Freezing and steaming in Oulu

I’m once again in Oulu in business — this time with my family. We set on our journey yesterday, and spend the best part of day driving from Espoo to Oulu.

Finland is currently having cold weather, not extremely cold, but sort of a crispy cold, -20C or something. The road trip was also a sightseeing tour, as the trees were covered with snow and frost, the sun was shining very low and everything was coloured first yellowish, then pinkish and lastly blueish before the darkness fell.

We are staying in Sokos Hotel Arina, on the very heart of Oulu downtown. The room is a real bang for a buck: we are paying only 80€ or so, and there is a sauna and a separate living room area in the room… The extra space is really nice when you are travelling with children.

Sauna is very, very, very nice experience after shopping in the bitterly cold and windy weather (without long underpants) and getting Aapo to sleep… The room is designed well, so the sauna doesn’t heat everything and you can still sleep without sweating your sheets wet.

So, if you are travelling in Oulu, call to Arina and check whether they have rooms with sauna available.