In Kuopio in the lake district of Northern Savonia, Jätkänkämppä is a huge smoke sauna, with blackened walls and clouds of gentle, perfumed löyly. It’s a down-to-earth number, with a wood stove emitting soft steam, a convivial cafe and massages available. On a gorgeous stretch of coastline, the world’s biggest underground smoke sauna has space for 124 sweat-drenched folk, as well as hot tubs and pools playing up the views out across the Baltic Sea, where you can go for a swim if you have the nerve.Ī couple of hours north, Finland’s oldest working sauna, Rajaportin in Tampere, has been letting off steam since 1906. High on any wish list should be Herrankukkaro (Mama’s Pocket) on an island just south of Turku at Finland’s southwestern tip. Sauna purists sing the praises of the traditional Finnish sauna, fired by the natural, pore-opening warmth of a wood-burning stove. In the snowy depths of a Finnish winter, a sauna is the perfect place to warm up © AarreRinne / Getty Images Where to find Finland's best traditional saunas Besides purifying mind and body, this is where Finns socialize and do business, and traditionally prepare for births, deaths and marriages. At pretty much any important life event you care to mention, you can bet a sauna is involved somewhere along the line. In this sparsely populated, densely forested country of 5.4 million people, there are three million saunas and counting.ĭubbed "the poor man’s pharmacy," the sauna is said to keep the Finns fighting fit with wondrous health benefits, from encouraging weight loss and reducing stress to improving circulation and strengthening the immune system. While many people might think of saunas as a luxury, in Finland they're an everyday necessity, and an integral part of the culture. Though the Finnish sauna’s origins can’t be pinned to an exact moment in time, some say it dates to the Neolithic period around 7000 BCE, when the first shivering settlers dug holes in the ground and filled them with hot stones. The essential tools to sauna like the Finns © Malkovstock / Getty Images Saunas have been part of Finnish culture for centuries Between steams, there’s time for walking, wild swimming, cracking open a cold beer and a vigorous beating with a birch-branch whisk – the vasta or vihta – said to boost the circulation and soften the skin. Here the all-important ritual of sweating is done with friends and family. In summer, many Finns embrace the long days by heading to holiday cottages in the back of beyond – wood-built retreats with nothing but wide-open forest, swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitos and, of course, a sauna. And it’s never too cold for a post-steam dip in a frozen lake, where the numbingly cold water jump-starts the nervous system.
There it’s quiet but for the crackle of burning wood and the hiss of water being tossed onto stones to emit waves of fragrant vapor, or löyly. When temperatures plummet below zero and the sun barely pops its head above the horizon, you’ll find them sitting in communal silence in a roasting-hot sauna. Even in bleakest midwinter, the Finns don’t let the darkness and cold get them down. There’s no right or wrong time of year for getting your kit off and hitting the sauna in Finland. Finland's sauna scene goes strong year-round Finland invented the sauna, and frankly, nobody does it better. Hell Architect is a title inspired by games such as Dungeon Keeper, Oxygen Not Included and Prison Architect but does everything in its own, hellish style.Come snow or shine, the Finns know the best way to relax is by stripping down and sweating it out in a little pine-clad room heated to 80☌ (176☏), before taking a joyous leap into an icy lake just for the hell of it.
Hell Architect is a game about building and managing your own hell. Hell Architect: Prologue is available here
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