The Best Sauna in Finland -Finnish Ice Swimming Sensation for Everyone
The best sauna in Finland with ice swimming? Tell your friends all about which sauna is the best Finnish sauna.
The Tampere Rauhaniemi sauna is a public sauna in Finland surrounded by scenic landscapes. It's a large sauna that is easily accessible with a flat path stretching from the sauna buildings to the beach area.
Temperatures of the saunas help give you a good sauna experience.
The Best Finland sauna with ice swimming sensation has a large and small sauna.
Lakeside view of large sauna.
The large sauna seats up to 70 people. When water is poured onto the stones, the large sauna feels hotter than the smaller one.
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View of small sauna through window. Viewing the small sauna from inside large sauna through a window.
An older couple stopped to chat with me when I took these pictures. Some time into the conversation, I found out that they had driven over 180km's from Helsinki to Tampere, to enjoy best sauna in Finland with ice-swimming. The lady went into the large sauna once, then into the icy water. She finished her sauna and ice-swimming after about 10 - 15 minutes.
If someone's prepared to drive 180km's one way...that sauna must be the best Finland sauna.
Based on visiting over 40 different saunas in Finland, take my word that Tampere's Rauhaniemi kylpylä sauna steam is excellent. Especially when you follow Finnish experts' advice on how to take your sauna.
So rather than pick any old sauna in Finland and go into any hole in the ice. Plan your vacation around Tampere, Finland.
You will want to try this sauna over and over until you get it right. Over and over? Yeah, you heard me. Practice using this great sauna to get the perfect sauna buzz. A wonderful feeling of well-being. Let your natural endorphins in the body do their job.
Just ask older gentlemen who visit Rauhaniemi every day.-What do the locals get out of it?
Here is how Locals do "The Best Sauna In Finland." Get ready to feel refreshed.
After you have changed into your bathing suit, go outside. Yes, it is cold! Walk down the green mat to the lake. As fast as you can, jump into the water and out. Brrrr! Walk into the large sauna. You have just passed the hardest stage of "avantouinti," or ice-swimming with sauna.Congratulations!! Rewards do come to those who follow the "ice-swimming" method.
Now you are on your way toward the large sauna room.
You may want to take a shower now, or at the end of your sauna experience. Rinse your feet off and take a seat pad with you on the way. Use the foot cleanser to rinse your feet off your feet. Use a colorful seat pad with you on the way into the large sauna room.
Inside the best sauna in Finland -- The Rauhaniemi Kylpylä sauna
Watch those temperatures
The stove and steam room temperatures play huge roles in getting a really good sauna experience. And I say really good, because each time you do sauna it counts as an experience on its own.
When the sauna room temperatures are too high, or you have too little fluid in your body, you are in danger of spoiling your sauna experience. You miss feeling refreshed and may feel like vomiting. To avoid becoming dehydrated, you should drink enough water before going in.
Seat selection at the "best sauna in Finland" is key
Prevent top bench burning
Sitting on the uppermost benches exposes your ears, face and neck to more heat, causing stinging coming from the steam. Locals love that steam, so water is continuously poured onto the hot stones. Steam hits you faster when sitting on the stove side of the sauna.
Wise Sauna users in the best sauna in Finland
wear knitted hats to prevent stinging. A wool hat protects you from burning your head. Looks kind of cool, don't you think? Use waterproof slippers on your feet to give you a better grip when you're walking down over ice and/or snow.
Sitting near the sauna stove
Top bench seating near the sauna stove exposes your body to very intense bursts of heat. Your body feels hotter faster, but then, because the steam moves rapidly upward, life becomes bearable again quite quickly!
Ouch, hot!! Try to avoid sitting near the far corners near that door.
Top Bench seating near the entrance sauna door? Heat can really cause you pain. So be careful! where you sit Given you are at Rauhaniemi as a first-timer, those seats are for folks who really like it hot!
Sitting away from the sauna stove at the best sauna in Finland.
If you suddenly feel too hot you can always move to a lower level bench. So if you're up high and a wave of heat hits hard--quickly move to a lower level bench. The locals might smirk, but that's their problem!
Try moving up or down bench levels. Start sitting at a lower level at first.
To fine tune 'heat wave timing' or 'time at which heat impacts the body',adjust your sauna room seating positioning from front to back and vice versa. Moving around seating positions helps regulate how hot or warm you feel.
Sauna stove near windows
Sandwich yourself at a top bench between window and the sauna stove. You experience bursting waves of heat which come and go quickly.
Moving away from the upper corners near the stove increases your exposure to waves of heat. The heat seems to last longer than when you're sitting in the corners nearer the stove.
A word of advice for first-timers at the best sauna in Finland: Use bench seats in the middle of the sauna, on a medium level bench.
Let yourself get warm enough before going back outside under the ice. That may require you to stay in the heat of the sauna just a little longer, Yeah OK it hurts, or you feel some pressure in your head. Try keeping your body exposed to heat until you cannot bear it anymore. Then go out.
Hot enough...
...in the best sauna in Finland? Ready? Because out we go for a 'Dip under the Ice'
Again -- Follow the green mats into the water. These electrically heated mats prevent your warm feet from bonding to snow and ice.
Drop off drinks into wooden lockers on your way to the lake.
Ohh, you can already see some ice on the left side as you are facing the ice hole.
At the best sauna in Finland. -follow the green mat into the lake.
The icy entry-way is partly underwater. Use handrails to stabilize yourself in case there is ice on the ground and steps.--B... B... B... but it looks sooo cold--Yes, that is the point. You want to go from cold to hot back and forth. Ready...and...WAIT! No need to jump, just walk into the lake. Oh, ...the bubbling is not coming from a scuba-diver. That is to keep the ice from freezing over.
After you please!
Once you are in the water, keep your head above water and exit walking up the stairs. The longer your body is exposed to icy water, the higher temperature differences your body experiences.
Stay in as long as possible, head above water. Swim around,keeping the body from the neck under water.
Can You Feel that head rush already?
No worries, you can try again, if that rush did not quite happen.
Warm up well in the sauna. Get as hot as you can. If you are cold coming out of the water, stay in the sauna longer, then come out to go ice-swimming.
Locals at the best sauna in Finland spend minutes swimming around in icy water. Sure, they are used to it, but they warm up well before and after.
Benches looking out to the lake, where you can sit and cool off after ice swimming. What do you mean, cool off? How about that icy water?
Now before getting warm again, stay outside and relax by sitting down at these benches. If the water did not cool you down sufficiently, sitting outside will - it can easily be negative twenty! Perhaps a minute or two after ice-swimming. Because...
Cooling down at the best sauna in Finland is just as important...
...as Warming up. -- and is vital to a good sauna experience. Sit down on the bench and talk to your friend. Cooling off gives your body another opportunity to work its natural wonders.
You may feel light-headed at this time. When you get cold, go warm up inside the large sauna.
Repeat the warming up and cooling down, until you feel light. Sauna, then ice-swim, sauna again then ice-swim. However, being light-headed, or getting a rush is not a rule-of-thumb.
Now, I usually get cold and warm up three or four times. There is no magic number. After a final ice-swim, warm up before entering showers and getting dressed. Going directly from ice-swimming to showers..Brrrr! You may be left with a chill that last over an hour
Do a sauna to get warm before showering off. Large sauna is more intense, you can try a...
Small Sauna Warmdown -- At the best sauna in Finland
After repeating large sauna warm ups and and ice-swimming cool downs, consider warming down inside the small sauna. Sit on a lower bench.
This small stove, in this sauna room uses bricket style stones to create ideal amounts of steam.
View from a hot corner. Try sitting on lower benches, gradually working your way up to top corner benches. This may take several visits. Both far-end corners produce the most intense experience. Both large and small saunas follow similar thermal principles. Once water is poured on and if feels too hot, move to a lower bench.
Two windows with a view of outside benches and large sauna room. The small sauna has less space on lower level benches. Door to exit.
When you're about to go out, it is good etiquette, to ask the question. "Shall I throw on more steam?" in Finnish "Heitänkö löylyä?" Then if everyone says "Heitä vaan", or "Kyllä", pour on some water onto the stove before you leave. They may even think you are a local.
Rauhaniemi's best sauna in Finland Tip...?
Get to Rauhaniemi Kylpylä right when it opens and you will have a huge sauna to yourself. Throw on some steam! Remember: Having a great Finnish sauna experience takes practice.
Pine trees decorating the backround, of the Rauhaniemi Kylpylä landscape. An overview of the best sauna in Finland and bathing area.
The best sauna in Finland -- opening season and times
The best time to go for ice-swimmers is of course -- The cold season. The more snow and ice, the more exotic and Christmas wonderlandish looking Rauhaniemi is. Even without the snow and ice, when water temps are between +2 and +4 you get a real feeling of well-being after taking a the sauna the way locals do.
Ice swimming season
October 1 to April 30. Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays 3 pm to 7.30 pm. Tuesdays Thursdays 3 pm to 8 pm : Weekends 1 pm to 7.00 pm.
Summer season May 1 to September 30, Weekdays 3 pm to 8 pm. Weekends 1 pm to 7.30 pm.
Have A Great or Crazy Story About Your Finnish Sauna Experience?
Was the first time you got a genuine sauna head-rush better than that first beer?
Do you have a great story about a Finnish Sauna experience at home or near a lake? At a luxury hotel? On a ferry-boat? Was it Crazy?
What makes you Feel better afterwards?
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