Freizeit! Opfikon.

I was late, but maybe there was still a chance of catching a swim. It turned out that I can walk from my hotel to a nearby swimming hall, the Freizeit Bad Opfikon. But I didn't expect it to be the gem it was. A sunset over the pools, indoor and outdoor pools, a luxury facility. Even if it was "just" community pool. But this is Switzerland... and the best part was that the dogs can swim, too!

They can, but only the last day of the outdoor pools are open for the season. I can imagine how excited the dogs will be for this. This should be done in other places, too. Wonderful!

More information here.

Photos, indoor pool:

Outdoor jumping pool:

The building and sign:

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. Pool photos in this article were taken when the facility was closed or empty. The dog swimming photos are from the facility's brochure and social media.

Zürich's Hallenbad City

I wanted to use the lunch break in Zürich to visit the Männerbad, an in-river swimming pool. Sadly, despite being advertised as open it didn't appear to be. Would have been a special place! But not to worry, just a block away was the Hallenbad City, another historic swimming place. With a 50-meter pool in a high-ceiling, classic architecture it was also an experience.

Hallenbad Entrance was 8 SFr. The coordinates are N 47.37228 E 8.53293. A quick swim and back to work. 

Interestingly, and according to its name, Männerbad is a men-only facility. And doubles as a bar during the nights. It is an open space, natural water in the river, but boxed from the outside by walls and water gates. Maybe some future visit to Zürich will allow me to try this. This is what the pool looks like in the river:

Entrance price was a bit unclear, and indeed the place is only open during the summer period (and I was there within that time), but also open only in good weather (hey, I thought it was good weather :-) )

Männerbad is at N 47.37138 E 8.53267.

More photos, first from Hallenbad:

Männerbad:

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 Hallenbad City pool picture is from their awebsite, all rights belong to them.

Kasnäs spa swim

 

It was a long drive, two hours from the office/home. But I found a small fishing village with a great spa, access was affordable (just 12€), they had nice outdoor pools shielded from the wind by glass, a 25-meter indoor pool, a good, dark-wood-colored sauna, a steam room, and even an infrared sauna (though with additional cost).

But maybe their worth would be more around other things than a long drive and a swim. The village is quite nice, there's small little shop, a boat harbor, you can rent cabins or rooms, and there's a salmon growing facility so you would get the freshest salmon right there. And there's a club house and a restaurant.

This would work as a weekend getaway destination even better than an evening drive.

In my case at home, I really enjoyed the salmon and bread I bought here:

Recommended!

Their home page is here.

More photos:

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. No photos of swimmers or sauna goers are taken in these articles.

Rainbow lake swim

Kylmälä ("cold place") is a small village in northern parts of Kirkkonummi, by the lake Tampaja. When I arrived, I cursed the rain because it was making my walk to the beach hard. But the hardest rain stopped, I found a changing cabin at the beach... and then saw one of the best rainbows I've seen in a while!

Wonderful! The beach was good too. And by September 10, on a Thursday evening there was obviously no one else around.

The beach is at coordinates N 60.23517 E 24.40351. There's convenient parking by the school/daycare just before the beach. At the beach itself there's a very basic changing room. The pier feels new and quite nice. 

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. Photos in this article were taken when the beach was empty.

Blissful swim above Stockholm rooftops

Wow, had a hard day demoing for work, but this find right in the center of Stockholm was so relaxing: the Selma City Spa, on the roof of the Clarion Hotel Sign by the main train station was something else. A very nice sauna, relaxation rooms, a small cafeteria, and then the pool outside on the roof. And you could order drinks directly to the pool.

In my case, that drink was a Twister (non-alcoholic). And you can order anything just by scanning a QR code next to your beach bed.

Very nice.

Worth going again. 

More information on their home page here, or the hotel here. You can book your visit directly on the website. It isn't cheap, however, for non-hotel guests a visit 445 SEK or about 45 €. For hotel guests a visit can be 295 SEK or about 30 € or even lower depending on when you are going. There are of course various other packages with additional services, massage, etc.

One thing with *every* Swedish visit to a swimming facility is that they always have lockers the you have to you bring your own lock to. Even a luxury place like this one! But this time I actually *did* bring a lock. But at home I have 15-20 of these locks from previous trips where I had forgotten one and had to buy a new one. They sell them, they are not expensive, but it is a heavy metal object that gets put in that drawer on top of other heavy metal objects...

More photos:

But I had to cut my visit short, needed to get back home and my flight. I was on a Finnair flight, an Embraer plane from Arland to Helsinki. Nice service. I liked their new slogan on the cups, too...

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. Pool photos in this article were taken when the facility was closed or empty.

Laaksolahti swim

Yikes. Too many geese around. And their shit. But I have to swim today, so no avoiding it.

I'm in Laaksolahti, the swimming place next to the sports area. A very nice spot, also with "Löylykontti" (sauna heat container), though I don't have time to try this now. I'm on way to the airport and already late. 

So, a quick swim, get back to the car, dry myself, changes clothes and go. Left the wet swimwear and towel in a hastily constructed drying rack in the car. Ski poles are useful in many ways!

Maybe during the summer this would be less crowded by the geese. Need to come back, it is a great facility in geenral. The coordinates are N 60.24649 E 24.74978. More information here and here.

Photos:

The sauna container is here (look for more information from this link):

And it wasn't just geese, it was also ducks:

My flight afterwards:

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. Photos in this article were taken when the beach was empty.

Beach Divulje swim

What a find! In case you ever find yourself at the Split airport, check in your bags and then walk eight minutes towards the sea. You will find a very nice beach, a beach bar, and even a wakeboarding track. Very refreshing before a flight! And in my case I was there just at sunrise, such bliss!

I was there to catch an early morning Norwegian flight to Helsinki; Finnair was too expensive. But the timing to get to the airport before the flight was just right, I had enough time for the swim, and the morning sea was surprisingly warm despite it being September. The sun was also good early in the morning, not too hot to burn my skin. Note that Split airport has a general rather than airline-specific checkin desks, so you can leave your luggage at any time. Even half a day before your flight if you want to.

To get to the beach, walk inside the airport to the rental car building, then exit and walk towards the entrance where cars are coming to the parking lot through rising gates. Then turn right towards the sea. In few minutes you'll be by the beach.

At the beach there are some permanently setup shades, a small changing room, and indeed the bar as well.

The main swimmable beach is between the wakeboarding building sitting out on the water and a pier by the bar.

Much recommended!

A bit more information here.

More photos:

The wakeboarding building and facility:

Airport, take this tunnel to go to the rental car building:

Then walk across the bus parking spaces to get to where the gates open for cars coming to the airport, and take this intersection towards the sunset and the beach:

My aircraft out of here:

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, urban exploration articles at theurbanexplorer.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. Photos in this article were taken when the beach was empty.