy. But, a very nice place to put in some laps.
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December 2018, Kauniaisten uimahalli, Kauniainen, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
No car, no skilift, no problem! My car is broken, but fortunately, since I live in the world's happiest town, I can walk to the ski hill, ski down to the bus stop, take the public transport to the public swimming pool, and lock my skis in the bike rack. And return by train.
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December 2018, Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Keski-Espoon Uimahalli, Espoo, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor)
An infrared sauna in the middle of the living room? What an idea!
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November 2018, Cordial Golf and Wellness Hotel Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel, Austria
Sauna (Infrared); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
I may have stayed too much inside, do I need some sunshine? My hotel in Bangkok, the Hilton Sukhumvit, had a nice pool and pool bar at the 26th floor.
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November 2018, Hilton Sukhumvit Bangkok, Sukhumvit, Bangkok, Thailand
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
I also had to test the sauna at my meeting hotel, the Marriott Marquis Queen's Park Bangkok.
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November 2018, Marriott Marquis Queen's Park, Bangkok, Thailand
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
I was on a business trip in Harbin, China, at a decent hotel, the Songbei Shangri-La. It turned out that they had a VERY nice pool and sauna area.
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September 2018, Songbei Shangri-La, Harbin, China
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
Had a nice swim in Austria's Attersee when driving past the area. Water temperature was just right, cooling me down on a hot day.
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August 2018, Attersee am Attersee, Attersee, Austria
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)