Swimming hall on floor -8

Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere. I was told there was a swimming hall here, an underground one. Usually there'd be some signs but now I see nothing, at least not at the parking lot. But the map points to the yard of the nearby apartment block, so after walking just 50 meters I see the entrance, a small concrete building is the only thing that sticks out above ground.

There's a stair and elevator option to go down, the stairs seems more fun. There's a nice step counter on the intermediate levels, 128 steps down to floor -8. And the swimming pool is actually 13 more steps down from the saunas and dressing rooms, so maybe floor -9 and 141 steps.  

The swimming hall is 30 meters underground. It has been built into the tunnels under Hervanta that are reportedly three kilometers long, and including parking space, ice skating hall, and the swimming hall & gym. All spaces are used also as emergency shelters.

Nice. This reminds me of course of the Itäkeskus swimming hall, but in a smaller and cozier style. Itäkeskus has so many people, multiple pools, and nooks where the few screaming kids will cause an interesting sound experience.

But none of that in Hervanta. The place is quiet, I get my own lane in the pool, though perhaps Easter Sunday is having an impact on the visitor counts. There's only one main pool, 25 meters plus one kiddie pool. The dressing rooms and saunas are on separate sides for men and women but otherwise placed equally at the same level. Everything is nice and fresh, while the hall is from the 1978, there's been a recent renovation in 2019-2021. The saunas and showers in particular are in impeccable condition. Two very nice, small saunas on each side.

Much recommended!

The official web page is here. The Wikipedia article with some more information is here.

Entrance:

Pool (photo by Tampereen Kaupunki):

Entrance sign & elevator:

Staircase:

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) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers, all photos are taken when the facility is closed or empty. In this case all my photos are from the outside, and the inside photo is by Tampereen Kaupunki, again all rights reserved.