Special Offer at Stadion Hostel in Helsinki - also your last chance to experience a hostel stay in Helsinki Olympic Stadium

Time is running out! Stadion Hostel at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium will close its doors for good at the end of September due to extensive renovations at the stadium. If you still wish to experience this unique location and traditional hostel atmosphere, we have a great offer for you.

With a Hostelling International membership, you get a 20% discount
when mentioning the code LAST CHANCE.

Bookings must be made directly to Stadion Hostel, either by phone +358 9 477 8480 or email info@stadionhostel.fi

Conditions:

• Bookings directly to the hostel
• The offer is valid with a valid Hostelling International membership. Membership will be checked on arrival.
• The offer is valid for stays that take place by 30 April 2015.
• The offer is only valid for new bookings.
• The discount is calculated from normal rates and it cannot be combined with any other offer.

Sauna is the hottest place in Finland

If you visit Finland and leave without experiencing sauna even once, you have missed an essential part of the local culture. For many Finnish people sauna is a part of everyday life and it is enjoyed at least once a week.

Many Finns have a sauna in their own home. If they haven’t had it in the first place, they might have built it in their apartment – for example where their walk-in closet used to be! In apartments the saunas are electric, but in the countryside it’s often heated with wood and it gives the nice, softer heat.

If you get invited to a Finnish summer cottage you can be sure to find a sauna there. I’m not even sure if a summer cottage was considered a proper one if there was no sauna. At least the owners would be asked frequently “So, when are you going to build the sauna here?” It is expected.

Sauna by a lake. A place to relax and unwind.
Photo by Visit Finland Image Bank

It is quite magical in the summer when you can first enjoy the hot sauna and then go swimming in the clean waters of a lake or a sea. And then go back to sauna again. Back and forth!

Sauna in a Hostel

Many Finnish hostels provide their guests the real sauna experience. Many have included it in the price and you share the sauna with other guests (men and women bathe separately). Or then you can rent the sauna for yourself. Here is a complete list of all the hostels in our network that have saunas.

Smoke sauna

This gorgeous sauna building below is in the Lakeland area in the village of Joutsa at Hostel Vaihelan tila. It's a smoke sauna, so it takes a whole day to heat and therefore they are not used on daily basis. 

Here's another smoke sauna (in Finnish "savusauna"). This one is at SKO-hostel in Savonlinna, which is also in the Lakeland area.

There's a hostel called Hostel Ahopää in Saariselkä, Lapland. The hostel is part of Kiilopää Fell Centre and they offer you the experience of smoke sauna few times a week. They also have "normal saunas". Here's an introduction the all their sauna facilities.

Kiilopää Fell Centre is a home to Hostel Ahopää too in lovely Lapland.

Sauna by a Lake in Lapland

Hostel Visatupa is a real gem for anyone who loves nature and wants to experience the countryside in Lapland. They have a very good sauna too, it's right by a lake. In the winter you can even try ice-swimming!

Sauna at Hostel Visatupa in Lapland

Let's have a look inside

Without people there though...

There's a log or two ready for the next time the sauna is heated at Hostel Koskelan lomatalo in West Finland

Cozy sauna at Hostel Hirvikoski in Toholampi

City saunas

Many city hostels offer the traveller a chance to enjoy this Finnish tradition too.

The pictures below are from two hostels in Helsinki. First there's Eurohostel that has just recently renovated their saunas to resemble a very traditional Finnish smoke sauna. It is electric though. And the morning sauna is included in the accommodation price.

Also Hostel Domus Academica, located in central Helsinki, offers its' guests a morning sauna. Plus a refreshing swim in the pool.

Want to learn more about sauna? Start by reading an article '10 Sauna Tips for Beginners' on VisitFinland.com.

And if you wonder about the health effects sauna has, here's some information at Visit Sauna website.

HI Membership goes sauna!

Hostelling International members, make use of your membership even outside the hostels while in Finland: Forum Sauna in Turku gives you a 10% discount on all sauna and spa treatments


See you in sauna!


by Kati


updated in October 2014

Follow Hostelling International Finland's board Finnish Sauna on Pinterest.

Hostelling @ Kartano Hostel in Kokemäki

'Hostelling @...' is a post where we take a quick look at the hostels around Finland. This time we're visiting Kartano hostel.

If you are looking for a place to relax or you are travelling from Turku to, say, Tampere, why not stay on the way at Kartano Hostel in Kokemäki.

Kartano Hostel is an active farmhouse too. During the summer there is a huge selection of berries that you can pick in the gardens by yourself or alternatively you can buy them freshly picked at the hostel shop, where they also sell tasty lemonades and jams made from the berries. And are you an HI Member? If you are, you get 10% discount off all the purchases made at the shop. Nice, delicious discount!

Lingonberries that will become delicious jams and lemonades.

Kartano Hostel has both private rooms as well as dormitories.

Also check out the activities available at Kartano Hostel!