First, Oldest, and Grandest: Yrjönkadun uimahalli

Finally, I was able to visit the Yrjönkatu swimming hall in Helsinki. It is right in the city center, a block away from the Stockmann department store. I've been wanting to for many years... did not recently due to the renovations that have been going for several years. But now it was opened just a week or two ago, and despite expectations it wasn't totally slammed full of people. In the pool I was at times even alone on my lanes. What a place! It is like a palace, a glimpse into a lost world. The tiles, the style, the air .. very, very well done.

But it is also a bit quirky. You can swim naked -- and in the past you had to swim naked, until that changed in 2001. On my visit this year half of the people were naked. And there's a second floor with relaxation rooms included for visitors, with beds, towels, bathrobes, etc. provided by the hall. And there's more saunas, including an infrared sauna, a steam sauna and a wood-fueled sauna. The latter was now out of use, and last week the hall had to be evacuated due to smoke smell. Hopefully they fix it, a wood burning sauna would be so nice.

Entrance is just 6€ for the first floor, which includes lockers for shoes, another locker at the changing rooms, two saunas (mild and medium hot), and the big 25-meter pool. For 2€ more you can book your own seated changing cabin. The second floor entrance is 20€The full price list is here.

The building is actually six stories high, there's couple of privately bookable saunas and a jacuzzi, prices range from 400 to 600€ if you are interested. And then there's small teaching pool and gyms in the upper floors. 

The hall was taken into use 1928, so it is now 98 years old. And still going strong! The renovation was done very tastefully, using the original materials and tiles. Read more about the hall's history here.

BBC has listed this swimming hall in its short list of world's most beautiful swimming halls.

There's plenty of other stories about this legendary swimming hall:

• Wikipedia
• BBC

Photos:

Second floor:

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. Pool photo is by Helsingin Kaupunki, from their website, all rights held by them. The 2nd floor picture is by MyHelsinki.Fi, also from their website, all rights again held by them.

Lohja Spa

Visited Lohja Spa as an after-work detour. Just an hour from home, and in the middle of pretty much nowhere (amazingly, it is in Karjalohja, not Lohja) it was quite a find indeed. It is a small hotel and a spa, but with not too many quests, I had almost all of the 25 meter pool to myself, they had five wonderful saunas and six pools.

I particularly liked their hot 90 degree "star sky" sauna, pictured above. But also the salt sauna was nice, they offered small cups of salt to rub it on your skin. Felt good.

There was also a 70 degree birch sauna, a steam sauna, and then in the men/women dressing rooms a normal Finnish sauna.

The pools were the big pool that had a climbing wall as well, then a therapy pool, a cold plunge pool, a shallow hot pool, and two jacuzzis.

Entrance:

Their story is to "bathe like in a fairy tale":

Pool area:

Salt:

Road to middle of nowhere in a snow storm:

This place reminded me quite a lot of Siuntio Spa (today Siuntio's public swimming hall), but with better saunas. See my separate article about that here (alt. link). But Lohja Spa is more expensive, 25€, though they had a come-once-and-pay-half-price-next-time deal.

Lohja Spa will be worth visiting again! Their website is here.

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. Pool and sauna photos taken when the facility was closed and with permission.

Stanley Park swim in Vancouver

I did an after-meetings walk at the Third Beach in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Very nice area. Dipped into the sea as well.

More information about the Third Beach here. The coordinates are N 49.30418 W 123.15691. 

Do check out also the whole shoreline at Stanley Park, including for instance Elek Imredy's bronze sculpture "Girl in a Wetsuit" on the other side of the peninsula from the Third Beach (link). And check the beautiful Siwash Rock north of the Third Beach as well (link). I also loved the Beaver Lake (swamp) and the forests were absolutely spectacular!

I've previously swam also nearby at English Bay (article, alt. link).

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko.

Skiing Volcán de Tequila, Mexico

Mexico. I was in Guadalajara for a meeting... but meetings end, and then what? Where's the skiing? Well, I guess there isn't any. But the best I could do was to find a local mountain, bring some ice, and attempt to ski the ice on top of the mountain on my mini-skis.

Except that it failed. The road was blocked to the top, and there was a massive canyon between where I was and the actual top was. But never mind, let's just ski where we are then.

Not my best skiing experiences. Could possibly be the worst, though. But even the worst skiing is still pretty good. I can't complain, a beautiful mountain, beautiful scenery, warm, new place, skis on my feet, the familiar bring-your-own-ice/snow routine... not bad. Or not too shitty, as we say in Finland.

And the mountain? Volcán de Tequila, near the town of Tequila. 2,920 meters of strength, probably with a worm inside. I wasn't quite at the top of course, but a respectable mountain nevertheless.

I think I was around these coordinates: N 20.805279 W 103.847307.

Video:

Photos:

This article has also been published here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2016 by Jari Arkko.

Lubja caves in Tallinn

Viimsi Koobas, or the caves of Viimsi, are a man-made set of tunnels on a cliff face rising near the Vimka - Viimsi Mäepark ski hill. There may be more than one tunnel and the tunnels are supposed to be longer, but I think they have been filled with sand or collapsed, as I was able to find only one about 13 meter long tunnel. Nice visit still, though.

Here is the information sign near the tunnels:

The coordinates to this place are N 59.517783 E 24.839870. It is the village of Lubja, in the region of Vimsi. Just outside city of Tallinn.

Also saw one very frosty bat... poor thing. I wonder if it is OK....

The end of the tunnel:

The entrance:

Side tunnel:

I also made a 3D scan of the tunnels with my iPhone's Lidar function, and then converted it to a cave map using the cave-outliner software (link). Below you can find the map and a screenshot of the 3D model. The high-resolution map PDF is here. The model can be downloaded here (GLB) and rotated on your browser screen here.

See also my other article about the Tallinn visit (alt. link), and in particular the one about the Naage Koopad (alt. link) real caves!

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

Naage Koopad, a beautiful Estonian cave with a surprise at the end

Naage Koopad - Naage caves near Tallinn. Very nice cave, with ice forms for added beauty. And what a surprise at the end!

The cave is easily accessible, though you need a car. The coordinates are N 59.408493 E 24.358314.

I also made a 3D scan of the tunnels with my iPhone's LiDAR scanner, and then converted the model to a cave map using the cave-outliner software (link). Below you can find the map and a screenshot of the 3D model. The high-resolution map PDF is here. The model can be downloaded here (GLB) and rotated on your browser screen here.

Here's the entrance to the cave, on a long cliff face:

And these are the ice forms:

And this is the surprise!

And here are the maps and 3D models:

Other pictures:

Other explorations on the day trip to Tallinn were reported in Tallinn visit (alt. link).

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