Valkeakoski swimming hall

Valkeakoski. I knew this place mostly for the paper mill, but it is small city. And has a swimming hall! Since I was nearby, I wanted to try it.

First impressions were very nice, the building from outside is modern, there's some art next to it, and inside in the lobby I'm greeted by a diver guy... well done. 

Inside there's a main pool, 25 meters and six lanes; a teaching pool and a shallow pool for the smallest kids. Two saunas on each side, sadly both sides appeared to have sauna water throwing champions in charge of the water injection to the heater :-) too hot.

More information here.

Here's the paper mill:

This article has also been published at Planetswimmer.com here. Read the full series of swimming and sauna stories from planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool, or all blog articles from Blogspot and of course skiing articles from planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. There are no photos of beachgoers or sauna visitors.

Vilnius Grand Resort Spas

I tried to do my trip to Lithuania in a day, but the drives and the caves and skiing took too much time to really do it, so I opted for a 24 hour trip instead. I need a place to stay for the night, and the Vilnius Grand Resort seemed to fit the bill: affordable price (100€) per night, not too far from the airport, had a spa, and most importantly, the spa was open late into the night so I wouldn't miss when coming back from my tour.

The hotel itself is nice, but somewhat basic/dated. Where they excel is that they have not just a spa but two of them. The Aqua pool area includes a sauna and a pool, and is open for both adults and children. The entrance is included in many of the hotel room packages, my room for instance was around 80€ and included this.  The area is nice, but can be crowded. There's a main pool, a jacuzzi, and a children's pool.

The Vitality SPA area is for adults only and is extremely nice, certainly a luxury spa. Access to this spa cost an additional 19€ over my room cost, so around 100€ altogether, both spas and breakfast included alongside a big hotel room. You can enter the spa also as a non-staying guest. 

On the Vitality SPA side there's three saunas: a Finnish sauna, a relaxation (milder) sauna, and a steam sauna. All look great. There's a main pool (with some water jets), an enclosed round pool area with water showers, lights and sound show, and a jacuzzi, and outdoor jacuzzi and access to the grassy areas outside. The lights and sounds and showers show was quite spectacular, demonstrating a thunder storm. Bright flashing lights, color lights, varying levels of rain from drops to torrential downpour. Maybe I would have preferred something slightly more relaxing but it was certainly memorable!

More information here. The coordinates are N 54.828133 E 25.130802.

Vitality SPA pools:

Grass and lake beach area in front of the spa:

Aqua pools:

Hotel outside:

Hotel inside:

This article has also been published at Planetswimmer.com here. Read the full series of sauna and swimming stories from planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. The indoor spa photos in this article is from the resort's spa home page; all rights reserved by them.

Meiko swim

Meiko is a lake and a natural protection area in Kirkkonummi, Finland. There's ample hiking routes, I took the 4.5 kilometer Kotokierros route, very nice across multiple small lakes. When I returned I walked to the Meiko lake itself for a dip in the lake.

Such a nice, wilderness feeling experience overall. At the Meiko lake and the near the parking lot there were a lot of people, further not so much. On the swim the sun was shining, water was clean.. not a beach but with some swimming footwear one can walk the lake easily.

More information about Meiko can be found in Kirkkonummi's pages and even better at Uuvi. The latter has a good quality map of the routes, for instance.

My swimming place was at N 60.1477 E 24.3646 at the beginning of the Näseudden peninsula, on the eastern side of the Meiko lake. There's an outdoor near this place, no changing rooms but usually there aren't any other people anyway. From the parking lot it is like a 10-15 minute walk.

Photos:

This article has also been published at Planetswimmer.com here. Read the full series of swimming and sauna stories from planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool, or all blog articles from Blogspot and of course skiing articles from planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. There are no photos of beachgoers or sauna visitors.

Ski trip to Lithuania.. in June

Well, I have to. I have to ski every month, that is. So now it is time to fly to Lithuania and go skiing, even if it is middle of June. Lithuania has the closest indoor ski place in Druskininkai, the Snow Arena. 

I've been here before, 13 years ago, though that was in the winter. Still, it wasn't the coldest winter so I still skied indoors in the same place. My previousvisit article is here (alt. link).

It is a remarkable place. I really liked skiing here. It is long enough, not too short like some of the other places. The engineering is great, the entrance is on the middle, part of the ski slope is downhill from the entry point which is at the top of a hill, and the other part of the ski slope is built on an elevated building.

There's also a hotel, and amazingly also a gondola that takes you to the city of Druskininkai (I guess, I did not take the gondola).

Lift tickets are between 17 and 25€ for the shortest two hour visit, depending on whether you are visiting on a weekday or a weekend. Equipment rental can be as little as 7€. All very affordable.

The main slope is 450 meters long, quite reasonable! It is 50 meters wide, though in practice most of the time it seems to be in use by the racing teams, so not accessible for others. The racing side is also hard ice from what was I could see, so even if you did get access to it it may not be your thing.

There's also a side slope, either for beginnings or for tobogganing. Next to the slide slope there was an ice climbing wall. At the time of my visit it was melting away, maybe not always in use but clearly had been used. Very interesting, would like to try indoor ice climbing here one day, or in Norway's Snø.

Photos:

Lobby:

Panorama of the slope from the middle entrance:

Restaurant:

Sign leading to the city:

Ticket:

A view from the lounge at the top of the structure. This isn't accessible for skiers, but you can see it. I think it may be part of the hotel.

Tunnel leading to the middle entrance from the dressing rooms and rentals:

The building as viewed from inside (around the middle entrance):

This article has also been published at Planetskier.net here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Vilnius airport

Vilnius. I'm on a quick trip to ski, cave, swim, and visit saunas. The usual deal. A 24-hour trip, my second time at the Vilnius airport (previous visit article, alt. link). A nice one!

The Vilnius airport is small, and interestingly there's homes right next to the taxiway. Must be interesting viewing from those houses.

The airport itself has an old part which today acts as the arrivals hall and the new part which is for departures. The departure hall was not super big, and I loved the big letter screen for the flights. Modern and well-designed feeling to the whole setup.

As a small airport everything is quite walkable, hotels, rental car parking hall, etc. are all within hundred or two hundred meters distance.

Inside the airport, it was interesting to see a gym equipment in the terminal right next to the gates.

Photos, first arrivals building and the new building and then the big screen.

Gym equipment by the gates:

Then there was a lounge (entrance picture below). Again a small but modern design, had children's corner, clean bathrooms, etc. Not super many power ports, however, and the food offering was limited.

Arrivals in Helsinki with the confusion about oversize luggage belts depicted below. I had not realized there were *multiple* oversize belts at my home airport. I've always been on Belt 1, but there's also Belt 9! No wonder I had to wait for my skis :-)

This article has also been published in Planetflier.com here. For more flying stories, check out the Planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot! Photos, videos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Late flights to Stockholm

Another late flight on a business trip to Stockholm. I actually like these more than I like the early flights... I don't want to wake up at 4:30 or 5am... but this time I was also tired, having been back earlier in the morning from Lithuania weekend trip, and now this plane was even more late.

They were waiting for passengers from connecting flights. We finally found them, but the flight turned out to be almost an hour late. I got to my hotel in Stockholm past one. 

But it was an eerie feeling to be at the Helsinki airport so late. Fortunately the lounge was running, so I had a late dinner, in an otherwise empty lounge.

And when the plane finally was in the air, we got the first glimpse of the morning sunset (or late sunset?) somewhere up north:

Airport at night:

This article has also been published in Planetflier.com here. For more flying stories, check out the Planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot! Photos, videos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Plaža Grandovac swim

There's a few beaches around the town of Vis (on the island of Vis) in the Croatian archipelago. Like the one in front of the hotel Issa (article, alt. link). Plaža Grandovac is another beach, in the natural environment where you can't really see the city just the sea and the beautiful pine tree forests. It is northeast from the city, at the entrance of the bay. You can walk there from the city, it is about a 2 km walk. A nice walk!

The beach is pebbles like most other beaches on the island. There are no facilities on the beach, not even a toilet I think, and certainly not any kiosks or cafes. But the beach is in a sheltered place from boating, winds, and you can even find some shelter from the sun if you go back a bit from the beachfront towards the forest.

Oddly there's a stone-walled graveyard right behind the beach, the English graveyard. It dates back to the short time English held the island in 1811-1815. More information here:

The coordinates for the beach are N 43.068352 E 16.206124. More information here. The beach is free, as are all other beaches on the island.

Photos:

The beach at sunset:

The graveyard:

From the walk to town:

This article has also been published at Planetswimmer.com here. Read the full series of swimming and sauna stories from planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool, or all blog articles from Blogspot and of course skiing articles from planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. There are no photos of beachgoers or sauna visitors, and I generally visit when there are no other people present.

Pilvijärvi swim

Small but cute. And very sandy. A most of all, near my work place in Kirkkonummi, just a 14 minute drive... good evening exercise. 

I swam back and forth near the shore for some time. Lots of kids and families in the hot summer evening.

This is a very small beach, small enough that it isn't even listed in Kirkkonummi's official swimming spots. Or perhaps it isn't listed as it is not maintained? But there is still a lifebuoy, and even a toilet. Odd.

Anyway, the only links I can give are the Google Maps link for the beach (coordinates N 60.07875 E 24.42359) and the Wikipedia entry for the lake. 

There's some amount of parking.

While the lake shores are generally low-lying, there are higher hills around, including a steep cliff entering the lake around the middle.

Photos:

This article has also been published at Planetswimmer.com here. Read the full series of swimming and sauna stories from planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool, or all blog articles from Blogspot and of course skiing articles from planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. There are no photos of beachgoers or sauna visitors, and I generally visit when there are no other people present.