PLANETSWIMMER

Welcome to the Planetswimmer blog! Stories from swimming indoors and outdoors, from ice swimming to tropical beaches. Not to mention hotel pools!

More swimming-related articles:

Lummelunda, here I come!
Lummelunda week is coming up AND I'M GOING AGAIN! WOOHOOO!
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May 2019, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Underground, Waterbody-Cave)

Hot Lake
While driving around a bit after the meeting ended that day, I came across a modest looking community swimming pool in Laugarvatn. But it turned out to be a luxury sauna - thermal bath facility, the Fontana. And it was on the beach of a lake where the warnings say the lake water is boiling at some places. Care for a swim?
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May 2019, Laugarvatn Fontana, Laugarvatn, Iceland; Hot Pot, Laugarvatn, Iceland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool, Thermal-Bath); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Thermal-Bath); Sauna (Normal, Steam)

Levi Hotel Spa
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)

Karlovy Vary
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)

Hot bath in an abandoned fish factory
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)

Laugaskard swimming pool
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)

Marco Polo's Sauna
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)

Russian Sauna
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 ski resort, Silichi, Belarus
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

Boiling with the best Tokyo bay view
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)

Swims were kinda average
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)

Löyly!
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)

The Kauniainen Swimming Hall
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
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)

Sauna in the middle of the living room
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)

Pool on the 26th
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)

Bangkok Sauna
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)

This is the 15th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, set 11, set 12, set 13, and set 14. The next sets are set 16, set 17, set 18, and set 19.

The Planetswimmer articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, caves, and saunas.