Finnish sauna surprised American tourist: “I almost ran away”

A Finnish sauna is a unique experience and tourists are not always spared from the surprises.

The Finnish sauna is listed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List, and foreign tourists often associate sauna with Finland. Sauna bathing is now a must-do activity for many foreign tourists.

Kimmo Helistö, the entrepreneur of the sauna restaurant Uuden Sauna in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, says that saunas are a real trend among foreign tourists right now.

– I am definitely interested in the Finnish sauna. My experience in the field is quite long, going back 20 years. The first sauna tourists who were interested in the sauna arrived in the early 2000s. But today it is already a trend, he says.

– There are tourists who come to Finland just for the sauna. They want to experience this unique experience that Finland has to offer. It’s so similar everywhere in Europe. The same restaurants, shops and the same fashion. There are no saunas in Brussels, Paris or London, Helistö points out.

– Of course, foreigners who have no experience in saunas are a little wary. But they need to be told how to operate in a sauna.

Coincidences in the sauna

In a sauna, even a Finn knows how to encounter the unknown in a completely different way.

Helistö’s most memorable experience was with an American client who visited Finland a lot for work.

– He once said that a sauna is a wonderful place. Finns are otherwise stiff, but in a sauna, the first question a Finn asks is where you’re from, the next is whether you’ve ever been to a sauna, and the third question can be anything.

Sauna Hermanni is a public sauna on Hämeentie in Helsinki. It is run by entrepreneur Mika Ahonen together with his sauna dog Milo.

– Milo lies on the benches and socializes with the guests. He is not a scratching dog, but lives his own life there. Customers talk to him, and he goes outside to cool off with the regular customers. For some reason, especially for the Japanese, a sauna and a dog are a really big deal, he says.

A Japanese TV show has even visited to marvel at Milo, a miniature pinscher who enjoys a sauna.

– Based on that, a mother and daughter came all the way from Japan to take a sauna here. They wanted to meet Milo and take a sauna, he says.

Sometimes an entrepreneur has to look for foreign sauna users.

– The temperature of a Finnish sauna can surprise tourists. It is common for them to cool down by keeping the sauna door open. In that case, you should advise them that you can sit on the lower bench and adjust the temperature that way. It is not always easy to give instructions due to the language barrier.

Ahonen also remembers a tourist whose visit was very short.

– An American man only stayed in the sauna for two minutes. Whether it was the nudity of some of the sauna users or the excessive heat or something else that drove him away, he almost ran away.

Cold water is terrifying

The volunteer-run Kesän Sauna has been bathing Oulu residents and tourists since 2014. Kati Koivunen, vice-chair of the Oulu Beach Sauna Association, which runs the sauna, says that foreigners who come to their sauna are usually well prepared and know what they are getting into.

“For example, they know that in our sauna you wear a swimsuit, not naked. The temperature in the sauna is confusing. They ask if it can really be 80 or 100 degrees in the sauna,” says Koivunen.

– The coldness of the water is also a talking point. Here in Oulu, the water is cold even on Midsummer. They ask if you really swim there. However, many people dare to try the water, but they say it is ice cold.

Sauna weddings also arouse curiosity among foreigners.

“They ask why you beat yourself with branches. Many of them also quickly start trying to use a whisk,” he says.

“A Briton who had been touring the Nordic countries just visited us for a sauna over the weekend. He did say that the saunas in Sweden weren’t as good as those in Oulu,” Koivunen says.