Hôtel de détente

Organising a relaxing hotel is not difficult. All you need is a gym and a spa/sauna.

Here are a few tips for anyone interested:
1. Make sure the facilities are open and functional as long as possible throughout the day.
2. Ensure cleanliness and sufficient supplies of towels, snacks, fruit and water at all times.
3. Make sure that someone can turn on the sauna at the opening times if it is not on. This can be done at a distance.
4. Preferably have a hamam and sauna separately. People usually like the one or the other. If there is a sauna, make sure people can make it as hot as possible.
5. Ensure the availability of cold showers.

Melia Luxembourg (pictures) has pulled all of this off in a very small space. Hats off!

Heat it up

A travel blog is not worth its name if it does not advocate something. So here is my take on travel: we need more saunas.

Of course, you would expect that from a Finn. But here is my take on the best sauna areas in the world:

1. Rauhaniemen kansankylpylä, Tampere (rauhaniemi.net) (photo)

Their website sucks but they do have the best sauna in the world. It’s large, and you can choose from cool to steaming hot since the sauna has four levels of seating. Perfect with kids. Swimming available in a beautiful lake.

2. Mondorf Domaine Thermal (mondorf.lu), Luxembourg

This place has about a dozen saunas with Finnish names (it wasn’t me...). The perfect place to explore what we Finns call German sauna culture (swimming suits are not allowed but anything else goes). Swimming in an apparently natural warm and salty source available.

3. Uimastadion, Helsinki

A public swimming paradise built in the ‘40s for the Olympics that only took place in 1952. This is how saunas should be for a real enthusiast: small and tight. They have a website organised by the city but let’s not get into that.

Park life

As I’ve said earlier, I don’t particularly like boutique hotels. But whenever I find a smaller independent hotel that pleases me, I’m more than happy to spread the word. I found one in my own hometown.

Park Hotel in Turku, Finland is a very strange but profoundly entertaining hotel. The building itself is a jugend-style villa in the western centre of this beautiful small town. The hotel is a stone’s throw away from the main railway station, which is a big plus. The central market square can be reached in 15 minutes by foot.

The rooms are all unique. I advise to book early and to go for one of the more expensive rooms. They come with full-blown last century kitsch furniture with a lot of detail and a balcony opening up to a beautiful park. The only thing you'll hear are the the birds singing.

There is a small and cosy breakfast and an excellent sauna that you’ll have to reserve beforehand. The reception houses a well-stocked bar and no-nonsense staff that will cater for your strangest desires without blinking.

I also like the social media advertising of this hotel. They emphasise that conductor Leif Segerstam is one of their regulars. He is known for his regal behaviour in Helsinki restaurants. If they can house him, they can house anyone.

Such a strange vibration

Here’s another review of a city I know very superficially.

First of all, thanks to Finnair for opening two direct routes from Helsinki to California. The horror of the return flight is much more bearable when you get to experience it in its entirety in the same airplane.

San Francisco went straight to the Top three of my favourite cities with Cape Town and Chicago. A wonderful collection of authentic neighbourhoods by the water. My favourite spot is Pacific Heights that apparently is one of the richest neighbourhoods in the world. Maybe that’s why they also have the best bookshops.

Hotel Boheme is a surprisingly authentic trip to the ‘50s beat SanFran, with pictures of the writers and free sherry before dinner. I loved the experienced staff who really knew how to strike a conversation with the strangest of customers.

I have a weak spot for Sausalito because of Fleetwood Mac. If you manage to get there, you might as well explore the Redwood Forest. It really is as amazing as they say. Take the bus.

St. Peter has called my name

For someone who lives a three-hour train ride from St. Petersburg, I know the city so superficially it hurts. But it’s a great destination for a weekend getaway. Here are my tips based on a grand total of one trip.

Vasilyevsky Island is good if you like peace and quiet and decently-priced restaurants. For accommodation, I chose the Finnish-owned Palace Bridge hotel. It really offers value for money (the rouble is cheap) and one of the best hotel spas I have ever seen.

I had lunch at a really funny place called Mari Vanna which is close to Peter and Paul Fortress (photo). It is apparently part of a chain but they really pulled it off: great Russian-style food and service that seems to attract locals as well. A lot of work went into the interior that’s full of old-style Russian kitsch.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilyevsky_Island

https://www.sokoshotels.fi/en/st-petersburg/sokos-hotel-palace-bridge

https://ginza.ru/spb/restaurant/marivanna

The hidden culinary paradise

Sorry about the slightly overblown title. I have had the pleasure of living in a neighbourhood that has turned out to be a heaven on earth for someone keen on dining in a rather traditional fashion and in functionalist architecture. It is basically the western part of metropolitan Helsinki that covers the neighbourhoods called Töölö and Meilahti. Here are the higlights in the order of distance from Helsinki centre. All these restaurants offer fantastic meals made of fresh local fish, which is why I am a regular. But their menus cater for all tastes and preferences.

Lehtovaara (lehtovaara.fi)

A classic and very traditional. A very beautiful interior and large windows that open to the city and the sea.

Elite (elite.fi)

A wonderful and classical menu. Beautiful interior. Great service. A fantastic terrace outside the winter seson. This picture is from Elite.

Messenius (messenius.fi)

Small but very popular. Fantastic family-like atmosphere. The Kaurismäki brothers like this place.

Meiccu (meiccu.fi)

Silly name but great atmosphere. You’ll enjoy lovely food and friendly service amongst locals who just came out for an evening drink. A very beautiful interior from the ’40s that luckily has not been destroyed by any of the owners.

White Lady (whitelady.fi)

This is where the metropolitan city ends in the west. A lot of locals and families. Great pizzas.

Cassis de Cassis

This is a love letter to a small town in the south of France called Cassis. It’s not really a tourist destination, which makes it all the more interesting. Most of the people you’ll meet there are actually French. Lovely restaurants by the seaside, many possibilities for outdoor activities at land and sea, and a strange vibe that pretty much says that we are not Marseille. Overpriced hotels but interesting possibilities in Airbnb. All the restaurants in the harbour are great value for money.

If you go for a hike in the Calanques please make sure that you know what you’re doing. It can be dangerous.