Saunas, Ice Swimming (Avanto) and Ice Floating in Rovaniemi

In Finnish Lapland, winter water comes in two forms: 90°C steam rising off birch-heated sauna stones, and 0°C liquid water beneath a metre-thick sheet of river or lake ice. Almost every hotel room and apartment in Rovaniemi has its own private electric sauna built into the bathroom, but stepping into a lakeside wood-fired sauna with a hole cut in the ice (called avanto in Finnish) or floating in a dry suit under the stars is an memorable rush of endorphins.

1. Public Lakeside Sauna & Ice Swimming near Downtown (Kesärafla Sauna / Ounaskoski)

Right on the riverbank at Ounaskoski beach just across the Jätkänkynttilä bridge from the city centre sits Kesärafla Sauna (and adjacent winter ice-swimming facilities), where a panoramic timber sauna overlooks the river and the Candle Bridge. Book a shared public sauna slot online ahead of time, heat up for 15 minutes in the 85°C steam room, walk down the heated matting in your swimsuit and neoprene slippers, and climb calmly down the sturdy wooden stairs into the ice-free river hole (kept open by an underwater water pump). Do not dive headfirst; submerge up to your shoulders for 15 to 45 seconds while breathing slowly, then walk straight back into the sauna, your skin will tingle with warmth for hours.

2. Traditional Smoke Saunas (Savusauna) & Snow Saunas (Lumisauna)

Twenty to thirty minutes outside Rovaniemi on the shores of private forest lakes (such as Lake Lehtojärvi at Arctic SnowHotel, Apukka Resort on Lake Olkkajärvi, or private wilderness camps), you can book two rare sauna variations:

• Traditional Smoke Sauna (Savusauna): a windowless log cabin without a chimney where a massive pile of stones is heated with birch logs for six hours; the smoke is vented out before bathers enter, leaving the gentle, velvety heat and rich aroma of wood tar.
• The Snow Sauna (at Arctic SnowHotel): a beehive-shaped dome built entirely out of packed snow and ice blocks; when the powerful stove inside is fired up, dense white steam fills the chamber while the snow walls sintered by the heat remain solid around you.

3. Arctic Ice Floating in a Thermal Rescue Suit

If climbing into 0°C water in a swimsuit sounds too bold, book an Arctic Ice Floating session. Wearing your full warm winter clothes, you step into a bright orange, 100%-waterproof insulated neoprene maritime rescue suit that covers you from boots to hood, then lie back on the water in an open channel cut into a frozen forest lake, floating completely dry and weightless like an astronaut while looking up at the snow-covered trees or the Northern Lights.