Visit Helsinki: Our first Finnish sauna experience at Löyly

In commercial collaboration with Helsinki Partners as part of the Influence Sustainably program.

During our recent visit to Helsinki we were keen to embrace one of the most commonly associated traditions of Finland – both indoor and outdoor sauna. Over the years Finns have used the sauna to live in, eat in and even to give birth in and sauna culture has flourished to become a means of relaxing, recharging and socialising. We were excited to visit Löyly, an urban oasis occupying a stretch of the waterfront here in Helsinki.

Löyly offers a combination of sauna, a bar, a restaurant, an outdoor terrace and the most beautiful views to sit back and enjoy. The building itself is one of Helsinki’s most beautiful wooden landmarks and I just love that it was designed in this very understated way to truly reflect the authenticity of the sauna. Even the name itself reflects the spiritual side of the sauna with Finns believing that the sauna can restore the inner cosmic balance. Löyly was considered the breath of the sauna, seen as almost a living entity, and with that in mind we couldn’t wait to try our very first sauna experience.

Obviously with the weather in Finland seeing such extreme cold temperatures you can understand why the Finns love saunas so much, it’s literally the perfect way to warm up through the colder months. At the same time, we were told sauna’s are just as popular in the Summer months and with Löyly offering an expansive outdoor and rooftop terrace, a bar, multiple seating areas and often an outdoor DJ playing too, you can see why.

Although I could not photograph inside the sauna to respect the privacy of those visiting, let me tell you that our first Finnish sauna experience was just incredible! Although we have used sauna’s in gyms and spas in the UK, this was a completely different experience with a choice of two very large public saunas. There is a choice of a traditional wood-fired sauna at 22m2 and the slightly smaller smoke sauna at 18m2.

It was our first time using a smoke sauna, built without a chimney so that as the wood is burned smoke fills the room. Once the sauna reaches the appropriate temperature the fire is extinguished, the room is ventilated and the sauna retains the heat for the duration of the use. The smoke sauna is very dark with just a small window looking out to the sea, the walls charred with black smoke and as expected, a very smoky and sooty aroma. We actually loved this one and even the children were able to withstand around ten minutes at a time before needing to cool down.

Once you’ve been in the sauna the idea is to then take an ice cold shower, stand beneath the ice bucket or, for the truly brave, take a dip in the sea. I’ll be honest with you, with temperatures below zero there was no chance whatsoever I was getting in the sea but Gaz, Eva and Megan completely blew me away by jumping straight in and cooling off. For those who follow me over on Instagram you can see them jumping in on my Helsinki story highlights on my grid.

After two hours in the different saunas, enjoying some relaxation time in between with a drink, we had a shower and made our way into the bar and restaurant to enjoy the rest of our evening together. Through a combination of the sauna, the beautiful views out to sea, and the most delicious berry gin I sampled on arrival, I felt more relaxed than I have in a long time!

The menu here at Löyly is just delicious and although all of the food we enjoyed during our stay was incredible the green pea risotto here was my absolute favourite. Made with lemon, green peas, sprouts and shiso, it was just the perfect combination of flavours and one of those meals I will always think about, attempt to make myself ten times over and still never quite manage to pull off.

Alongside more traditional Finnish dishes such as reindeer stew and fresh fish, you can also grab a burger and fries which looked amazing and was demolished in no time by the children. We often talk about our favourite burgers we’ve ever had on our travels, and believe me there have been many, and this one always seems to rank at the top.

Gaz went for the dry aged sirloin with pureed parsnip, broccoli and peppercorn sauce and, washed down with a pint of Finnish beer, it was the perfect way to end our visit to Löyly. When we left later that evening, far later than planned due to just enjoying each others company and such an atmospheric setting, we all agreed that this had been one of our favourite experiences in Helsinki and such an enjoyable way to fully immerse yourself into Finnish culture, literally.

If you’re visiting Helsinki and would like to try a public sauna we can’t recommend Löyly enough. You can find out more booking information for both the sauna and the restaurant over on the website www.loylyhelsinki.fi/en.