Sauna and ice swimming in Rovaniemi

On 17 December 2020 Finnish sauna culture became the first Finnish element on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The listing covers more than the hot room itself: heating the sauna, the customs around bathing, and the songs, beliefs and folklore that go with it. According to Visit Finland, almost 90 per cent of Finns go to the sauna once a week, and the country has 3.2 million saunas. In Rovaniemi you can add something visitors from warmer places rarely get: a cold dip through the ice of the Kemijoki or a frozen lake.

How a Finnish sauna works

A Finnish sauna is quiet. There is no music, no fragrance and no coloured light, just wood, heat and steam. The temperature is usually 70–90 °C, and the point of a visit is löyly, the soft steam that rises when you throw water on the hot stones of the stove. There is no rule for how often to add water; do it when you want another wave of heat, but keep the people around you in mind. Visit Finland’s advice for beginners is to behave in a sauna as you would in church, and it stresses that Finnish sauna has nothing to do with intimacy.

Finns normally bathe naked, but a swimsuit or a towel is fine, and locals will understand. Public saunas have signs for men, women or mixed sessions, called sekasauna, and in mixed saunas most people wear swimwear or a towel. You can stay for 5–10 minutes, or for hours with cooling breaks outside or in the water in between. Leave when it feels too hot, and drink plenty, ideally water. Only newborn babies and people with serious health conditions, such as heart problems or open wounds, are told to skip it.

Two words you may hear: a vihta or vasta is a bundle of fresh birch twigs that you gently whip yourself with, and a savusauna is a smoke sauna. There is no smoke while you bathe in it, but the special way it is heated leaves the walls dark.

Ice swimming and staying safe

The waters around Rovaniemi are generally frozen from December to March, and Visit Rovaniemi suggests combining a sauna with an ice swim. The safe way to do that is at a sauna that keeps its own ice hole, or on a guided tour. The official advice on river ice in Rovaniemi is clear:

• There is no sure way to tell when ice is thick enough to carry people.
• The Ounasjoki and the Kemijoki freeze differently, because their water levels change, partly when extra water is released for electricity production.
• Stay off the ice in the city centre, and never go onto the ice alone in an area you do not know.
• Local guides know where the ice can be reached safely.

If a plunge into open water sounds like too much, there are two milder options. At Santasport the cold pool is kept at 7–9 °C, which the spa compares to ice swimming. Or try ice floating, where a floating suit keeps you dry and warm in the icy water.

One more safety note from the Lapland rescue services, useful if your cottage has its own sauna: never use a sauna to dry clothes or other items.

Public pools and saunas in town

The two public options in Rovaniemi are swimming pools with saunas, both run all year.

Vesihiisi is the city swimming hall at Nuortenkatu 11, close to the centre and open all year. It has a 25-metre main pool at 27 °C, a lagoon pool at 32 °C, teaching and children’s pools and a 33-metre water slide. The saunas are in the separate men’s and women’s changing rooms, and a private sauna with a fireplace room can be rented. Some pools may be reserved for school groups or classes. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 6:30–19:30 and Saturday and Sunday 11:00–16:30.

Santasport sits at the foot of Ounasvaara, about 2 kilometres from the centre. Its spa has a four-lane fitness pool, a hot pool at 36 °C, a whirlpool at 34 °C, a children’s pool with a slide, and the cold pool at 7–9 °C. There is a sauna on both the men’s and the women’s side. The pool and spa are open Monday to Friday 14:00–21:00 and Saturday and Sunday 12:00–19:00, with early swimming on weekday mornings from 6:30 and weekend mornings from 7:30.

Saunas by the river and in the forest

For a sauna with a real ice hole, Rovaniemi has several places on or near the Kemijoki. WNTR Sauna by Lapland Hotels opened in 2023 next to the Ounasvaara ski resort, on the riverbank, and in winter you cool off through a hole in the river ice. Sessions are booked online; the opening hours for December onwards had not been announced in October 2026. At Hotel Metsähirvas a wood-heated barrel sauna for 1–6 people stands by the Kemijoki, with an ice hole and wooden ladders, and a swimsuit is required there.

Outside town, Apukka Resort, about 15 minutes’ drive from the centre, offers wood-burning, electric and ice saunas and even a sauna on runners, bookable from December to the end of March. The Arctic SnowHotel, about 35 kilometres from Santa Claus Village, runs a sauna built entirely from snow and ice from mid-December until the end of March. Visit Rovaniemi lists further sauna hosts, including a lakeside sauna at Kurula’s Resort and the forest spa at Invisible Forest Lodge. The sauna raft on the rivers only sails from June to October.

On the private sessions below you book a wood-heated sauna for your own group, and the four-hour tour also includes a safety briefing and an English-speaking guide. If you are in town for a short stay, pair an evening sauna with a day on the ski trails at Ounasvaara.