Hamburger Börs sauna - the experience in the classic hotel in Turku

Hamburger Börs is a classic hotel in Turku, dating back to 1894. Rebuilt and mostly a new building around the old one nowadays though. Visited the hotel while I was in Turku for the caving association meetup and scanning the Luolavuori cave. Of course I had to try the sauna in the hotel, as well. Very nice. 

Medium sized, but a nice lounge area and a fashionable, darker wood in the sauna. Well done.

The sauna is only for about two hours for either men or women, at separate times. But it can be booked for private events.

Hotel homepage is here.

The lounge:

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. 

Luolavuori cave scan

I went with Ralf's organized caving trip to Turku's Luolavuori (cave mountain) cave. Been there many times, it is a wonderful cave! Also fun to meet new people, perhaps there's some cave trips we can do together at some point! Also, I did a quick 3D scan of the cave with my iPhone. 

Here's a link to the 3D model: GLB or Blender. You can also rotate it on your own screen by pressing this link. And below is the cave map (a higher resolution version is available in PDF.

Here are some pictures from the cave. First, we found some fauna in the cave:

And here's the exit from inside:

This is what the caving inside looks like:

And of course, we also had to have a small break and eat something:

Here's the full team:

The rest of the team tried some chimney techniques in a nearby rock crack, as well as climbed up a cliff:

I chose to take a train this time, instead of driving. Was quite nice, much more relaxing than being the driver yourself. Here are some pictures from the train ride. I took first a local train from Kauniainen to Leppävaara, and then a long distance train to Turku. I stayed on the upper floor above the restaurant, so I was able to order porridge for breakfast:

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, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. 

Fuel hatch is back in business!

In April, my fuel hatch came off. Fortunately, I didn't lose it, I was refueling at the time. But the connecting mechanism had come apart, plastic giving up after 33 years. Oh well. Even more fortunately, spare parts were available. Now they finally arrived and my royal repair shop fixed it in place. Nice!

More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.

The final melt

Kauniainen has melted... almost. Some snow-hoarding evil people have taken much of the snow though under their own blanket. Sigh.

No, really. I skied here few weeks ago, also in May, and it was nice (see my other article). The snow being stored is of course to start the next season early.

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.

It is a lonely planet

... at least in my bookshelf. I counted 80 Lonely Planet travel books. Most of the places I have even visited, some not (North Korea, for instance).

There's also a few duplicates, accidentally bought or couldn't find the book. This arrangement of the bookshelf is recent, now it is nice but it wasn't so nice previously... Some leak during renovation works caused me to have to empty and move the bookshelf this year.

In addition there are more books other than the Lonely Planet ones. Some about maps and peculiarities around them, these I like a lot! And of course a few other travel book series like Bradt, Rough Guides, DK Eyewitness, etc. A nice review of the different series by the way can be found here.

By the way, I've been to 74 countries, I think, 66 on skis, 40 in saunas, 37 I swam in, and 33 in caves (39 if one counts man-made ones).

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! Or the Saunablogger and Planetswimmer sites! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Solamäki caves update

We got an update from Kim Petterson about the Solamäki caves.

He says:

Voisitteko poistaa luolakartastanne kohdasta Solamäen luola (luolasto) N 60.28261 E 24.29597 tiedon, että ". Vaarassa tuhoutua kivenoton vuoksi", koska tämä ei ole ajantasainen tieto. Siihen kohtaan ei saa lupaa maa-aineksen otolle ja tuo kohta on metsälainalainen jyrkänne.

Rough translation:

The cave system is no longer in danger of being destroyed due to rock excavation, as in that point there is no possibility to get a permission for excavation and according to the Finnish forestry laws this is a cliff area.

My previous blog articles on this topic were here (2017) and here (2016).

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, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. 

Kangasalan jäähalli gives me the cold treatment

I had failed. Did not find skiable snow in May in Tampere. Not on the ski hills, not by the skating hall that was next to the swimming hall I went to. Nowhere. Until... I stopped for gas in Kangasala, and happened to see a glimpse of the coveted white stuff. Finally, a cold treatment! 

Recycled snow and frozen hockey player spit, served by the Kangasala skating hall. Nice!

I was coming back from the cottage, where I remote worked:

The skating hall's home page is here. Inside they have two skating rinks, after an expansion. But their snow is always outside, if there's any, no entrance fees or bookings needed for that...

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. Photos in saunas and water have been taken when no one else was present.

Tampere swims

I did my first proper visit to the summer cottage in early May, did a quick dip to the lake from the cottage sauna, but a more proper swim was on the way to the cottage in Tampere, at the Tesoma swimming hall. This is a small swimming hall, but quite a positive surprise. Five pools, including a cold dip pool and a jumping platform pool that doubles as a warm therapy pool. Nice.

This is the newest of Tampere's many swimming halls, built in 1998. It was recently renovated for the dressing rooms. Unlike most other swimming halls in Finland, the dressing rooms are joint for men and women, with personal cabins for changing clothes.

The pools are:

• Main 25 meter pool (but with enough lanes)
• Jacuzzi pool
• Cold plunge pool
• The jumping platform pool/warm pool
• Kiddie pool

The official website is here. Single time entrance fee for adults is 8 €.

I also had my (mini) skis with me, in case the next door ice skating rink -- Tesoman jäähalli -- would have had some excess snow piled outside. Alas, no... no luck then. Ok.

Outside pictures from the swimming hall:

Cottage pictures, first two sauna pictures and then an overall view with the lake behind:

Ice skating hall:

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 the pool photo is from Tampereen kaupunki and that Tampere.fi retains all rights to it.

Mini-vacation in Forssa

Can I have an evening mini-vacation, swimming in the waves? Yes I can! Just drive to Forssa (only 104 km away from home) and enjoy the wave machine at the Vesihelmi spa. 

They have a 25-meter pool, two jacuzzis, the wave pool (itself almost the size of the 25-meter pool), a side pool with some water jets, a warm therapy pool, a cold (non-therapy?) pool, and a kiddie pool. Impressive!

Two saunas, nicely curving wooden seats, and one steam room. Not bad at all. Much recommended. 

Here's the link to their web page, and the corresponding Forssa city page. It is now closed for renovations from May 11th, 2025 though.

Photos, first their brochure:

Pool (from their website):

Construction style around the site:

The building from the street:

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 the pool photo is from vesihelmi.fi and that website retain all rights to it.

Salish Lodge - Spa above the Snoqualmie Falls

Salish Lodge is a luxury hotel ledged right above the spectacular 82 meter Snoqualmie Falls. The falls and the lodge are iconic and well known, not least due to their presence in the 1990s TV series Twin Peaks. It is a wonderful park to visit, and the views really are something else, I think objectively a more beautiful place than the Niagara Falls, for instance. And the hotel is superb.

So is the restaurant. Wonderful food, never have had edible candle appetizer for instance :-) 

The spa is fairly compact though, compared to the outsize reputation of the hotel. There are two pools, but only one of the is usable for hotel guests, and there is just one Finnish sauna. Very nice spa, but be sure to book your visit, it is not guaranteed that there are slots for your visit. Hotel staff is very nice though, for instance we were able to visit the spa without any extra payment or reservation, luckily it happened to free at the time.

The falls continue to be spectacular, although some or perhaps most of the water is diverted to two power plants, one built inside the cliffs in 1899, and another one half a kilometer downstream in 1910. The plants are owned by Puget Sound Energy.  

The land was also owned by them (I think), but in 2007 the Muckleshoot tribe purchased the land surrounding the falls, and planned to develop the area with a hotel and homes. Arguments about building on this land that was sacred to the Snoqualmie people ensued. The place is a burial site and the location for their fabled history, "the place where First Woman and First Man were created by Moon the Transformer".

Then in 2019, the Snoqualmie Tribe purchased the lodge and the area surrounding it. 

The park by the hotel has viewing platforms on the cliff ledges above the river canyon, probably the best viewing spot. But there's a very nice path down to the river. Here you can see the 1910 power plant and the massive water pipes leading to it. You can also walk a few hundred meters forward on a platform built by the riverside, to view the falls from a different angle, at the river level. 

There's a lot of nature and trees on the path down to the river, much recommended. It does descend 100 meters though, so if you're not equipped to climb that back up you should know there's also a way to get to the same spot by the riverside by car. (Or get an Uber to haul you back up.)

The lodge home page is here, and more information from it can be found from the Snoqualmie Falls wikipedia page. Room prices at the lodge start from four hundred dollars per night even on low season weeknights.

More photos, first the hotel and falls:

Then the walk down the park trail to see view from the riverside:

Then the spa, first the private party pool (not for hotel guests) and then the sauna:

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 the pool photos are by the Salish Lodge (from salishlodge.com) and they retain all rights to them.