Try the Finnish "way of thinking" while taking a
Finnish sauna.
Finnish sauna bathing culture -An insider view. |
Lounge
outside the Vammala smoke sauna building. Finnish sauna essentials
include...outdoor weatherproof tables and chairs. Sit in the sun before
or after a dip in the lake.
French
toast with prune jam. |
Pancakes
with plum jam! |
In the summer...
A swim in a lake is a great way to cool off after your real Finnish sauna routine. Get clean with some environmentally friendly soap and shampoo washing off with lake water. Then dry off. If you sense you are getting cold while swimming, come out and get back into the sauna briefly and wash off there instead. Or, soak up some sun while laying on a rock.
Beware!...You can get an after sauna chills in the summer too. If in doubt, just warm down by washing off inside the sauna!
The original Finnish sauna was a hot room inside a
wooden hut.
That's all. The modern Finnish sauna is a derivative of the smoke sauna.
The
Finnish smoke sauna is a chimney free sauna room. Smoke escapes the
room after the sauna stove has been burning for hours. Then, prior to
using the sauna, smoke is released out of the sauna room chamber
through ventilation or sauna door.
Some modern smoke saunas in Finland have a dome-shaped rock stoves.
The smoke sauna offers you a gentle steam and steady burst of heat
compared to wood burning or electric saunas.
The
inside walls of smoke sauna's are black since hot smoke chars them over
time. When you are in a new smoke sauna the walls appear lighter.
Remember,
there are no chimneys in the smoke sauna, so smoke just hangs around in
the chamber soaking into the walls, chairs, and ceiling.
Take a look at yourself in the mirror after you
have been in the smoke sauna. You may be left with some black marks.
To get a taste of what a Finnish smoke sauna is like, here is an award
winning smoke sauna in Vesilahti Finland
A small wooden-hut style room, wooden benches to sit on and a bucket of water for ladling over the hot rocks to create steam.
This is our friend Pasi's home made Sauna.
The most common Finnish sauna is a Finnish home
Turn the electric stove's knobs(or push button) the electric resistors heats up the stones.
The electric stove requires no smoke flue, hence the Finnish home sauna is found inside other buildings structures.
All you need is a vented room with a chimney for smoke ventilation to the outside of the room.
You find these kinds of saunas in hotels, homes, public swimming halls and comes with an electric or wood sauna stove in the sauna room, with rocks on top of the stove's top surface.
Tip: How to improve the steam of your Finnish home sauna? Try changing the style of the home sauna stones
Feeling the heat in a modern Finnish sauna.
You are sitting on wooden bench in a wood paneled 20 square meter(215 cubit feet) room.
To your left is a 18 x 18 inch window leading to the crisp freezing outside.
Your dying to open that window up and let the air in to cool you off.
Below, a blazing fire roars inside the sauna stove.
The stove top rocks store loads of heat on top of the stove heater.
You reach for a bucket of pre-heated water, scooping out the water you pour two ladles onto the stones sloooowly. The steam hits you gently and over a longer period of time, instead of as a sudden 'heat wave' crash.
Steam rises, filling the air.
The dry hot room fills with moisture.
The air thickens, and it feels much hotter.
Your breath shortens.
After a minute the humidity and intense heat dies down.
Beyond this brief feeling of penetrating hot discomfort, around the corner you await...an endorphic induced high.
That is the kind of heat in a real Finnish sauna.
Today you can reserve a sauna for your family at indoor swimming halls, where there are also public saunas to use. These Finnish public saunas have separate sections for men and women, and there are separate sauna structures built for 20 to 50 people.
If you need a great Finnish sauna experience for more people let us know.
Wash up, get a massage, or chiropractic adjustment while doing sauna at a public Finnish sauna in Tampere. Or Like at the Rauhaniemi sauna, you will find the same people go there every week/day to do sauna/avanto(ice-swim). A great place to relax...and see...who can stand the heat the longest.
In Finland, just before the turn of the 19th
center, when there
was no electricity and modern sewage, the more highly populated areas
had public saunas, and they exist today. These are worth trying out.
Here is an example which gives you the idea of what typical Finnish
public saunas near a lakeside in Tampere are like.
Stay for a day, a week, or more. It's a travel package with a sauna.
A Finnish sauna vacation is where you can order a sauna, accommodate, go fishing, and visit the local sites. Here is an example of a Finnish sauna vacation with a Finnish smoke Sauna half an hour drive from Tampere.
Sastamala's 'Mieli Aitta' is about 50 kilometers from Tampere, Mieli Aitta has a smoke sauna with lodging.Accommodation is for up to 6 people at the Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast.The vacation rental Villa holds a group up to 14.
Lot's to see in the area.
Two 'Very old' churches (1)Pyhä Olavi(1515) and (2)Holy Mary's(Pyhä Marian) in Karkku are within walking distance along with two different cafes located a few kilometers from each other. Aitta Kahvila Cafe, is an old granary converted into cafe near the Holy Mary's church in Karkku, while the Mieli Aitta cafe is on the Mieli Aitta property near Sastamala's Pyhä Olavi church.
When you come from outside you see what it is like to be in a "Rural Finnish village." The smoke sauna and villa are surrounded by over 6500 year old village.!!-Talk about old-!!
A
Finnish vacation with a smoke sauna.A look at Mieli Aitta's smoke sauna
This two story sauna gives out a warm gentle soft heat.A picture tour inside of Sastamala's Mieli Aitta smoke sauna
The mother of all Sauna's -The Finnish Sauna
Atmosphere around a Smoke Sauna.
The atmosphere created around you makes that smoke sauna extra enjoyable. Insiders suggest going as far into the countryside in Finland for an optimal smoke sauna to really experience the Finnish Sauna -at it's potential.
The closer you are to nature, and the more time you spend in that surrounding, the more refreshed you feel in mind, body and spirit. Your health improves.
Smoke sauna in
Kuusamo,Finland
Inside the sauna it is black. Stones are piled into an organized mounded heap. An open fire beneath the stones is burning from morning until evening. Then...!! Voilà...The smoke is let out and you are ready to have your first smoke sauna. Be careful not to touch the walls, because then your hands will get black.
- Dugout Sauna Corsu sauna
- Ice-sauna
- Herbal Sauna Yrttisauna
- Tent sauna
- The portable transportable sauna on wheels.
- Sauna in a bus. Take a sauna while traveling by bus.
- Sauna on a boat. (Not ferry boat)
Do you have a picture which matches a sauna type on the above
list? How about a story of a crazy Finnish sauna. Perhaps a crazy sauna
experience? Share Your best Finnish sauna story here...
Go from this page "Finnish Sauna" to "Finlandinsider" Main page
