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.

Vilniemi swim

Not a lot of time, have to make a major update on my demo for work, even if it is a Sunday. But, there's a swimming beach I've not been to before, just few kilometers away: Vilniemi beach, on the Lake Lippajärvi. Let's try that! 

Surprisingly, even if being September, there were a number of other swimmers. Nice!

The beach is at N 60.23407 E 24.72803. There's a big public parking space for the houses of the area, just before the path that leads to the beach.

The official Espoo page about this is here, though with very little information. Tony Hagerlund's blog has more information, as usual :-)

Path to the beach:

Beach overview:

View to the other side of the lake:

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.

Paavola strait swim

Now this is an official beach and marked on the Finnish map as such. But I have to say it is far out and probably not used by anyone. Google doesn't know about it, for instance. Except when we started undressing on the pier, three people walking showed up, and boats parked in front of the beach!

This beach is in Lohjansaari on the Paavola strait. The coordinates are N 60.225734 E 23.911124. Once you enter Lohjansaari, you have to exit the bigger roads on a tiny (almost no crossing places) cottage road. And at the end the road gets mushy. But in the end there's a grass parking lot and a gate. You walk a couple of hundred meters own the road, and you arrive at the beach.

There's a crude changing cabinet and earlier on the road something that looked like a dry toilet. But I wouldn't use either one, and that's why we changed clothes on the pier and by the table that's on the shore. 

There's a rowing boat that you could rent.

But the beach itself is very nice, secluded from winds, sandy bottom, and the pier is in excellent condition. There's a bit of grass growing from the water so the swimming area is not that large until you get further out. But there's quite a bit of boat traffic on the strait so be careful swimming too far.

And we were on Lohjasaari to begin with to see the Paavola Oak Tree. This is general thought to be the finest Finnish tree. There's a parking lot (at N 60.22762 E 23.88329) and trail leading to the trees which itself is at N 60.226397 E 23.890825. More information available in Wikipedia and Antti Huttunen's excellent article in Retkipaikka.

Photos from the beach:

And the tree:

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.

Hollywood swim

Hollywood. Not that one, not in Los Angeles... I mean the one in the outskirts of Belgrade's airport... the water park and swimming hall. That one.

Their official name is Aqua Park Hollywoodland, and they actually reside in two separate parts, an entirely outdoor raised pool area with more slides and bigger area, and then a mostly indoor swimming hall which is nicer in design.

Coordinates for the Aqua Park Hollywoodland are N 44.80144 E 20.34249. They don't appear to have a working webpage, but the instagram is here. Entrance is 1500 local, or about 15€.

I also visited another swimming facility, or rather a gym, in the city, the Wellness Land. Coordinates for the Wellness Land gym are N 44.80095 E 20.48050. Their webpage is here. Entrance is 3000 local, or about 30€. That is steep for what you get, IMHO.

Photos from Hollywoodland, first the inside part:

Right by the building there's a nice outdoor pool as well, with a slide on top:

Then the separate outdoor pool area. This isn't as fancy but is quite big, the pool is 40 meters across for instance:

Photos from Wellness Land:

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. These articles do not show swimmers or sauna goers, and are taken when the facility is empty.

Laukkoski school beach swim

As I was visiting my mom nearby, I also wanted a swim for the day. And Pornainen's Laukkoski school beach was easy to get to. In fact, I wanted to start a challenge: swim every day. Let's see how long I can make that work.

The beach was deserted, I guess it is starting to get too late in the season. But the water was warm, weather was sunny... what's not to like? 

The beach is small, but had a very interesting amphitheater seating made out of massive granite blocks. The beach itself has a bit of sand, a pier, a "puucee" dry toilet, and a building for changing rooms.

Parking is few hundred meters back.

The beach is at coordinates N 60.43927 E 25.40235.

See also Pornainen pages and Hagerlund.net review.

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.