Testing the new Matinkylä swimming hall

I had an idea to for once visit a swimming pool somewhere yesterday. Pre-pandemic, I might have gone swimming several times a week. The pandemic interrupted that, but even after the pandemic issues are mostly gone, I don't find myself going too often. I've only been to Finnish swimming pools couple of times a year recently. Maybe being too busy, or trying to use the time for walking. Anyway, missing a lot. But what a nice treat the visit to the Matinkylä swimming pools were!

I was not even aware that there was a new swimming hall. It opened in April 2022, and it is a beauty! It works well, is spacious and has most of the things I'd like to have in a swimming hall. There's a 50 meter big pool (27 degrees), an "activity" pool (30 degrees), kiddie pool, and my personal favorite, the cold pool (7 degrees). Very nice!

Although it was funny to compare this to our recent visit to Poland's Zakopane Aqua Park (link to the article here). First off, they had outdoor pools, one at 36 degrees and another larger one at 33 degrees. And everybody spoke Polish ... just like in Matinkylä sauna, due to some weird co-incidence. But it is very nice that the expats enjoy the saunas and pools in Finland -- I've noticed that they are pretty frequent users in many of these kinds of facilities. A good friend of mine does ice swimming, too, also an expat. Us lazy and scared natives are much less eager to do ice swimming :-)

This hall is also very nice because it is open late even on weekends. Most public swimming pools in my area (as well as in Finland more generally) close at 5pm. Matinkylä's new hall closes at 8pm.

Tony Hagerlund has, of course, reviewed the new pools here. The official Espoo city pages about the hall project and their halls are here and here. There's also a news article from the local newspaper Länsiväylä and about the tech inside in Rakennuslehti.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me.