Summer Sauna

If you ask me, NOW is when the real sauna season starts. Now when the weather is beautiful, but still a bit too chilly to really be in the ocean. The days are longer, and you can enjoy the sauna, then step out into the bright evening sun and feel a soft breeze.

Recently I visited Basel, and since we go there fairly often due to Alex work, I have obviously done my research on the sauna offerings in the city. In Basel, you can swim in the river Rhein that runs through the city, which makes it pretty much perfect as a sauna town. Interestingly enough, the one river sauna in the city – Rhy Sauna – is only open from mid-October to mid-March. This made me reflect on my own sauna behaviour.

I usually find it hard to do sauna in the winter. It is cold, and I would rather stay dry inside my house in front of the fireplace. The idea of having to undress and go outside does not appeal to me.

But then spring arrives, and there is no better way to start a weekend than to turn on the sauna. In fact, from April until October, I love long sauna sessions. And when summer arrives, things get even more intense. My friend Linda – who has Finnish roots – told me about her summer holidays at the family cottage in Finland. The days (which were not necessarily very warm, since we are talking about Finland) would revolve around long sauna sessions. The sauna would be kept warm, and people would go in and out. Food would be served in between.

For sauna lovers in the Nordics, sauna makes us almost indifferent to the summer weather. It really does not matter if summer days are cold – then it is a sauna day. A sauna makes every summer day perfect. If you have not tried this yet, I highly recommend it.

But getting back to Basel, I guess they have not understood the fantastic-ness of doing sauna in the summer.  If you ever did a Sauna in the tropics, you know how amazing it is. The Basel summer is hot, but not as hot as the sauna. And since the sauna is hotter than the actual summer temperature, it actually helps you acclimatise to the heat.

This is the Sauna at the Rhy. But season in Basel is over since it is April.