‘Once inside the sauna, I realise there is much to

In Tampere, Finland’s hotspot for steam baths, Sarah Marshall learns there is more to the art of well-being than expected

Only if I were being freed from a furnace or a lava-spewing volcano, would I consider swimming in a Finnish lake on a chilly autumn night. “It’s very easy,” insists Johan, a ruddy-faced sauna regular who is attempting to explain the benefits of cold-water dipping while I shiver on a wooden deck.

The secret to surviving icy temperatures lies in finding some distraction, he claims. “Look at the lovely view; isn’t it wonderful?” he gasps, lowering himself into Lake Pyhajarvi and slowly easing into a breaststroke. “The bridge, the lights – aren’t they beautiful!” he keeps repeating, his face growing paler and teeth gritting harder with every word, leading me to wonder who’s he’s really trying to convince.

But Johan is right; there are plenty of distractions on offer at Saunaravintola Kuuma, which opened in June last year and is the latest hot house addition to Finland’s sauna capital of Tampere.

Jutting from the quayside in the city centre’s Laukontori market place, Saunaravintola Kuuma is bathed in neon lights from surrounding bars and soundtracked by a hum of cosmopolitan chatter and highspirited nightlife.

Above a skyline of red-brick factories, smoke coils from the few slender chimneys still in use, a reminder of the 19th century days when this southern inland city was the country’s powerhouse. The Tammerkoski rapids, created by a

60ft drop between neighbouring lakes, once fuelled a healthy cotton

LETTING OFF STEAM Saunaravintola Kuuma is Tampere’s latest urban sauna

IN THE HOT SEAT Autumn colours in the protected neighbourhood of Pispala