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:

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.
Full story

February 2019, Laugaskard swimming pool, Laugaskard, Iceland
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Steam)

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.
Full story

January 2019, Hilton Tokyo Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan; Löyly, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor); Swimming (Outdoor); Sauna (Normal); Sauna (Normal, Smoke)

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.
Full story
(TGR version)

January 2019, Silichy, Belarus
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

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...
Full story

January 2019, Löyly, Helsinki, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Smoke); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Ice, Waterbody-Sea)

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.
Full story

January 2019, Hilton Tokyo Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

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.
Full story

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.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

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!
Full story

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.
Full story

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.
Full story

November 2018, Marriott Marquis Queen's Park, Bangkok, Thailand
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

Sauna in Harbin
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.
Full story
(TGR version)

September 2018, Songbei Shangri-La, Harbin, China
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Attersee
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.
Full story

August 2018, Attersee am Attersee, Attersee, Austria
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)

Berghof Hintertux Wellnesshotel
On my recent trip to Austria, I stayed for a few days in Hintertux at the Berghof Hintertux Wellnesshotel. Hintertux is already by itself an amazing environment with the green hills and towering mountains and glaciers. But the Berghof turned out to be perhaps the best sauna & spa hotel that I've been to!
Full story

August 2018, Berghof Hintertux Wellnesshotel, Hintertux, Austria
Sauna (Normal, Steam, Infrared); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

Block cave + river = fun?
Swoosh, flushed down! This cave makes me feel like going down the drain.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

August 2018, Saubachlhöhlen, Yspertal, Austria
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic, Swimming); Swimming (Outdoor, Underground, Nature, Water, Waterbody-River, Cave)

Langbathseen Swim
Had a nice swim today, up the road from Ebensee. At the Langbathseen lake. Very nice, clear, blue, greenish water, and a wide beach with plenty of room even on a hot day.
Full story

August 2018, Langbathseen, Ebensee, Austria
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)

Swim at the Castel Gandolfo
On our last day of the Italian tour, Janne and I drove to Lago Albano, an old volcanic crater that is now filled with water. On the rim of the crater you can find Castel Gandolfo, one of most beautiful Italian towns, the Pope's summer cottage, and wonderful views.
Full story

August 2018, Lago Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Italy
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach); History; Climbing (Volcanoes)

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

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.