Indoors skiing in Norway

Yet another run at Snø, one of the world's best indoor ski resorts in Oslo, Norway. I think this is my third time here.

Wonderful as ever.

There's the nordic tracks on raised pathways by the roof, there's the long, long ski slope, there's the jumping area, there's the chairlift... wonderful lounge, rental, and other facilities and a hotel above us. Some restaurants, too, though I was busy to get to the cave on this day trip, so did not have time to try anything else than the toast from the fast food stand.

If there's anything to complain, it is that the racing teams like this too much. There was a kid training session on most of the usually open slope, and of course the national teams from Sweden, Norway, Austria, UK (I think), and some other places had already taken half of the area. So there wasn't more than a narrow regular run left for the rest of us. And by rest of us I mean me and maybe 1-2 other people :-) So it was fair. Plus there was the boxes and rails snowboard area, which was fun to ski as well, and was not closed off.

Much recommended.

This time I tried to book the ice climbing as well, but they didn't have any slots available for the day. Maybe next time.

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

Drachenhöhle

Often caves are difficult to access, blocked or gate, or you just don't know about them. Drachenhöhle near Zürich is, however, both well known and easy to access. It is not big, but has very interesting shapes and well worth the visit!

Here's is the interesting shape. What do you make of it?

Drachenhöhle is in Küsnacht, on the southeastern outskirts of Zürich. The coordinates are N 47.325661 E 8.608386. It is located in the hilly forests of Der Küsnachter Marroniwald, a park. It is maybe ten or twenty meters uphill on the valley side, above a small river.

The cave opens with two eyes starting at you, separated by a big "nose". The left eye is a small cave, the main cave is behind the right eye. There's a connection between the two behind the nose, but it didn't look big enough for a human to pass through (to me).

Caves behind both eyes are walkable and easy. But from the right eye to the right there's a narrow tunnel than continues upwards. That's a lot of fun to crawl through. Though, as I was coming straight from a conference my clothing wasn't really meant for crawling on my stomach. Fortunately I managed to clean myself enough to be accepted for the taxi ride back to the hotel....

My measurements say the main line is 12 meters long, and the narrow side tunnel to the right is 4.5 meters, so 16.5 meters total length. In addition there's indeed a tiny hole the the left cave, but I left it unaccounted for th length, as I wasn't sure it was passable. And there's an unconnected side cave on the far left and above the narrow side tunnel to the right.

I made a scan of the cave with my iPhone 14 Pro (new model with more memory, albeit bought used). The 3D model can be loaded here, viewed here on your browser screen, and the full high-resolution map is here. Below are some excerpts, starting with the plan view (horizontal) map, a vertical cross section of the main line to the cave, and a screenshot of the model:

Photos:

There were three holes total, the above pictures are all about the biggest one. Facing the cave, the biggest one is on the center. To the left is the second hole:

And the third hole is to the right and up a bit:

The hike to the cave is through a park. Clouds were beautiful on my hike:

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. 

Norway. Lake. Swim.

I was on a mission, to ski this month's skiing. And to collect one more cave in Norway. But, I was also on a mission to swim every day (article, alt. link) and the ski hall didn't open until 25 minutes from now. Can I swim in the nearby lake?

I was able to!

And it wasn't even particularly cold. I was stared a bit by the local fishermen and other locals hanging out in the parking place, but, mission accomplished :-)

I was at the Langgrunna badeplass in Lørenskog. This was just next door to the SNØ indoor ski hall that I was going to next. I've been there before, too.... (article, alt. link). Lørenskog is north of Oslo center, and south of the airport.

The coordinates to the swimming beach were N 59.93976 E 10.95555. The official web page for this and other swimming places in Lørenskog is here.

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, urban exploration articles at theurbanexplorer.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. 

Järfällabadet

Järfälla and Järfällabadet. A swimming pool run again by Medley. A massive facility, 50-meter pool with ten tracks, plus kiddie pools, water slides, etc.

Pretty basic sauna though. I guess saunas in Sweden may not be the priority?

It was also interesting to observe the sauna behavior differences between Finland and Sweden. In Finland one goes to public saunas naked, but will likely have a towel or paper to sit on. In Järfälla it seemed to be the idea that one wraps oneself with a towel while in the sauna. Ok.

And again, as usual in Sweden one has to carry one's own lock to use the lockers. This time I was prepared!

The home page of the facility is here. A ticket to swim cost 115 SEK (10.50€) in 2026. 

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

Häkli sandpit swim

I needed to take a flu shot, and the only available slots were an hour away from home, north of the airport in Tuusula. There were three good things with that though, one I got an early flu shot, two that I was able to see my lovely sister who lives nearby, and three, I could stop by on a (cold) swim at a nearby sandpit beach.

There's ample parking space, the water area is big and formed in interesting ways, there's small bridges to cross the water, there's a pier and a small jumping tower, dressing cabins... very nice.

The only thing was that in mid October, it was a tad cold despite the sunny day. But I'm glad I was able to dip in!

The environment is also nice, people seemed to use it for walks, taking the dog out, etc.

The sandpit is at the coordinates N 60.40666 E 24.96760.

More information about the site can be found on Tony Hagerlund's excellent blog and Tuusula's official page. The beach is very popular, it has been reported that the massive parking lot and even the beach can get congested at popular times (article).

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

Hammerbybacken last day of the summer ski

What an experience! I've been to many dry and grass slopes, but this one in the center of Stoclholm is just spectacularly good, they got the steepness, material, and slippery-level just right. I loved trying to duck the randomly operating sprinklers as I skied, however.

Hammerbybacken is a proper ski hill, in the winter operates with snow. But in the summer season they have a lot of different activities from tobogganing to hill running to children's playgrounds. And summer skiing. This year's summer season for them ended on September 27th, and I was there to try it out. 

Their secret is the combination of a good hill but also the brushes embedded in the ground, the grass growing through them, and just right amount of water being sprayed from sprinklers. You'll have to guess when the randomly-enabled sprinklers turn on, and try to avoid them. I was quite wet at the end of my session, which just added to the fun.

From the hill can see the city center skyline, the Globen Arena and general city life around you from the hill. But also nature, like in the above picture the green forests and the lake. Superb.

Hammerbybacken is run by Skistar, the famous Swedish ski resort operator that also runs the country's destination mountain in the north, Åre.

The homepage of Hammerbybacken is here. They are located at N 59.30130 E 18.10958. My lift tickets for a 2 hour session with renting skis and poles cost 33 €.

It makes sense to rent their skis, or else your skis will be very grassy :-) 

You should pre-book these beforehand, it is easy and then you are guaranteed a slot in case there's a rush at the slopes. There wasn't this time, though, I was there with one other adult and maybe six kids. Feeling like a kid :-) 

There's a small Nordic-country -style cafeteria on site. I had to use their services because I had arrived early and had to wait for two hours, got hungry. There's hot dogs and drinks and creps and a few other things, but this isn't a full service restaurant. The bathrooms are clean and nice though.

Photos:

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

Voco Kista Swims

I spent a week in Kista in meetings, and tried out a new hotel that I've never been to (!) Voco Stockholm Kista is a nice hotel, rooms are spacious, and most importantly, there was a spa. I used every day for five days, and only on the last day after checking out somewhere else.

Their spa includes a 13-meter pool, a nice hot Finnish sauna, a steam room, and a jacuzzi. On the 13-meter pool one can even do some distance, while on smaller 6 meter pools in some other places I've recently been it it is hard... did 500 meters one evening.

The spa is included in (most? all?) hotel rooms. My room price was reasonable and is usually the lowest available price and the spa was included in it. But I understood it might not be included in all.

You do have to book it through their website though, every time. It is a bit clumsy, have to fill in too many phone numbers and other details, but doesn't cost anything if the spa access is included. 

Warning, however, on my last night I almost didn't get my daily swim because they had cancelled my reservation after no-show after fifteen minutes. But I knew I was coming in late, and you can't book like a 20:30-21:00 slot, the latest is 19:30-21:00. And then they said they can't let me in because the pool area is full. But in the end, ten minutes before the nine, someone exited and they let me in. Didn't think the pool area was actually full though. Odd a bit, if you ask me. Anyway... success in the end, thanks for that :-) 

Their home page is here.

Spa lounge:

Sauna view:

Pools:

Hotel corridors:

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

Award-winning Kuusijärvi smoke saunas

Today's swim was at Kuusijärvi, a small lake and recreation area in Vantaa. I was in Vantaa anyway so it was a natural choice. And what a choice! Such a wonderful, quiet, dark smoke sauna experience, seamlessly blended in the nature. No wonder the next day the saunas were awarded the Finlandia architecture award.

I was here when they were opened last year (article, alt. link).

 They really are spectacular. As the news paper reporting (Yle, HS) says, they are about the sauna experience rather than bold, aggressive architecture in your eye. In particular I liked that one of the saunas is marked as quiet place, that they have a transition room between the hot sauna and outside, that there's ample cooling of benches outside, how the buildings connect to each other the beach effortlessly and with perfectly placed paths.

And the craftmanship of the building is superb.

Well done, Vantaa. Even at 2M€...

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