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Helsinki’s Best Public Saunas: A Guide
Finnish culture revolves around the sauna. Historically, saunas were where Finns brewed their beer, washed their laundry and cured their hams; where babies were born, the sick were healed and the dead were prepared for burial.
Today, Finland has more than three million saunas for its 5.5 million people — and the sauna is where all serious conversations about work, sex, relationships, politics and faith take place. “Finnish people are bit shy in general, but somehow open up at a sauna when surrounded by strangers,” says Tanja Aromaki, general manager of the Lonna spa, which runs during the summer on Lonna Island, just off the Helsinki mainland.
As the cold months draw near, here are some of the capital’s best public options for stripping down and sweating like a local.
Sauna Arla
As Finnish people moved from rural forested areas into the city during the industrialization of the 1920s and 1930s, few apartments had hot water or showers, so people bathed at public saunas. Although this trend has reversed — almost every building now has its own sauna facilities — there are a handful of public saunas from the era still operating, and gas-and-wood-fired Sauna Arla, established in 1929 and offering massage, cupping and backwashing, is one of the city’s most iconic.
“In the sauna there is strange peace in its darkness and warmness,” says the spot’s owner-manager, Kimmo Helisto. “You don’t need to talk too much — you can face yourself and think about your own things.”
Kaurilan Sauna
Another of Helsinki’s wood-stove saunas, Kaurilan, operates in a 19th-century log cabin. It was originally located in nearby Tuusula but was moved to the leafy Old Meilahti neighborhood in 1995. Its owner, Saara Lehtonen, who makes her own sauna linens and organic cosmetics in an adjacent workshop, says she has seen a recent uptick in Finns seeking the social and spiritual aspect of the shared sauna experience. “Public saunas have always been a place where your status has no meaning and everyone is welcome to relax and enjoy the beautiful, unique and sacred atmosphere a sauna can offer,” she says.
Loyly
“Key things for a good sauna are that it’s wood heated, it has a big enough stove and it has enough fresh air,” says Eemeli Nurminen, general manager of the sleek, architecturally striking Loyly, named for the untranslatable Finnish word which encapsulates the sound, heat and moisture of splashing water on a hot stove. Owned by the Finnish TV star Jasper Paakkonen and member of parliament Antero Vartia, it offers coed steam and smoke saunas heated by 7,000-kg stoves. Since it opened in May 2016, it has become a popular day-into-night hangout — you’ll often spot Finnish notables at the bar and on the breezy terrace.
Finnish Sauna Society
The Finnish Sauna Society was established in 1937 to foster the heritage and health benefits of the national bath. Today, its oceanfront clubhouse offers six wood-fired saunas and four savusaunas (smoke saunas) for its 4,200 members and their guests, plus personal washing and massage services. The society awards grants to members keen to undertake sauna-related studies and its regular seminars are a great introduction to sauna culture — including lessons on the mythology surrounding sauna elves, gnomes and trolls who enjoy the last of the steam once the humans have gone.
Sauna Hermanni
Located in its eponymous neighborhood, Sauna Hermanni opened to serve the surrounding apartments in 1953. Its owner, Mika Ahonen, strives to maintain the aesthetic of that time — there are retro wood-paneled sauna walls and locker rooms displaying contemporary photos and magazines and hosting regular D.J. nights, poetry readings and barbecues. Pass by and you’ll find visitors of all ages cooling off outside with a lemonade and a herring sandwich, even in the dead of winter. “Most people comes after work or study and stay two to three hours,” Ahonen says. “They can hang around as long they want; we don’t have time limits.”
Kotiharjun Sauna
Serving patrons since 1928, the family-owned Kotiharjun is one of Helsinki’s longest-running public saunas and one of its most relaxed. There’s no need to book a spot — and you can stay as long as you like. You can also buy your own vihtu (birch switch) with which to whack yourself — it’s supposed to improve circulation — or indulge in a washing experience with massage, reflexology and acupressure. Between steam sessions, saunagoers grab a towel and beer and chill — literally — on the street outside.
Uunisaari
Tiny beach-ringed Uunisaari Island, a two-minute ferry ride from Helsinki pier, has a nostalgia-tinged, Old World holiday feel that speaks to its long history as an urban escape. “Even in the 19th century, Uunisaari had a famous seaside bathhouse,” says its head of operations, Outi Gummerus. While red-brick Restaurant Ugn and the island’s barbecue spots and beaches are open to the public year-round, its two upscale wood-shack saunas and outdoor whirlpool are only for exclusive use, except on Sundays, when you can purchase a public ticket and relax on the terrace between sessions with harbor views, cocktails and live music.
Kulttuurisauna
Established in 2013 by the designer Nene Tsuboi and the architect Tuomas Toivonen to enhance the city’s public bath options, this wood-heated sauna takes its stylistic cues from the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, who was also a sauna fan. Quite a few rules are upheld to retain the sauna’s sense of sanctuary: no reservations, no private parties, no groups, no alcoholic drinks and no swimwear — Finns don’t want swimming-pool chlorine vaporizing in the heat — although you’re welcome to don a suit when mingling on the harborfacing coed deck.
Saunas at Yrjonkatu Swimming Hall
When it opened in 1928, Yrjonkatu was Finland’s only public swimming hall — and remained so for several decades. Now, the grand building — reopened following an extensive two-year renovation in 1999 — speaks to the classic architecture of the time. In addition to a 25-meter lap pool, Yrjonkatu offers multiple electric wood-heated public and private, single gender and coed saunas over several floors. 011-358-9-310-87401
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