I picked 5 unique saunas in Finland for today’s post. There are many more, but I only focus on these five.
Finns are a sauna-crazy people and the places in which the Finns have built their saunas are absolutely ingenuous.
No place seems to be out of limits for the Finns.
I guess the Estonian guest in Hotel Martinshöhe was right when he said that Finns build saunas everywhere, even in a wardrobe, if need be.
Saunas have been built in or out of cars, combine harvesters, telephone booths, boats, barrels, airplanes, silos, skate ramps, onions, trailers, mopeds, trucks, pallet trucks, “aquariums” and gondola lifts.
Saunas can also be found underground (at a depth of 1410m), on the top of a crane, in an ice rink, in a burger restaurant, underwater and on top of a lake, on an island and on the seashore.
It is safe to say that Finns build saunas everywhere.
Saunas are also built out of different materials such as snow, ice, wood, girder, snag, concrete, clay, moss, steel or plastic. The sky is not the limit!
Snow sauna
Yes, you read that right, the Finnish Rovaniemi Arctic Snow Hotel has a sauna made of snow and ice. The walls of the sauna are about 2 meters thick and each time the sauna is heated the walls melt 3-5mm. The sauna in the sauna is about 70-80 degrees Celsius and can be heated up to 70-100 times.
The Arctic Snow Hotel also has sauna building called Snowflake with smaller saunas that can be reserved for private use by hotel residents. Snowfall is a larger sauna that can be booked by groups. The sauna is available for hotel residents in the mornings and evenings. There is also an outdoor hot tub in the area.
Price: 65 € / hotel resident / Finnish sauna / snow sauna / outdoor jacuzzi, there is a visitor’s fee.
Read more: Arctic Snow Hotel
The hockey Sauna
How do Finns combine their two greatest passions, ice hockey and sauna? Well by building a sauna inside an ice stadium, of course! Hartwall Arena in Helsinki offers ice hockey fans a special sauna box that you can rent during hockey games. You can watch the game from your own sauna. Pretty luxurious!
Prices: from. 400 €
Read more: Hartwall Arena
Sauna gondola
The world’s only sauna gondola is located in Ylläs. One sauna session takes you to the top in about 20 minutes. The price includes the use of Finland’s highest sauna at 718 m, an outdoor jacuzzi, a room for relaxation and showers. If you are lucky, you can catch northern lights.
Price: 1350 € / gondola sauna + sauna department / Sauna department rental price from 150 €
Read more: Ylläs.fi
Skateboard sauna
Vuokatti is known for its unique “floating skateboard ramp sauna”. In other words, a floating sauna with a skate ramp. The place is called Vuokatti Water Sports Center (Vuokatin vesiurheilukeskus), and it also offers wakeboarding and stand up paddling. There are two skate ramps in different sizes, one for beginners and one for the advanced skateboarders. There is also a café on site.
Price: Wakeboard rental 39 € / h / person + sauna, sauna only 12 € / person
Read more: Vuokatin Vesiurheilukeskus
The moss sauna
Kymenlaakso, more precisely, Iitti has the only Moss Sauna in the world. It is built in a shape of a hemisphere. The sauna has different colored mood lights and offers various scents and sounds. You can even sing karaoke or watch TV whilst taking a sauna. The sauna accommodates 15-17 people and the terrace offers access to an outdoor jacuzzi or the lake (ice hole).
Price: 590 € / 3h / 5-15 person / additional persons 35 € / person.
There are also holiday cottages for rent.
Read more: Yli-Kaitalan Lomamökit
So, which one of these 5 unique saunas caught your attention?
Have you already been to any of these? Would you like to visit one? Let me know in the comments below!
P.s. All images have been used with permission.
